Gov. Roy Cooper has pardoned a Pitt County pastor who spent eight years in prison for a crime he did not commit, granting the wrongly accused preacher a rare statement of innocence and making him eligible for $400,000 in state compensation.

In 1993, the Rev. Darron Carmon, a 19-year-old college student with a clean record, was charged by Winterville police with robbing the Fresh Way convenience store at gunpoint and seizing $281.

This complete acquittal of North Carolina’s top executive comes after more than 30 years of protests, calls, and letters, beginning with an appeal to former Gov. Jim Hunt while Carmon was still in prison and lasting long after he was acquitted by evidence discovered stashed inside a police locker.

“I’m grateful today,” Carmon remarked over the phone Wednesday. “Gov. Cooper demonstrated what a true leader would accomplish… A Black youngster was imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, and Gov. Cooper, speaking for the state, stated, ‘I’ll do what we need to do. We need more leaders like that, who are willing to take responsibility.”

Cooper, whose second term ends this year, pardoned another man Wednesday and announced that he would commute, or shorten, six sentences.

In Carmon’s case, police in Winterville arrested him despite the fact that he was 5-foot-6 with short-cropped hair and the Fresh Way clerk described a robber standing 6 feet tall with an Afro, according to a federal lawsuit filed against the municipality. The lawsuit also claimed that Winterville officers concealed fingerprint evidence obtained from the Fresh Way when it did not match Carmon’s.

Carmon’s counsel admitted to being unprepared during the trial and called only one of three alibi witnesses, according to court records. He hailed the Fresh Way clerk, the prosecution’s only witness, as “practically an expert in identifying people,” despite his contradictory testimony.

Carmon’s mother fainted after the Pitt County jury condemned him, and while incarcerated, the pastor attempted suicide by gathering and taking drugs. He was freed early in 2001 for good behavior.

After being released from prison, he joined his parents’ ministry, serving as pastor of Rebuild Christian Center Church in Winterville and Greater Village Gate Church in Lewiston. He adopted five children and founded two NGOs, Sikono Mentoring and People Against Racism. He was recognized for his outreach efforts by two North Carolina governors.

Decades later, his attorneys began interrogating former witnesses and discovered that Fresh Way staffers were forced to deposit cash bigger than $100 in a drop box, and that it was typical at the time of the robbery for clerks to record phony robberies and steal the money themselves.

But it wasn’t until 2022, when the fingerprint evidence was discovered in a police locker, that the state finally admitted its mistake and vacated Carmon’s conviction.

Cooper’s act on Wednesday makes it official.

“They even wanted to know why had it taken so long for me to get to this point,” Carmon told the reporter. “I believe they don’t comprehend the system. The mechanism was not meant to overturn a conviction. It’s simply not meant for that.”

North Carolina governors can issue either a pardon of forgiveness, which is the most common, or a pardon of innocence, which is only granted to persons who were cleared by evidence and had their charges dismissed. Carmon can now get $50,000 in state funds for each year he served in prison as a pardoned innocent person.

“He’s gotten every sort of accolade you can possibly imagine, from Republican and Democratic governors over the years,” said his attorney, Abraham Rubert-Schewel. “This is actually the first true assertion by any government of his innocence.”

Other pardons, reduced sentences

Cooper also pardoned Mark Crotts, who was found guilty of first-degree murder in Alamance County in 1992. That conviction was overturned two years later, and subsequent legal proceedings culminated in a hung jury and an acquittal.

The governor commuted the following six sentences:

• Terrence Smith, 42, who served nearly 25 years for a Forsyth County robbery committed as a teen. Not the shooter in the case, he has expressed remorse, taken community college classes and followed numerous self-improvement programs.
• George Lesane, 47, who served over 30 years for a Robeson County murder committed when he was 17. He has finished his GED, taken college courses and became a mentor and faith leader.
• Donte Santiago, 40, who served 23 years for an Onslow County murder committed when he was 16. He has earned a GED, become a faith leader and works training service dogs
• Kirston Angell, 34, who served 17 years for a Davie County murder and assault committed at 16. He graduated from college and ministers to young inmates while studying for his master’s degree.
• Penny Jarrett, 60, who served 27 years of a life sentence for a murder in Guilford County. She has held numerous jobs, pursed many certificates and volunteered to mentor inmates.
• Jesse Graham, 71, who served 26 years of a life sentence for a Guilford County murder. He is president of the Central Prison Veterans Club, captain of its weightlifting team, a senior speaker for the Think Smart program and counsels college basketball players.

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