RALEIGH, N.C. – A new year brings hopes for fresh starts for many. A small group of North Carolinians is starting 2024 with a clean slate.

In December, Gov. Roy Cooper announced four pardons of forgiveness and one sentence commutation.

One of those who received a pardon was Portia Bright Pittman.

What You Need To Know

  • Portia Bright Pittman was among four who received a pardon of forgiveness from Gov. Roy Cooper 

  • In 2008, Pittman was convicted of a felony

  • Since 2016, Pittman has worked at the legislature, helping lawmakers and constituents

  • Cooper also commuted a sentence in December

Pittman has been a familiar face at the state legislature since 2016, when she began working as a legislative assistant.

Pittman is there to answer phones, respond to emails and work the front desk for the legislator she works for. She makes sure people who have questions for their lawmaker can get through.

“I can't think of a constituent that called me and didn't feel like they walked away with knowing a little bit more than they did when they called the legislature, and that's what they're supposed to do,” Pittman said.

When she first applied for the job, she says she was nervous. In 2008, Pittman was convicted to a felony, accessory after the fact to an armed robbery.

She had lost job opportunities already due to her record.

“I always had went into that just hearing that ‘no,’ because I had heard it already so many times,” Pittman said.

She says then-Rep. Jean Farmer-Butterfield took a chance on her, and Pittman has loved working for different senators and representatives in the years since.

She was on her lunch break from her legislative job when she got the call about her pardon.

“Starting off the new year, going into it, my pardon kind of felt like a lot of weight had lifted off. But then, too, I felt like there’s still so much work that we have to do, you know, because I'm just only one of the people that were on the list,” she said.

In the years since her conviction, Pittman says she’s worked on education and re-entry. She doesn’t want young people in the state to make the mistakes she did.

“When I first got that, you know, charge on my record, I was so embarrassed," she said. "Not just embarrassed for me, but embarrassed for my family. And so I just always wanted to do something to let people know that's not who I am. That's not what I'm about.”

Now she’s determined to continue the work that helped earn her the pardon and help others move into new futures.

“I'm just going to reach back and help pull more other people out for freedom. And so here I am, 2024, let's go!”

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