Dem. Roy Cooper Took Man Who Raped, Killed Elderly Woman Off Death Row

Soft-on-crime North Carolina Democrat Senate candidate Roy Cooper commuted the death sentence of a man who broke into the home of a 72-year-old woman and robbed, raped, and killed her.

In December 2024, during the waning days of his second term as governor, Cooper commuted the sentence of Christopher Roseboro, who was convicted of the heinous crimes in 1994.

On March 13, 1992 Roseboro broke into the home of 72-year-old Martha “Gertie” Edwards, who lived in a one-bedroom apartment with her husband in Gastonia. During his trial, Roseboro admitted to breaking into Edwards’ house and testified that Edwards had been dead for at least an hour when he raped her. An autopsy of the victim found recent bruises on her arms, nose, and lips, a dislocated shoulder, and fluid in her lungs. The pathologist concluded the cause of death was consistent with smothering.

According to the Gaston Gazette, “Police found Edwards lying in bed in her nightgown, with her covers pulled up to her chest.”

In 1994, a jury convicted Roseboro of first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, first-degree rape, felonious larceny, and possession of stolen property. He was sentenced to death.

In 1997, Roseboro appealed his conviction, and a second jury sentenced him to death, the Gazette reported.

In a press release announcing the commutation, Cooper said the process that led him to commute Roseboro’s sentence included a “thorough review, reflection, and prayer.”

The ACLU praised Cooper for taking Roseboro off death row, saying, “We have long known that the death penalty in North Carolina is racially biased, unjust, and immoral, and the Governor’s actions today pave the way for our state to move towards a new era of justice.”

The far-left group continued heaping praise on Cooper, saying he “commuted more death sentences than any governor in North Carolina’s history.” The Death Penalty Information Center called it the largest grant of capital clemency in state history.

The commutations of Roseboro and 14 others are separate from Cooper’s 2021 mass prison release deal that let 4,200 convicted criminals out of jail, nearly half of whom went on to reoffend.

President Trump commented on that deal via Truth Social earlier this week, comparing Cooper to former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis:

Former Governor Roy Cooper, of North Carolina, let out 83 murderers, 51 were serving life sentences, and 25 immediately committed murders after being let out of penitentiaries across the State. They were released by him because he didn’t want them to catch COVID while in prison. There has never been a Governor with such a bad record on Crime, and there never will be! Governor Michael Dukakis lost his insurmountable lead in the 1988 Presidential Race because he released Willie Horton, who went on to immediately rape and kill three women. What Former Governor Roy Cooper did is, believe it or not, far more consequential. VOTE FOR MICHAEL WHATLEY TO BE THE NEXT U.S. SENATOR FROM THE GREAT STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA! President DONALD J. TRUMP

Cooper faces Republican Michael Whatley in North Carolina’s U.S. Senate contest. Early in-person voting in the state begins on Thursday, Oct. 15.

Follow Matt Mercer on X: @mattmercer.