North Carolina Case Summaries
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North Carolina

North CarolinaCivil ProcedureCriminalEvidence
Court of Appeals of North Carolina
Uncategorized

Lofton — Ambiguous dismissal did not eliminate assault conviction before sentencing

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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

North CarolinaAppellate ProcedureCivil RightsCriminal
Court of Appeals of North Carolina
Uncategorized

Lindsay — Obstruction convictions upheld over sufficiency, instruction, and indictment attacks

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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

North CarolinaAppellate ProcedureCriminalEvidence
Court of Appeals of North Carolina
Uncategorized

Johnson — Court rejects evidentiary and trial-management challenges to statutory-rape conviction

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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

North CarolinaConstitutionalCriminalEvidence
Court of Appeals of North Carolina
Uncategorized

Howze — Secondary DNA comparison did not require a new warrant after lawful seizure

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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

North CarolinaAppellate ProcedureCriminal
North Carolina Court of Appeals
Uncategorized

State v. Simpson — Rule of Lenity Bars Two Concealed-Weapon Convictions for a Single Incident; Probation Period Also Vacated

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The North Carolina Court of Appeals vacated a consolidated judgment entering two counts of carrying a concealed firearm under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-269(a1) arising from discovery of two guns in a single traffic stop. Applying the rule of lenity under the Conley line of cases, the court held that § 14-269(a1)’s “any pistol or gun” language is ambiguous as to unit of prosecution, permitting only one conviction per incident. The court also vacated a twenty-four-month probationary term imposed without the specific written findings required to exceed the statutory eighteen-month cap.

North CarolinaConstitutionalCriminalCriminal Procedure
Court of Appeals of North Carolina
Uncategorized

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

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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.

North CarolinaCriminalDouble JeopardyEvidence
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

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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.

North CarolinaAppellate ProcedureCriminalEvidence
North Carolina Court of Appeals
Uncategorized

State v. Moore — Cross-Examination with Prior Flee-from-Police Incident Upheld Under Rules 404(b) and 403 as Proper Impeachment

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The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed a DWI/fleeing-to-elude conviction, holding that the trial court did not err under Rule 404(b) when it allowed the State to cross-examine the defendant about a prior urban police encounter that contradicted his trial testimony that he “would have pulled over” if approached in the city, and that the Rule 403 determination did not rise to an abuse of discretion despite the evidence’s limited probative value and high prejudice potential.

North CarolinaCriminalCriminal ProcedureEvidence
North Carolina Court of Appeals
Uncategorized

State v. Havens — Hidden Bathroom Cameras Convictions Upheld; 1978 Privacy-Intent Element Does Not Limit Current Secret Peeping Statute

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The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed convictions for secret peeping, second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, and third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor arising from hidden charging-block cameras installed in bathrooms, holding that the 1978 “intent to invade privacy” gloss from In re Banks does not apply to the elements of the current N.C.G.S. § 14-202(f) felony secret-peeping statute.

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