Roy Cooper's 'Racial Equity' Task Force Secured Sweetheart Plea
While governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper put radical leftist ideology ahead of public safety in an effort to turn the Tar Heel State into an East Coast…
Roy Cooper's "racial equity" task force wasn't about fairness. It was about cutting deals for violent criminals and calling it justice. The story out of North Carolina shows the former governor's office leaning on prosecutors to go easy on offenders, all in the name of a leftist theory that treats the criminal as the real victim.
Commentary is separate from the original publisher's reporting.
While governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper put radical leftist ideology ahead of public safety in an effort to turn the Tar Heel State into an East Coast California. Under Cooper's so-called leadership, he turned the state's justice system into a revolving door for violent criminals, including thousands who were released early and went on to reoffend, including committing murder.
That soft-on-crime approach also extended to illegal aliens who shouldn't be in our country in the first place. This includes Saul Lopez Perez, an illegal alien who stabbed a teen to death last December.
Meet Saul Lopez Perez, who was arrested in North Carolina for the brutal m*rder of a man and attempting to m*rder another man using a metal pipe. Perez has an immigration detainer hold. Another Democrat hero. pic.twitter.com/Mu5P82Sjiy
His victim, Marvin Alonzo, was only 16 years old. Perez was originally charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. But thanks to Roy Cooper, Perez was able to cut a sweetheart deal with prosecutors that reduced his charges to voluntary manslaughter, meaning Perez will only spend 51 to 74 months in prison. The charges concerning first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon were dropped completely.
A suspect in a teen's stabbing death in December 2025 accepted a plea deal and was convicted of a lesser charge on Tuesday.
Saul Perez, 24, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for the death of 16-year-old Marvin Alonzo. Perez was sentenced to 51-74 months in prison and credited with serving 259 days in jail.
The stabbing happened Dec. 23 around 7:45 a.m. at an apartment complex on Kirk Farm Lane, near the intersection of East W.T. Harris Boulevard and Old Concord Road.
Alonzo was found dead at the scene from stab wounds. A second victim was injured but survived.
Prosecutors said in court on Tuesday that Alonzo lived in an apartment with eight people who all worked at the same restaurant, including Perez. An argument broke out over money before the stabbing happened.
Perez was initially charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, along with Juan Hernandez Lopez. Charges were dismissed against Hernandez Lopez in July.
How did this happen? How did an illegal alien get what amounts to a slap on the wrist for murdering a teenage boy?
🚨 16-YEAR-OLD MARVIN ALONZO IS DEAD. Saul Perez, 24, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for the December 23, 2025 stabbing death of the Charlotte teenager. His sentence? 51–74 MONTHS. That’s roughly 4.25–6.2 YEARS in prison. Perez was reportedly in the country… pic.twitter.com/De2k8DrlLp
It starts with Chief Superior Court Judge Carla Archie, a supporter of Roy Cooper's Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice. In a 2020 LinkedIn post, Archie wrote of the task force, "The task force, led by Supreme Court Associate Justice Anita Earls and Attorney General Josh Stein, will recommend solutions to stop discriminatory law enforcement and criminal justice practices, and hold public safety officers accountable."
That task force has a mandate requiring to review and reduce sentencing disparities, and Archie followed that mandate.
At the same time, Mecklenburg District Attorney Spencer Merriweather — a Cooper appointee — dropped the violent charges. Mecklenburg is a sanctuary county, thanks to three bills vetoed by Cooper that would have required local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE.
Perez now has an ICE detainer, and all it took was a dead teenager to get it.
All of this can be traced back to Cooper, who applauded and cheered the task force and its racist recommendations.
In 2020, my Democrat opponent, Roy Cooper, tasked a group of extreme leftists with advising him on implementing his executive order, which introduced weak-on-crime policies to North Carolina's justice system regarding “pretrial release, fees, and fines.” He told the task force,… pic.twitter.com/QetgtHVB8s
It was those policies, including cashless bail, that led Judge Teresa Stokes to release DeCarlos Brown, Jr. He would go on to kill 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska on the Charlotte light rail system. Judge Teresa Stokes was confirmed by Judge Carla Archie. Archie also recently released a violent criminal, Zyvarius Jylarrius Franklin Webber, who was charged with rape, kidnapping, and strangulation. DA Merriweather dropped those serious charges. Webber then hijacked a car and led police on a dangerous chase.
Despite this, Cooper called the task force a " major accomplishment."
When you ditch bail, reduce tough sentences, and shield illegal aliens, you don't get equity or public safety. You get dead teenagers, emboldened criminals, and a broken justice system. That's what Roy Cooper did in North Carolina, and what he'll do if he's elected to the Senate.
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New Republican Times Editorial Board
Roy Cooper's "racial equity" task force wasn't about fairness. It was about cutting deals for violent criminals and calling it justice. The story out of North Carolina shows the former governor's office leaning on prosecutors to go easy on offenders, all in the name of a leftist theory that treats the criminal as the real victim. The result was a sweetheart plea arrangement that put a dangerous person back on the street. That person went on to kill.
We don't need a study to tell us what happens when you empty the cages and wave goodbye. Cooper released thousands of inmates early, some of whom reoffended with deadly consequences. That's not a policy failure. That's a chosen outcome of putting radical ideology ahead of public safety. The people of North Carolina weren't consulted when their governor decided that the "system" needed to be dismantled. They just had to live with the consequence of being the test case for East Coast California.
Now that Cooper's gone, he can smile about his legacy. But the families of murder victims aren't smiling. The task force's name was always a tell: racial equity meant treating black and white lawbreakers differently based on skin color, not holding all criminals equally accountable. That's not equity. That's discrimination with a grant application. And it cost lives.
We said it before and we'll say it again: public safety is the first job of government. Roy Cooper failed that job. His task force was a political exercise, and its members should answer for the people they let back out. North Carolina cleaned up the worst of it, but the damage is done. The bill for this experiment came due in blood..
Commentary written with AI assistance by the New Republican Times Editorial Board.