Hickory family upset after death row inmate’s sentence commuted

CATAWBA COUNTY, N.C. — One of Roy Cooper’s final acts as governor was to commute the sentences of 15 death row inmates.

They will remain in prison for life without the possibility of parole. However, the decision does not sit well with a grieving family in Hickory.

They said they felt the former governor went too far by changing the jury’s decision.

>>Click here for Cooper’s commutation order

Some of the family members told Channel 9′s Dave Faherty that they had no idea that was going to happen.

One of the men removed from death row was convicted of murdering two people more than 30 years ago.

Donald Shuford and his wife said they will never forget the day Donald’s brother, Nelson, was shot and killed here along 1st Street Southwest in Hickory.

The victim’s sister-in-law, Ruby Shuford, told Channel she was home when she heard gunfire.

“Me and my daughter were sitting in the bedroom, and we heard a gunshot, and I saw Nelson and the other boy lying on the ground, and they were covered up,” Shuford said.

Nathan Bowie was one of two men convicted in this case in 1993. The jury sentenced both men to death.

However, now more than 30 years later, Bowie will be moved off death row after the governor signed this order commuting the sentence to life in prison without parole.

“I really don’t know what to say. We wanted him to stay on there, but they took him off,” Shuford said.

And while no one has been executed at the Central Prison in North Carolina since 2006.

Cooper said he commuted the sentences after a thorough review of detailed petitions for clemency submitted by the defendants and input from district attorneys and the families of the victims.

The Shufords said they got a visit from the District Attorney’s Office but were not on board with the decision.

“I feel like they should have kept him on death row. Because my brother-in-law didn’t have any chance,” said Shuford.

“After a thorough review, reflection, and prayer, I concluded that the death sentence imposed on these 15 people should be commuted while ensuring they will spend the rest of their lives in prison,” Cooper expressed.

The people whose sentences were commuted to life without the possibility of parole are:

• Hasson Bacote, 38, convicted in Johnston County in 2009.
• Iziah Barden, 67, convicted in Sampson County in 1999.
• Nathan Bowie, 53, convicted in Catawba County in 1993.
• Rayford Burke, 66, convicted in Iredell County in 1993.
• Elrico Fowler, 49, convicted in Mecklenburg County in 1997.
• Cerron Hooks, 46, convicted in Forsyth County in 2000.
• Guy LeGrande, 65, convicted in Stanly County in 1996.
• James Little, 38, convicted in Forsyth County in 2008.
• Robbie Locklear, 52, convicted in Robeson County in 1996.
• Lawrence Peterson, 55, convicted in Richmond County in 1996.
• William Robinson, 41, convicted in Stanly County in 2011.
• Christopher Roseboro, 60, convicted in Gaston County in 1997.
• Darrell Strickland, 66, convicted in Union County in 1995.
• Timothy White, 47, convicted in Forsyth County in 2000.

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