WINSTON SALEM, N.C. – On his final day in office, Governor Roy Cooper commuted the sentences of 15 death row convicts to life without the chance of parole.
A Winston-Salem family has spoken out after learning that the man convicted in their loved one’s case 25 years ago was on that list and was granted clemency.
Murray Miller, Michael Miller’s brother, claims the two were quite close. They were twelve months apart in age.
According to his brother, his family is still grieving Michael’s death.
“Mike was full of energy, full of life, very vibrant,” Murray told me.
January 24 would have been his brother’s 58th birthday.
“He would take pride in the fact that we were the same age for six days…” Murray added, “We’d celebrate our birthdays together until we were adults.”
Michael was 31 years old when he was shot many times at his apartment complex on West First Street in Winston-Salem in September 1998.
There was an argument earlier in the night at a pool party at Michael’s apartment complex, which spilled over to his apartment, where he was shot.
He died twelve hours later at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.
“My mother called me and told me what happened, and I met everybody at the hospital, and that was the hardest day of my life,” Murray recalls.
Cerron Hooks was found guilty of first-degree murder and condemned to death in 2000, when he was 21. There have been no executions in North Carolina since 2006 owing to continuing litigation.
Protests against the death penalty have taken place on several occasions. In the fall of 2024, Hook’s mother was besieged by supporters screaming for reform and asking that her son’s life be saved. On New Year’s Eve, the governor did it.
Michael’s family was aware that something was coming.
Hooks will now serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Murray stated that this action has hurt many of his loved ones.
“The court imposed the sentence… My sister and a few other family members were outraged because… “He’s escaping what was handed down to him,” Murray explained.
He has a message for his brother’s killer:
“You’re still in prison. Get the most out of it. Reach out to these young men. Out here in the cities, on the streets, let them know you don’t want to go down that road.
Prior to Tuesday, North Carolina had 136 inmates on death row.