{
  "id": 8570111,
  "name": "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. VERNELL \"BUNK\" JACKSON",
  "name_abbreviation": "State v. Jackson",
  "decision_date": "1971-10-13",
  "docket_number": "No. 16",
  "first_page": "503",
  "last_page": "505",
  "citations": [
    {
      "type": "official",
      "cite": "279 N.C. 503"
    }
  ],
  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "N.C.",
    "id": 9292,
    "name": "Supreme Court of North Carolina"
  },
  "jurisdiction": {
    "id": 5,
    "name_long": "North Carolina",
    "name": "N.C."
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      "cite": "153 S.E. 2d 330",
      "category": "reporters:state_regional",
      "reporter": "S.E.2d",
      "opinion_index": 0
    },
    {
      "cite": "269 N.C. 683",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "N.C.",
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    {
      "cite": "153 S.E. 2d 781",
      "category": "reporters:state_regional",
      "reporter": "S.E.2d",
      "opinion_index": 0
    },
    {
      "cite": "270 N.C. 111",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "N.C.",
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        "/nc/270/0111-01"
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    {
      "cite": "153 S.E. 2d 34",
      "category": "reporters:state_regional",
      "reporter": "S.E.2d",
      "opinion_index": 0
    },
    {
      "cite": "269 N.C. 521",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "N.C.",
      "case_ids": [
        8564570
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      "opinion_index": 0,
      "case_paths": [
        "/nc/269/0521-01"
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    {
      "cite": "179 S.E. 2d 433",
      "category": "reporters:state_regional",
      "reporter": "S.E.2d",
      "opinion_index": 0
    },
    {
      "cite": "278 N.C. 259",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "N.C.",
      "case_ids": [
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      "opinion_index": 0,
      "case_paths": [
        "/nc/278/0259-01"
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  "analysis": {
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T15:36:58.436463+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
  },
  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. VERNELL \u201cBUNK\u201d JACKSON"
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "BRANCH, Justice.\nThere was plenary evidence to support the trial judge\u2019s findings that defendant freely, understandingly and voluntarily entered his plea of guilty of second degree murder, and the acceptance of the plea will not be disturbed. State v. Jones, 278 N.C. 259, 179 S.E. 2d 433; State v. Caldwell, 269 N.C. 521, 153 S.E. 2d 34. Further, the record contains no assignments of error, but the appeal itself is an exception to the judgment. The case is therefore presented for review only for errors appearing on the face of the record. State v. Higgs, 270 N.C. 111, 153 S.E. 2d 781; State v. Elliott, 269 N.C. 683, 153 S.E. 2d 330.\nThe indictment sufficiently charged the crime to which defendant voluntarily pleaded in a properly organized court, and the sentence was within statutory limits.\nWe have carefully examined this record and find\nNo error.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "BRANCH, Justice."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Attorney General Morgan and Staff Attorney Blackburn for the State.",
      "W. Harrell Everett, Jr., for defendant."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. VERNELL \u201cBUNK\u201d JACKSON\nNo. 16\n(Filed 13 October 1971)\n1. Criminal Law \u00a7 23\u2014 acceptance of guilty plea \u2014 voluntariness of the plea\nThe acceptance of a defendant\u2019s guilty plea to second-degree murder will not be disturbed where there is plenary evidence to support the trial judge\u2019s findings that defendant freely, understandingly and voluntarily entered his plea.\n2. Criminal Law \u00a7 161\u2014 appeal as an exception to the judgment \u2014 question presented\nThe appeal itself is an exception to the judgment and presents the ease for review only for errors appearing on the face of the record.\nAppeal by defendant from May, S. /., at the 6 October 1969 Special Criminal Session of Wayne.\nDefendant was charged in a bill of indictment with murder. Upon call of the case, defendant through his court-appointed counsel, T. E. Strickland, tendered a plea of guilty of murder in the second degree. The trial judge thereupon carefully examined defendant, under oath, as to the voluntariness of his plea, and defendant thereafter, under oath, executed a written \u201ctranscript of plea\u201d containing full statements indicating that the plea was understandingly and voluntarily made.\nThe court thereupon adjudged that the plea of guilty of second degree murder was freely, understandingly and voluntarily made, and ordered that the plea be entered in the record.\nThe State offered evidence tending to show that Jessie Woodard and other persons were working in a tobacco barn owned by Linwood Sauls in Wayne County during the early morning of 11 August 1969. At that time defendant appeared and said: \u201cJessie, you got my money,\u201d and immediately shot Woodard with a single barrel shotgun from a distance of three to five feet. Jesse Woodard suffered gunshot wounds in the lower part of his stomach and died before he was removed from the tobacco barn.\nDefendant did not testify, but offered evidence of good character. One of his witnesses, Dike Smith, testified that on the morning of 11 August 1969 defendant told him that Jessie Woodard was dead and that he (defendant) shot Woodard because he had stolen $50 from him.\nThe trial judge sentenced defendant to a term of not less than 28 years nor more than 30 years in the State\u2019s prison. No notice of appeal was given in open court, but on 15 October 1969 the Clerk of Superior Court of Wayne County received a document from defendant dated 11 October 1969, entitled \u201cNote of an appeal.\u201d Defendant\u2019s court-appointed attorney was notified of the \u201cNote of an appeal,\u201d but no appeal was perfected. On 3 March 1970, the Clerk of Superior Court of Wayne County received an application for a post-conviction hearing from defendant, and Judge J. William Copeland appointed W. Harrell Everett, Jr., attorney, to represent defendant in the proceeding. The post-conviction proceeding was heard by Judge Elbert S. Peel, Jr., who denied the post-conviction petition as premature, but found that defendant had been deprived of his constitutional right to appeal. Judge Peel adjudged defendant to be an indigent, ordered the State to furnish a transcript of the trial proceedings, and appointed W. Harrell Everett, Jr., to represent defendant on his appeal.\nThis case is before us pursuant to our General Referral Order effective 1 August 1970.\nAttorney General Morgan and Staff Attorney Blackburn for the State.\nW. Harrell Everett, Jr., for defendant."
  },
  "file_name": "0503-01",
  "first_page_order": 531,
  "last_page_order": 533
}