Eric was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, but spent most of his childhood in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He was a National Merit Scholar at the University of Arkansas, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and earned his B.A. in political science in 1983. Eric remained at the University of Arkansas for law school, where he was a Leflar Scholar and Managing Editor of the Arkansas Law Review. He earned his J.D., with high honors, in 1986.
Eric was commissioned in the United States Air Force in 1983, was an active duty judge advocate from 1986 until 1993, and then served in the Air Force Reserve until his retirement in 2010. His military assignments included Assistant Staff Judge Advocate, Circuit Trial Counsel, Instructor at the Air Force Judge Advocate General School, Appellate Government Counsel, Air Staff Counsel at the Pentagon, and Appellate Military Judge on the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals.
Eric has been with the Federal Public Defender for the Middle District of North Carolina since 1993, and was named First Assistant in 2014. He is a supervising attorney for the Litigation Clinic at Wake Forest University School of Law, and an adjunct instructor in trial practice at Elon University School of Law. Eric has lectured at federal defender programs in North and South Carolina, and for the North Carolina Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association and Wake Forest Law School. He is admitted to practice in Arkansas, North Carolina, the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.
Eric and his wife Dawn, a nurse with the Cone Health System, have two sons. Seth, his wife Michelle and their son, Hampton, live in Boston, Massachusetts, where Seth is an engineer at Draper Laboratory, and Michelle is with Campus Crusade for Christ. Sam is an engineer with Cisco in Cary, North Carolina, and is engaged to Jennifer Pegram.
Current as of November 2016.