North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
The state presented evidence to contradict defendant’s claims of self-defense and defense of habitation through the testimony of witness Jeffery Struckman, who testified that (1) he was invited to defendant’s home by defendant’s brother, Berry; (2) defendant was acting erratically and swinging a machete; (3) Struckman called Berry, who came to defendant’s residence and tried to calm defendant down; and (4) defendant swung the machete and cut Berry’s face with it. Even though Struckman’s testimony is inconsistent with the testimony of every other witness who described the events of that night, it was sufficient to overcome defendant’s motion to dismiss.
We affirm defendant’s conviction for assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.
State v. Porter (Lawyers Weekly No. 012-073-22, 7 pp.) (Richard Dietz, J.) Appealed from Brunswick County Superior Court (Jason Disbrow, J.) Rachel Brunswig for the state; Kerri Sigler for defendant. 2022-NCCOA-112
