By Phillip Vance Smith II
A new North Carolina law taking effect on December 1, 2025, will impose a seven-year limit on filing post-conviction appeals through a Motion for Appropriate Relief (MAR), potentially preventing wrongfully convicted people from proving their innocence after that timeframe. Phillip Vance Smith II highlights the human cost of this law, recalling his encounter with an innocent incarcerated man as a reminder that justice should never be subject to arbitrary deadlines.