NC Supreme Court won’t hear case of Rev. Barber’s conviction

By GARY D. ROBERTSON
Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s highest court has refused to hear the appeal of a civil rights leader convicted of trespassing during a 2017 demonstration inside the Legislative Building. The state Supreme Court announced on Friday it had denied the request of the Rev. William Barber II for the justices to review his case and his 2019 trial. It appears to mean Barber’s second-degree trespass conviction is final. A jury found Barber guilty after he led a call-and-response chant with others outside Senate leader Phil Berger’s office. A Court of Appeals panel upheld the conviction in December. Barber said he had the right to “instruct” legislators.