RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina’s highest court on Friday left intact a murder conviction that a lower appeals court had thrown out on the grounds that a jury shake-up during deliberations violated the defendant’s rights and required a new trial.

By a 5-2 decision, the state Supreme Court reversed last year’s decision of a state Court of Appeals panel that had sided with Eric Ramond Chambers, who has been serving a sentence of life in prison without parole.

The state constitution says no one can be convicted of a crime except by “the unanimous verdict of a jury in open court” that state justices have declared in the past repeatedly must be composed of 12 people.

A 2021 state law says an alternate juror can be substituted for one of the 12 after deliberations begin as long as the judge instructs the amended jury to begin deliberations anew. The judge at Chambers’ 2022 trial did just that when an alternate juror joined deliberations because an original juror couldn’t continue the next day due to a medical appointment.

The original 12 had deliberated for less than 30 minutes the day before. Chambers, who was representing himself in the trial, was not in the courtroom when the substitution occurred. By midday the reconstituted jury had reached a verdict, and Chambers was convicted of first-degree murder and a serious assault charge for the 2018 shooting in a Raleigh motel room.

Chambers petitioned the Court of Appeals, which later ruled that his right to a “properly constituted jury” had been violated and the 2021 law couldn’t supersede the state constitution because 13 people had reached the verdict. State attorneys then appealed.

Writing for Friday’s majority, Chief Justice Paul Newby said the 2021 law doesn’t violate Chamber’s right because it provides “critical safeguards that ensure that the twelve-juror threshold remains sacrosanct.”

Newby wrote the law says no more than 12 jurors can participate in the jury’s deliberations and that a judge’s instruction to begin deliberations anew means “any discussion in which the excused juror participated is disregarded and entirely new deliberations are commenced by the newly-constituted twelve.”

The four other justices who are registered Republicans joined Newby in his opinion.

In a dissenting opinion to retain the new trial, Associate Justice Allison Riggs wrote the 2021 law is an unconstitutional departure from the concept of 12-member juries and “endangers the impartiality and unanimity of the jury.”

No matter what directions a trial judge gives to jurors to begin deliberations anew, Riggs added, “we must assume by law that the original juror’s mere presence impacted the verdict.”

Associate Justice Anita Earls — who with Riggs are the court’s two registered Democrats — also dissented.

The Oklahoma Sooners (49-7) took game one from the Alabama Crimson Tide 3-0 and are one win away from advancing to the Women’s College World Series. Sam Landry threw a complete game shutout, allowing just four hits and striking out five to move to 23-4 on the season.

Oklahoma’s bats provided just enough offense in this one as Kasidi Pickering joined Gabbie Garcia atop the Sooners’ home run leaderboard with her 18th home run of the season. It was Pickering’s 10th home run in her NCAA Tournament career, spanning just 45 at-bats.

The home run came in the bottom of the third after Abigale Dayton’s lead-off walk. Pickering swung at the first pitch from Alabama starter Jocelyn Briski to give Oklahoma the lead. With Landry dealing, that’s all the offense the Sooners would need but they got an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth from freshman Sydney Barker drove in Dayton, who doubled to start off the inning.

Landry only allowed one Alabama hitter to reach third base throughout the game. That came in the top of the fifth inning when Lauren Johnson advanced to third on a fly ball. Oklahoma’s ace proceeded to strike out Alabama slugger Kali Heivilin, who was batting .373 with 14 home runs on the season.

It was the sixth consecutive win for the Oklahoma Sooners, dating back to the final day of the regular season. They beat LSU and Arkansas in the SEC tournament and then swept through the Norman Regional.

With a win over Alabama on Saturday, the Sooners can clinch their ninth-straight Women’s College World Series berth. A loss to the Crimson Tide will force a game three on Sunday. Saturday’s game begins at 2 p.m. CT at Love’s Field in Norman.

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South Carolina baseball gets good news on Friday as senior Talmadge LeCroy announced his return to the team via the Gamecocks Baseball X account.

LeCroy will be coming back for his fifth season in Columbia. After a program wide down year in 2025, the super senior’s return to the Gamecocks could help provide a spark in 2026.

Joining the team as a freshman in 2022, LeCroy layed in 39 games with 27 starts. He had 24 hits, five doubles, 11 RBI and 19 walks with a .381 on-base percentage that season. His play increased as a sophomore where he played in 55 games with 52 starts for the Gamecocks in 2023. LeCroy hit .289 with 39 runs scored, 10 doubles, a triple, four home runs and 42 RBI

As a junior in 2024, LeCroy played in all 62 games making 60 starts, helping the Gamecocks to a berth in the Raleigh Regional. He finished that season scoring 45 runs, had eight doubles to go along with a triple, three home runs, 28 RBI, 38 walks and 14 hit-by-pitches.

After only appearing in 17 games in 2025 due to injury, LeCroy comes back to help the Gamecocks get back to postseason play in 2026.

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