WINSTON SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) -- On Governor Roy Cooper’s final day in office Tuesday, he commuted the sentences of 15 death row inmates to life without possibility of parole. A Winston-Salem family is speaking out after the man convicted in their loved one’s case 25 years ago was on that list and granted clemency. Michael Miller’s brother Murray Miller says he and his brother were very close. They were 12 months apart in age. His brother said his family is still hurting from the loss of Michael.  “Mike was full of energy, full of life, very vibrant,” Murray said. Jan. 24 would have been his brother's 58th birthday. “He would always pride the fact that we were the same age for six days ... We would celebrate our birthdays together all the way up into our adult years,” Murray said. Michael was 31 years old when he was shot several times at his apartment complex on West First Street in Winston-Salem in Sept. 1998. There was an argument earlier in the night at a pool party at Michael's apartment complex that continued over to his apartment where he was shot. He died 12 hours later at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. “My mother called me and told me what happened, and I met everybody at the hospital, and that was the hardest day of my life,” Murray said. In 2000, at the age of 21 Cerron Hooks was convicted of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death. No executions have been carried out in North Carolina since 2006 due to ongoing litigation. The death penalty has been the subject of a number of protests. In the fall of 2024, Hook's mother was surrounded by supporters pleading for a change, asking for her son's life to be spared. On New Year's Eve, it was by the governor. Michael's family did know this was coming. Hooks will now serve out his sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Murray said many of his loved ones are hurt by this decision. “The court handed down the sentence ... My sister was upset, and a few other people in the family are upset that ... He's escaping what was handed down to him,” Murray said. He has this message for his brother's killer: “You are still in prison. Make the most out of it. Reach back to these young men ... out here in the cities, in the streets, and let them know they don't want to come down that road. Prior to Tuesday, North Carolina had 136 offenders on death row.