A former Graham man convicted last year of sex offenses involving a 10-year-old appealed the portion of his sentence requiring him to pay about $3,700 in court costs and attorney's fees, but the N.C. Court of Appeals rejected his appeal on Tuesday.
Joshua Lee Jamison, 39, entered a so-called Alford plea arrangement, in which a person maintains he is innocent but admits there is sufficient evidence to convict him, in May 2023 and was convicted of one count of felony child abuse by a sexual act and one count of indecent liberties with a child.
Jamison originally was arrested in January 2020 after Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro reported to the Alamance County Sheriff's Office that a 10-year-old had been sexually assaulted, and someone who witnessed the assault identified Jamison as the suspect, the sheriff’s office said at the time.
After Jamison's guilty plea, he was sentenced to at least eight and a maximum of nearly 15 years in prison, and the judge entered the court costs and attorney’s fees as a civil judgment against Jamison.
Unlike a fine, a civil judgment will show up on a person's credit report and carries long-term financial ramifications.
Jamison argued on appeal that the court costs and attorney's fees should not have been entered that way.
But the N.C. Court of Appeals said both that the argument was incorrect and contrary to state law and also that Jamison failed to file a written notice of appeal, as required, so therefore was not even entitled to appeal the sentence.
Jamison currently is being held at Granville Correctional Institute and has a projected release date of Jan. 31, 2029, according to the N.C. Department of Adult Correction.
