- The North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld criminal convictions in cases involving kidnapping, rape, and shooting, ensuring justice is upheld and North Carolinians are protected from violent crime.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld criminal convictions in 11 opinions released July 15, including a kidnapping and rape case out of Surry County and a shooting case out of Alamance County, Attorney General Jeff Jackson’s office announced on Wednesday.
“These cases involve people who were convicted of a violent crime and were trying to get that conviction reversed,” Jackson said in a statement. “Part of my job as Attorney General is making sure convictions like these stay in place so that justice is upheld and North Carolinians are protected from violent crime.”
In State v. Lunsford, the appeals court upheld David Ray Lunsford’s convictions in Surry County on one count of first-degree kidnapping, one count of first-degree rape, two counts of first-degree forcible sex offense and one count of crime against nature. According to the attorney general’s office, Lunsford approached a 17-year-old victim at a public greenway trail in May 2023 and kidnapped and raped her. The victim escaped when her boyfriend arrived with a baseball bat…