Feb 21, 2024 · Hasson Bacote was sentenced to death in a Johnston County courtroom in April 2009. As a Black man in a deeply segregated county with a history of racial terror, Bacote’s fate was all but sealed well before the jury issued his death sentence.

4 days ago · North Carolina inmate Hasson Bacote was sentenced to death in 2009 by a nearly all-white jury. A hearing last year focused on claims of racial discrimination in capital cases.

4 days ago · A judge ruled on Friday that race played a role in the case of Hasson Bacote. Attorneys representing him say the evidence is overwhelming. During his ruling, Judge Wayland Sermons said, "In ...

4 days ago · Hasson Bacote is challenging his death sentence under the North Carolina Racial Justice Act (RJA), a first-of-its-kind law that allowed those sentenced to death to challenge their death sentences where race was a significant factor in decisions to seek or impose the death penalty at the time of their trials. Earlier this year, Mr. Bacote put ...

1 day ago · Nearly 15 years after Hasson Jamal Bacote first filed a claim under the Racial Justice Act, a judge ruled last week that racism not only significantly affected Bacote’s case, but pervaded every death penalty case ever tried in Johnston County.. But the only relief Superior Court Judge Wayland Sermons Jr. could grant under the law had already been granted just weeks earlier, …

4 days ago · Hasson Bacote was among a group of 15 death row inmates whose sentences were commuted to life without parole last year by Gov. Roy Cooper in one of his final acts in office. That means the ruling won’t make a legal difference for Bacote. However it could help several other death row inmates in similar circumstances, said Gretchen M. Engel ...

4 days ago · On Friday, a judge said race did play a role in the trial and death sentence of Hasson Bacote. Bacote was previously sentenced to death for the 2007 death of Anthony Surles during a robbery attempt.

5 days ago · On Dec. 31, 2024, former Gov. Cooper commuted the sentences of 15 people on death row, including Hasson Bacote. Even though Bacote was already resentenced to life without parole, the judge issued a ruling in his case because of its importance for the 100-plus people with pending RJA claims.

Hasson Bacote, a Black man from Johnston County, North Carolina, filed for relief under the RJA in 2010. In Johnston County, every Black person who has faced a capital jury has been sentenced to death.

Jun 28, 2023 · Hasson Bacote is a Black man from Johnston County, North Carolina, sentenced to death for his role in a felony murder that occurred when he was 21 years old. Mr. Bacote is one of only eleven individuals—all people of color—sentenced to death in North Carolina based on the felony murder doctrine.