The former North Carolina governor's decision to commute a Black man's death sentence last year rendered moot the trial court's later landmark decision finding racial bias tainted his trial, his defense counsel conceded in a state supreme court brief.

In a supplemental response filed Thursday, Hasson Jamaal Bacote said there was no relief available to him under the Racial Justice Act once outgoing Gov. Roy Cooper commuted his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Dec. 31. That's because the only available relief under the since-repealed RJA is a life sentence, which Bacote already had when a superior court judge in North Carolina issued the seminal ruling.

Bacote consequently agreed with state prosecutors that Superior Court Judge Wayland J. Sermons Jr. erred in rejecting the state's motion to dismiss for mootness.

"Following the commutation of Mr. Bacote's death sentence by the governor, no relief under the RJA was available to Mr. Bacote," the brief states. "Mr. Bacote further concedes that Judge Sermons' substantive February 7, 2025 order on his RJA claims is moot."

The brief follows Bacote's initial response filed a week prior, in which he argued there was no basis for a direct appeal to the state supreme court once Cooper commuted his sentence, as only death row cases receive automatic review by North Carolina's highest court.

Bacote argued the state's appeal should therefore be kicked back down to the North Carolina Court of Appeals. But Thursday's supplemental response offers an alternative solution.

"As argued in his original response, Mr. Bacote contends the state has failed to show there are extraordinary circumstances warranting certiorari review," the brief states. "However, he does not oppose the entry of an order from this court remanding this case to the Superior Court of Johnston County for the purpose of vacating the February 7, 2025, RJA order on the grounds that it is moot."

In a separate reply also filed Thursday, Bacote opposed an amicus brief filed by the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys that urged the state supreme court to grant review.

Bacote accused the conference of asking the justices to address issues that weren't raised in the state's petition and aren't otherwise before the high court, including reportedly seeking a reconsideration of the North Carolina Supreme Court's 2020 decision in State v. Ramseur.

In that case, the justices determined the courts were allowed to adjudicate RJA petitions that were already pending when the law was repealed.

"Amicus improperly asks for a remedy not requested by the state, specifically that this court 'exercise its constitutional authority to supervise the trial courts' and review the five-year-old decisions in Ramseur" and State v. Burke, another case regarding the right to a hearing under the RJA, Bacote said. "The state neither requested this review in its petition nor raised this issue in the proceedings below."

Bacote was convicted of first-degree murder in April 2009 for killing Anthony Surles, and the jury unanimously recommended a death sentence.

In 2010, while his appeal was pending in the state supreme court, Bacote filed a motion under the RJA, which provided a pathway to people on death row to seek life without parole if they could prove their cases were affected by racial prejudice. The law was repealed in 2013, but the North Carolina Supreme Court's decision in Ramseur enabled petitioners with pending RJA challenges — like Bacote — to see them through.

Bacote's was the first RJA case to make it to an evidentiary hearing in February 2024. Before Judge Sermons could rule, however, Cooper commuted Bacote's sentence, prompting state prosecutors to move for dismissal, arguing the case was moot.

Judge Sermons rejected that request on Feb. 3. Four days later, he granted Bacote's motion for relief under the RJA, finding race had an outsized effect on jury selection in his trial.

The state's petition seeks review of both Judge Sermons' Feb. 3 and Feb. 7 orders.

Defense counsel and a spokesperson for the state Department of Justice declined to comment Friday.

The state is represented by Joan M. Cunningham, Jonathan Babb, Ben Szany, Nicholaos Vlahos and Heidi M. Williams of the North Carolina Department of Justice.

Bacote is represented by Jay H. Ferguson of Thomas Ferguson & Beskind LLP, Cassandra Stubbs of the American Civil Liberties Union and Shelagh Kenney and Gretchen M. Engel of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation.

The case is North Carolina v. Hasson Jamaal Bacote, case number 360A09-2, in the North Carolina Supreme Court.

--Additional reporting by Marco Poggio. Editing by Jay Jackson Jr.