BY MILES LAYTON

EDENTON — A woman seeking a seat on the Edenton Town Council is a convicted felon with a criminal history that includes a second-degree murder conviction, raising serious questions about her eligibility to run for office.

Regina Bond, 43, was convicted in 2005 of second-degree murder in Pasquotank County and served time under the supervision of the North Carolina Department of Corrections at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women.

Despite her criminal background, Bond is now seeking elected office in Edenton. She is an at-large candidate in a contested race against Council member Craig Miller, who is running for reelection.  

Attempts to reach Bond were unsuccessful.  

According to Edenton Town Attorney Hood Ellis, Bond is not legally eligible to run for or serve on the Town Council unless her citizenship rights have been fully restored.

Ellis cites North Carolina General Statute 160A-59 and Article VI, Section 8 of the North Carolina Constitution, which state that individuals convicted of felonies are disqualified from holding office unless their rights of citizenship — including the right to vote and run for office — have been formally restored through a legal process. Law is published at the end of the story.

No public records currently indicate that Bond has undergone that restoration process.

Chowan County Elections Director Kristi Nixon said Bond has not finalized all of her paperwork, but has 10 days from the day she filed (7-14-25) to get things in order.

Unlike other media outlets, the Albemarle Observer shows its “receipts” when reporting the news. 

First, from a public records request, here is Bond’s candidacy form – she checked the box that says “convicted of felony.” 

Bond’s conviction stemmed from the shooting death of 19-year-old Leugene Gerard Blount in Elizabeth City in July 2004, according to the Chowan Herald’s archives. Bond was one of three suspects arrested in the case. At the time, she was 22 years old and was taken into custody at a residence in Elizabeth City along with co-defendant Dekendrick Danell Brown. A third suspect, Marcus Paul Turner, was already in custody on unrelated charges when he was served with a murder warrant.

All three were held without bond and charged with first-degree murder. Authorities at the time did not disclose who fired the fatal shot, nor did they provide a motive for the killing. Witnesses, including Blount’s sister and girlfriend, claimed a woman walked into the mobile home where Blount was staying and shot him in the heart before calmly walking back out.

Court records and correctional data confirm that Bond ultimately pleaded to or was convicted of second-degree murder and was sentenced accordingly.

In addition to the murder charge, Bond had a prior criminal history, according to the Chowan Herald. She was charged in 2002 with attempted robbery and later pleaded guilty to common law robbery, receiving three years of probation. She was subsequently found in violation of that probation in 2004, just months before the fatal shooting of Blount.

Last note – Regina, though the public has a right to know, I’m sorry for bringing this topic up, ancient history. 

The person Bond was at 22 is not the same person as she is today – the same can be said for a lot of us. 

Town Council or not, there are plenty of ways to serve the community without being elected to public office. Anyone brave enough to sign the line to run for office has a desire to serve and deserves our respect.

State Statute

§ 163-55. Qualifications to vote; exclusion from electoral franchise.

(a) Residence Period for State Elections. – Every person born in the United States, and every person who has been naturalized, and who shall have resided in the State of North Carolina and in the precinct in which the person offers to vote for 30 days next preceding an election, shall, if otherwise qualified as prescribed in this Chapter, be qualified to vote in the precinct in which the person resides. Removal from one precinct to another in this State shall not operate to deprive any person of the right to vote in the precinct from which the person has removed until 30 days after the person’s removal.

Except as provided in this Chapter, the following classes of persons shall not be allowed to vote in this State:

(1) Persons under 18 years of age.

(2) Any person adjudged guilty of a felony against this State or the United States, or adjudged guilty of a felony in another state that also would be a felony if it had been committed in this State, unless that person shall be first restored to the rights of citizenship in the manner prescribed by law.

(b) Precincts. – For purposes of qualification to vote in an election, a person’s residence in a precinct shall be determined in accordance with G.S. 163‑57. Qualification to vote in referenda shall be treated the same as qualification for elections to fill offices.

(c) Elections. – For purposes of the 30-day residence requirement to vote in an election in subsection (a) of this section, the term “election” means the day of the primary, second primary, general election, special election, or referendum. (19th amendt. U.S. Const.; amendt. State Const., 1920; 1901, c. 89, ss. 14, 15; Rev., ss. 4315, 4316; C.S., ss. 5936, 5937; Ex. Sess. 1920, c. 18, s. 1; 1933, c. 165, s. 4; 1945, c. 758, s. 7; 1955, c. 871, s. 2; 1967, c. 775, s. 1; 1971, c. 1231, s. 1; 1973, c. 793, s. 18; 2005-2, s. 2;

