Fayetteville man granted clemency after charged with murder when he was a teen

Anthony Willis, from Fayetteville, was only 16 when investigators accused him of killing shopkeeper Benjamin Miller in 1996.

Customers found Miller shot to death inside his shop on Ramsey Street. Willis, along with two others, were charged with murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Since his sentence in the 90s, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that life in prison for a teenager is considered cruel and unusual punishment. After that decision, Gov. Roy Cooper established the Juvenile Sentence Review Board to re-examine the crimes and punishments for all teenagers who were sentenced to life in prison without parole, life in prison with parole or sentences more than 25 years.

Superior Court Judge Jim Ammons re-sentenced Willis in 2018, giving him an opportunity to get out of prison.

Court records show that during the more than 25 years Willis was incarcerated, he earned five college degrees, including a masters degree.

On Thursday, Cooper commuted Wills' prison sentence. Marcia Morey, chair of the review board, said she believes Willis deserves a second chance, even it is hard for Miller's family to accept.

"Our hearts break for them. They have lived through tragedies and loss that many of us have never experience," she said. "We can't take that away."

The review board was part of the Governor's Task Force on Racial Equality and Criminal Justice, which is working to correct racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

The task force's latest report shows that of all the teenagers sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in North Carolina from1994 to 2018, around 8% were white and 80% were Black.

"These data reflect a society and criminal justice system producing racially inequitable outcomes that demand our attention and action," the report reads.