Cheri L. Beasley (born 1966) is a North Carolina lawyer and jurist who sits on the North Carolina Court of Appeals. She was elected to the court in 2008, defeating incumbent Douglas McCullough. Beasley is the first black woman to win election to statewide office in North Carolina without first being appointed by a governor.[1]
Beasley previously served as a state district court judge, serving District 12 (Cumberland County). A graduate of Rutgers University and of the University of Tennessee College of Law, Judge Beasley was appointed to the bench by Governor Jim Hunt in 1999, and then elected in a 2002 election. She was re-elected without opposition in 2006. [2]