State v. Camp

• Court: Court of Appeals of North Carolina
• Decided: August 20, 2025
• Docket: 24-1122
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

An unpublished opinion of the North Carolina Court of Appeals does not constitute controlling legal authority. Citation is disfavored, but may be permitted in accordance with the provisions of Rule 30(e)(3) of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure.

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF NORTH CAROLINA

No. COA24-1122

Filed 20 August 2025

Lincoln County, No. 22 CRS 920; 359088

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

v.

MUHAMMAD ALI LEE CAMP

Appeal by defendant from judgment entered 1 April 2024 by Judge Jacqueline

D. Grant in Lincoln County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals

31 July 2025.

Attorney General Josh Stein, by Special Deputy Attorney General John H. Schaeffer, for the State.

Appellate Defender Glenn Gerding, by Assistant Appellate Defender Emily Holmes Davis, for the defendant-appellant.

PER CURIAM.

Muhammad Ali Lee Camp (“defendant”) appeals from the trial court’s

judgment entered on 1 April 2024, upon a jury verdict finding him guilty of second-

degree murder and possession of a firearm by a felon. The issue on appeal is whether

North Carolina General Statute § 14-415.1 is facially unconstitutional under the STATE V. CAMP

Opinion of the Court

United States and North Carolina Constitutions. We affirm.

I. Background

Defendant and Ward were friends who would buy and smoke crack together

and were occasionally intimate. {T3 475-78, 481} On the evening of

7 December 2022, defendant showed up at Ward’s house upset. {T3 496} He

confronted her about men she had been sleeping with in exchange for drugs and

wanted to ask her roommate about them. {T3 488-91, 500} Ward pushed him out

the door, refusing to let him speak with her roommate. {T3 500-01} Defendant tried

maneuvering around Ward to get to the roommate, but she kept blocking him from

getting inside. {T3 501-03}

Throughout the exchange, defendant had a gun in his pocket. {T3 505} He

testified that he owned a gun for protection and always carried it. {T3 503-04}

Defendant informed Ward that he had a gun, allegedly to make her stop pushing and

grabbing him, which he feared would accidentally discharge it. {T3 505-07}

Defendant then grabbed Ward’s shoulder and tripped her, pulling both of them down.

{T3 508-11} The two were wrestling on the ground when the gun went off. {T3 511-

12} The bullet went through Ward’s upper thigh, severing her femoral artery. {T2

300-01} Defendant got in his car and sped away. {T3 514} That night, Ward died

in the hospital from blood loss. {T2 277, 302}

The jury found defendant guilty of murder in the second-degree, and he was

sentenced to 256 to 320 months imprisonment. {R 30; T5 707, 728} The jury also

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convicted defendant of possession of a firearm by a felon. {R 32; T5 708} He was

sentenced to an additional concurrent term of sixteen to twenty-nine months. {T5

728} Defendant gave oral notice of appeal in open court. {R 47-48; T5 730}

II. Discussion

Defendant argues that N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-415.1 is facially unconstitutional

under both the United States Constitution and the North Carolina Constitution,

pursuant to the recent United States Supreme Court decisions New York State Rifle

& Pistol Assoc. v. Bruen, 591 U.S. 1 (2022) and United States v. Rahimi, 602 U.S. 680

(2024). We hold that it is not.

The constitutionality of a statute is a question of law reviewed de novo. State

v. Grady, 372 N.C. 509, 521, 831 S.E.2d 542, 553 (2019). There is a presumption of

validity for a law enacted by the General Assembly, and this Court “will not declare

a law invalid unless we determine that it is unconstitutional beyond a reasonable

doubt.” Id. (citation omitted). Rule 2 of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate

Procedure allows for the Court to suspend the normal requirements for appellate

review to “prevent manifest injustice to a party”, especially upon new, binding

precedent. N.C. R. App. P. 2; see State v. Radomski, 294 N.C. App. 108, 112, 901

S.E.2d 908, 912–13, review denied, 386 N.C. 557, 904 S.E.2d 542 (2024), and writ

denied, 904 S.E.2d 548 (N.C. 2024). Defendant failed to preserve this issue with a

timely objection in the trial court, but we grant consideration of the merits by

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invoking Rule 2 due to the “newly percolating and widely occurring issue” presented.

N.C. R. App. P. 2; Radomski, 294 N.C. App. at 112.

The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution declares that “the

right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” U.S. Const.

amend. II. This is reiterated in the North Carolina Constitution. N.C. Const. art. I,

§ 30. However, this right is not unlimited. Rahimi, 602 U.S. at 690 (quoting District

of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 626 (2008)). When a state statute restricts this

right, the state has the burden of proving that the regulation is consistent with the

Nation’s history and tradition. Bruen, 591 U.S. at 17. The government does not need

“a historical twin” but to “identify a well-established and representative historical

analogue” to justify the modern statutory regulation. Id. at 30.

Defendant argues that N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-415.1(a), which makes it unlawful

for someone convicted of a felony “to purchase, own, possess, or have in his custody,

care, or control any firearm”, does not meet this burden. We disagree. This Court

has upheld the constitutionality of § 14-415.1 under both The United States

Constitution and the Constitution of North Carolina on multiple occasions. See State

v. Fernandez, 256 N.C. App. 539, 548, 808 S.E.2d 362, 369 (2017) (“It is not

unreasonable to prohibit a convicted felon who has subsequently violated the law on

several occasions from possessing a firearm in order to preserve ‘public peace and

safety.’ ”).

Following Bruen, this Court recently analyzed the issue and again held that

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the statute was constitutional in State v. Nanes, 912 S.E.2d 202, 206 (N.C. Ct. App.

2025). We are bound by this decision. In re Civil Penalty, 379 S.E.2d 30, 37 (1989).

In Nanes, the defendant shot and killed two people. 912 S.E.2d at 205. He

was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of possession of a

firearm by a felon. Id. at 206. The defendant moved to dismiss the possession charge,

claiming it violated his fundamental right to bear arms. Id. The trial court denied

the motion, and he was found guilty on all charges. Id. On appeal, this Court

examined and upheld the constitutionality of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-415.1. Id. at 213.

The Supreme Court held that prohibitions on firearm possession for convicted

felons are firmly within the Nation’s history and tradition and are “presumptively

lawful.” Heller, 554 U.S. at 626 (“[N]othing in our opinion should be taken to cast

doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the

mentally ill.”); Rahimi, 602 U.S. at 699; see also Bruen, 591 U.S. at 81 (Kavanaugh,

J., concurring). This statute is sufficiently analogous to historical firearm

regulations. Nanes, 912 S.E.2d at 208.

III. Conclusion

As defendant raises no new facts or arguments that were not addressed in

Nanes, we are bound by that panel’s decision. Accordingly, defendant’s facial

challenge to § 14-415.1 under both the U.S. Constitution and the N.C. Constitution

is without merit. The conviction for possession of a firearm by a felon is affirmed.

AFFIRMED.

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Report per Rule 30(e).

Panel consisting of Judges ARROWOOD, STADING, and MURRY.

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