North Carolina Supreme Court rules for state in case personally argued by Attorney General Jackson

The North Carolina Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the state in State v. Perry, a criminal appeal that Attorney General Jeff Jackson personally argued before the court — a rare move for an attorney general.

According to a North Carolina Department of Justice press release, the case stemmed from a May 2021 incident in Cabarrus County in which defendant Damarlo Perry was convicted by a jury of pulling Damon Scott from a home, striking him with a pistol, stomping him and leaving him unconscious on a dark road. Perry was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison. He was also convicted of robbing Scott while he was unconscious, but the Court of Appeals overturned that conviction, reasoning that because the victim was unconscious, the state could not prove Perry was the one who robbed him.

Jackson argued before the Supreme Court that accepting that reasoning would create an incentive for robbers to violently incapacitate their victims to avoid identification. The Supreme Court agreed, finding that the evidence was sufficient for a reasonable juror to conclude that the person who rendered Scott unconscious was the same person who robbed him.

“I’m grateful that the Court agreed with the state that we can’t give criminals an incentive to be more violent,” Jackson said.

The North Carolina Department of Justice handled more than 500 criminal conviction appeals in 2025. The case was originally tried by Cabarrus County District Attorney Ashlie Shanley.