§ 163‑106. Notices of candidacy; pledge; with whom filed; date for filing. (a) Notice and Pledge. – No one shall be voted for in a primary election without having filed a notice of candidacy with the appropriate board of elections, State or county, as required by this section and G.S. 163‑106.1, 163‑106.2, 163‑106.3, 163‑106.5, and 163‑106.6. To this end every candidate for selection as the nominee of a political party shall file with and place in the possession of the board of elections specified in G.S. 163‑106.2, a notice and pledge in the following form: Date __________ I hereby file notice as a candidate for nomination as ____________ in the __________ party primary election to be held on ________, ______ I affiliate with the __________ party, (and I certify that I am now registered on the registration records of the precinct in which I reside as an affiliate of the ____________ party.) I pledge that if I am defeated in the primary, I will not run for the same office as a write‑in candidate in the next general election. Signed__________________________________________________ (Name of Candidate) Witness: _________________________________________ _________________________________________ (Title of witness) Each candidate shall sign the notice of candidacy in the presence of the chairman or secretary of the board of elections, State or county, with which the candidate files. In the alternative, a candidate may have the candidate’s signature on the notice of candidacy acknowledged and certified to by an officer authorized to take acknowledgments and administer oaths, in which case the candidate may mail or deliver by commercial courier service the candidate’s notice of candidacy to the appropriate board of elections. (b) [Name of Candidate. –] In signing the notice of candidacy the candidate shall use only that candidate’s legal name and may use any nickname by which he is commonly known. A candidate may also, in lieu of that candidate’s legal first name and legal middle initial or middle name (if any) sign a nickname, provided that the candidate appends to the notice of candidacy an affidavit that the candidate has been commonly known by that nickname for at least five years prior to the date of making the affidavit. The candidate shall also include with the affidavit the way that candidate’s name (as permitted by law) should be listed on the ballot if another candidate with the same last name files a notice of candidacy for that office. (c) [Agent’s Signature Invalid. –] A notice of candidacy signed by an agent or any person other than the candidate shall be invalid. (d) [Forms Provided by State Board. –] Prior to the date on which candidates may commence filing, the State Board of Elections shall print and furnish, at State expense, to each county board of elections a sufficient number of the notice of candidacy forms prescribed by this subsection for use by candidates required to file with county boards of elections. (e) Except for candidates to the office of sheriff as provided in subsection (f) of this section, at the same time the candidate files notice of candidacy under this section and G.S. 163-106.1, 163-106.2, 163-106.3, 163-106,5, and 163-106.6, the candidate shall file with the same office a statement answering the following question: “Have you ever been convicted of a felony?” The State Board of Elections shall adapt the notice of candidacy form to include the statement required by thissubsection. The form shall make clear that a felony conviction need not be disclosed if the conviction was dismissed as a result of reversal on appeal or resulted in a pardon of innocence or expungement. The form shall require a candidate who answers “yes” to the question to provide the name of the offense, the date of conviction, the date of the restoration G.S. 163-106 Page 2 of citizenship rights, and the county and state of conviction. The form shall require the candidate to swear or affirm that the statements on the form are true, correct, and complete to the best of the candidate’s knowledge or belief. The form shall be available as a public record in the office of the board of elections where the candidate files notice of candidacy and shall contain an explanation that a prior felony conviction does not preclude holding elective office if the candidate’s rights of citizenship have been restored. This subsection shall also apply to individuals who become candidates for election by the people under G.S. 163‑114, 163‑122, 163‑123, 163‑98, 115C-37, 130A-50, Article 24 of this Chapter, or any other statute or local act. Those individuals shall complete the question at the time the documents are filed initiating their candidacy. The State Board of Elections shall adapt those documents to include the statement required by this subsection. If an individual does not complete the statement required by thissubsection, the board of elections accepting the filing shall notify the individual of the omission, and the individual shall have 48 hours after notice to complete the statement. If the individual does not complete the statement at the time of filing or within 48 hours after the notice, the individual’s filing is not complete, the individual’s name shall not appear on the ballot as a candidate, and votes for that individual shall not be counted. It is a Class I felony to complete the form knowing that information as to felony conviction or restoration of citizenship is untrue. This subsection shall not apply to candidates required by G.S. 138A‑22(f) to file Statements of Economic Interest. (f) Every candidate to the office of sheriff, at the time of filing the notice of candidacy, shall file a valid disclosure statement prepared in accordance with G.S. 17E‑25 verifying that the candidate has no prior felony convictions or expungements of felony convictions. If a candidate does not file such valid disclosure statement required by this subsection, that candidate’s filing is not complete, the candidate’s name shall not appear on the ballot as a candidate, and votes for that candidate shall not be counted in accordance with Section 2 of Article VII of the North Carolina Constitution. (1915, c. 101, ss. 6, 15; 1917, c. 218; C.S., ss. 6022, 6035; 1921, c. 217; 1923, c. 111, s. 13; C.S., s. 6055(a); 1927, c. 260, s. 19; 1929, c. 26, s. 1; 1933, c. 165, s. 12; 1937, c. 364; 1947, c. 505, s. 7; 1949, c. 672, s. 4; c. 932; 1951, c. 1009, s. 3; 1955, c. 755; c. 871, s. 1; 1959, c. 1203, s. 4; 1965, c. 262; 1967, c. 775, s. 1; c. 1063, s. 2; 1969, c. 44, s. 83; c. 1190, s. 56; 1971, cc. 189, 675, 798; 1973, c. 47, s. 2; c. 793, s. 36; c. 862; 1975, c. 844, s. 2; 1977, c. 265, ss. 4, 5; c. 408, s. 2; c. 661, ss. 2, 3; 1979, c. 24; c. 411, s. 5; 1981, c. 32, ss. 1, 2; 1983, c. 330, s. 1; 1985, c. 472,s. 2; c. 558,s. 1; c. 759,s. 6; 1985 (Reg. Sess., 1986), c. 957,s. 1; 1987, c. 509,s. 13; c. 738,s. 124; 1987 (Reg. Sess., 1988), c. 1028, s. 1; 1993 (Reg. Sess., 1994), c. 762, s. 31; 1995, c. 243, s. 1; 1996, 2nd Ex. Sess., c. 9, s. 8; 1999-456, s. 59; 2001-403, s. 3; 2001-466, s. 5.1(a); 2002‑158, ss. 8, 9; 2002-159, s. 55(a); 2006-155, s. 2; 2007‑369, s. 1; 2009-47, s. 1; 2013‑381, s. 21.1; 2014-111, s. 1(a); 2016-125, 4th Ex. Sess., s. 21(a); 2017-3, s. 5; 2017-6, s. 3; 2018-146, s. 3.1(a)