Last Friday wasn’t Mark Beam’s first time facing a judge at the defendant’s table in Haywood County District Court, but it seems like it may have been the last. 

Beam’s defense attorney, Jake Phelps, stood to address District Court Judge Monica Leslie. Phelps’ voice wavered as he evoked his client’s case number, and many in the gallery and the jury box wiped away tears. 

Judge Roy Wijewickrama has been appointed to fill the recently vacated senior resident superior court seat in the district made up of Haywood and Jackson counties. 

The appointment, announced by Gov. Roy Cooper in a press release, came the afternoon of Nov. 14.

Judge Roy Wijewickrama has been appointed to fill the recently vacated senior resident superior court seat in the district made up of Haywood and Jackson counties.

The appointment, announced by Gov. Roy Cooper in a press release, came the afternoon of Nov. 14.

Two defendants who pleaded guilty in federal court for their roles in communicating threats to dozens if not hundreds of elected officials, judges and public figures across the nation and across Western North Carolina have finally learned their fates, as U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger handed down sentences in Asheville on Aug. 24. 

More than three dozen Western North Carolina judges, elected officials and municipal employees have been “served” with a bogus judgement from an illegitimate court that offers rewards for their capture if they do not immediately satisfy the terms.