Criminal Cases
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Criminal

Court of Appeals of North Carolina
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Lofton — Ambiguous dismissal did not eliminate assault conviction before sentencing

The Court of Appeals read the form and surrounding record as showing an effective dismissal only of the habitual-felon matter, not the jury’s assault verdict. The trial court had expressly held sentencing open, so it retained authority to enter judgment on the assault conviction. Evidence that Lofton took a route requiring him to jump a fence and discarded clothing while officers pursued him supported the flight inst

Court of Appeals of North Carolina
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Lindsay — Obstruction convictions upheld over sufficiency, instruction, and indictment attacks

The Court of Appeals allowed review but rejected the merits challenges. Viewed in the State’s favor, the evidence supported the obstruction charges and the theory submitted to the jury. The indictments alleged facts supporting the essential elements. Under recent North Carolina Supreme Court precedent, an asserted omission concerning factual detail did not automatically create a jurisdictional defect; Lindsay also fa

Court of Appeals of North Carolina
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Johnson — Court rejects evidentiary and trial-management challenges to statutory-rape conviction

The Court of Appeals found no reversible error. The trial judge acted within the broad discretion used to manage voir dire and questioning, including limited leading questions to a minor testifying about sexual abuse. The panel found no plain error in the challenged evidence and no gross impropriety requiring intervention during argument. Because evidence admitted without reversible error could be discussed in closin

Court of Appeals of North Carolina
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Howze — Secondary DNA comparison did not require a new warrant after lawful seizure

The Court of Appeals upheld denial of suppression. Evidence in plain view could be seized where officers were lawfully present and its evidentiary significance was immediately apparent in the violent-crime investigation then underway. Relying on North Carolina precedent involving later comparison of lawfully obtained genetic material, the panel also held that secondary DNA analysis imposed no new physical intrusion a

Court of Appeals of North Carolina
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State v. Wilder — Defendant Who Refuses to Answer § 15A-1242 Inquiry Cannot Establish Knowing Waiver of Counsel

The North Carolina Court of Appeals held that a defendant who clearly invokes the right to self-representation but then refuses to answer any of the trial court’s N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1242 questions cannot establish a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver of counsel, and the trial court therefore did not err in denying the request to proceed pro se.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina
Uncategorized

State v. Broadway — AWDWIKISI and AISBI Merge Under Double Jeopardy; Prosecutor’s Breath-Hold Demonstration Not Grossly Improper

The North Carolina Court of Appeals arrested judgment on an assault-inflicting-serious-bodily-injury conviction as merging with AWDWIKISI under the double jeopardy clause when no distinct interruption in the assault was established, while affirming that a prosecutor’s one-minute breath-holding demonstration during closing argument was not grossly improper and that a lesser-included offense instruction on assault inflicting serious injury was not required where the State’s evidence of deadly-weapon use was uncontradicted.

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