The North Carolina Court of Appeals has ordered a new murder trial for Stanley Lemont Johnson, a Southeast Raleigh man known as “Tadpole,” after ruling that jurors were given a felony-murder theory too late for his defense to prepare a fair response. Johnson, 48, was convicted in 2025 in the 2022 shooting death of Jermiller Kernny on Bragg Street, according to the Raleigh News & Observer.
The 2-1 decision was written by Judge John Arrowood and joined by Judge Donna Stroud. Judge John Tyson dissented, concluding that Johnson’s trial was fair and did not contain reversible error, the News & Observer reported.
The ruling turned on notice, not simply the shooting
Johnson acknowledged firing the gun during the Bragg Street confrontation and acknowledged that a prior felony conviction barred him from possessing it. The jury acquitted him of first-degree murder but convicted him of felony murder.
The felony-murder option was based on the theory that Johnson’s unlawful possession of a firearm could serve as the underlying felony. The appellate court said that theory may be legally available under the specific facts presented, but held that the trial judge introduced it only at the end of the case, after the defense had prepared its evidence and closing argument. That timing, the court ruled, deprived Johnson of adequate notice and a meaningful opportunity to respond, according to the News & Observer.
The decision therefore does not amount to a finding that Johnson was innocent or that prosecutors cannot pursue a felony-murder theory. It addresses the procedure used at his first trial and requires a new proceeding unless the case is otherwise resolved.
What happens next
The decision’s mandate was scheduled to issue Oct. 6, returning jurisdiction to the trial court. The next step could be further review in the North Carolina Supreme Court or a new proceeding in Wake County Superior Court; prosecutors had not publicly announced which course they would take in the reported account.
If the case is retried, the defense would have advance notice of the prosecution’s proposed theory and an opportunity to shape its evidence and arguments accordingly. The appellate ruling leaves unresolved how prosecutors will frame any new case and whether the firearm-possession theory will again be central.
A narrow view of Raleigh’s recent shooting data
The case involved a 2022 killing, while the most recent figures supplied by Raleigh police cover only the first quarters of 2025 and 2026. Those figures offer limited citywide context rather than evidence about Johnson’s case.
According to Raleigh Police Department data, Raleigh recorded 11 homicide incidents in the first quarter of 2025 and four in the first quarter of 2026, a 64% decrease. Nonfatal shooting incidents fell from 19 to 17, an 11% decline.
The police figures count incidents, not victims, and compare only those two three-month periods. They cannot establish a long-term trend, explain the causes of the changes or show whether conditions surrounding the Bragg Street killing differed from those in 2026.
Separately, the Raleigh Police Department says it supports June Gun Violence Prevention Month through outreach focused on responsible firearm storage, education and violence prevention. That public-safety effort is not presented as connected to Johnson’s prosecution or as a response to the appellate ruling.
