Governor Roy Cooper commuted the sentences of 15 death row inmates in North Carolina on his last day in office.

One of the inmates receiving clemency had challenged his sentence under the groundbreaking Racial Justice Act of 2009, a judge had yet to issue a decision in that case.

In his final day in office, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Tuesday changed the justice resolved through legal prosecutions by taking 15 people off death row. A release says “thorough review of detailed petitions for clemency” included input from families of victims,