Ex-NC sheriff charged with rape says he’s incapable of standing trial
Curtis Cochran, the former sheriff in the North Carolina mountains charged with rape and other sexual assault counts, says he is incapable of standing trial, Swain County court records show.
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Cochran’s lawyer, Jack Stewart, filed court papers last month saying he intends “to assert the defense of mental incapacity or mental illness that would otherwise render” the 73-year-old Cochran “incapable of proceeding to trial.”
Cochran’s disposition hearing on his two sexual assault cases is scheduled for Nov. 4 in Swain County Superior Court in Bryson City, according to court documents. Defendants can enter pleas at such hearings, or a judge can schedule the case further out for trial.
Bryson City is 180 miles west of Charlotte.
Cochran resigned in July 2025 after he was charged with sexual assault. Weeks later, he was charged in a separate case with second-degree forcible rape, The Charlotte Observer reported at the time.
A grand jury alleged that Cochrane “did ravish and carnally know” a woman “by force and against the victim’s will” in or around June 2025.
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Cochran also was charged with sexual battery, soliciting prostitution, driving left of center and assault on a female, according to court records.
He has been free on bond since the charges were filed.
Multiple women have made allegations against Cochran, court records show.
A Cherokee tribe member told police and the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation that Cochran picked her up in his Dodge Durango on June 22, 2025, touched her despite her objections, repeatedly urged her to perform oral sex on him and pulled out his penis in front of her, the Observer reported.
Another woman said the sheriff touched her inappropriately while giving her a ride. That allegation surfaced as police investigated the first case.
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The 2025 rape indictment names a third woman.
This story was originally published October 3, 2026 at 11:29 AM.
