In the crucible of a competitive Senate race, a staffing decision made six years ago during a moment of national reckoning has resurfaced to test the boundaries of redemption, representation, and political judgment. Roy Cooper, then governor of North Carolina, appointed Kerwin Pittman — a man convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and identified as a Bloods gang member — to a 2020 task force on racial equity in criminal justice, reasoning that lived experience inside the system carries its own form of expertise. Now running against Republican Michael Whatley, Cooper finds that the appointmen
NC Dem Senate Candidate Appointed Convicted Gang Member to Justice Task Force
Kerwin Pittman was convicted in a 2006 drive-by shooting that killed 19-year-old Jamel Amiens Jeffreys; Pittman served 14 years in prison.