N.C. Gen. Stat. § 8-85: Court reporter's certified transcription.

Testimony taken and transcribed by a court reporter and certified by the reporter or by the judge who presided at the trial at which the testimony was given, may be offered in evidence in any court as the deposition of the witness whose testimony is so taken and transcribed, in the manner, and under the rules governing the introduction of depositions in civil actions. (1971, c. 377, s. 1.)