Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Table of Contents
Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
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This compendium includes significant criminal cases by the U.S. Supreme Court & N.C. appellate courts, Nov. 2008 – Present. Selected 4th Circuit cases also are included.
Jessica Smith prepared case summaries Nov. 2008-June 4, 2019; later summaries are prepared by other School staff.
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In this Mecklenburg County case, the Court of Appeals found no error by the trial court when denying defendant’s motion to dismiss for insufficient evidence.
In November of 2016, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer received a call from dispatch to look out for a white sedan that had been involved in a shooting. Shortly thereafter, the officer observed defendant speed through a stop sign, and the officer followed. Defendant continued to run stop signs, and after the officer attempted to pull him over, defendant led officers on a high-speed pursuit through residential areas until he was cut off by a stopped train at a railroad crossing. Defendant was indicted and eventually convicted for felonious speeding to elude arrest.
On appeal, defendant argued that the trial court erred by failing to dismiss the charge, because the state did not admit sufficient evidence showing the officer was lawfully performing his duties when attempting to arrest defendant. The crux of defendant’s argument relied on the language of the indictment, specifically that the officer was attempting to arrest defendant for discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle. Although defendant argued that evidence had to show this was the actual duty being performed by the officer, the court explained that the description of the officer’s duty in the indictment was surplusage. Although the state needed to prove (1) probable cause to arrest defendant, and (2) that the officer was in the lawful discharge of his duties, it did not need to specifically describe the duties as that was not an essential element of the crime, and here the court found ample evidence of (1) and (2) to sustain the conviction. Slip Op. at 9-10. The court also found that defendant failed to preserve his jury instruction request on the officer’s specific duty because the request was not submitted in writing.
The defendant in this case “yelled, cursed, and argued with school staff” in the front office about the school’s tardy slip policy after bringing his child to school late, and the school called the police after the defendant initially refused to go outside. When officers arrived, the defendant was outside getting back into his truck with his child, and bystanders were staring at the defendant. Concluding that the disturbance call likely involved the defendant, the first officer approached the truck and told the defendant he was being detained. After the officer talked to the principal, who asked to have the defendant banned from the property, a second officer approached the vehicle and asked for the defendant’s identification. The defendant refused to provide any identification other than his name. When the defendant raised his voice and demanded to know what laws he was violating and the basis for his detention, the officer told him he would be arrested for obstructing their investigation if he did not comply. When the defendant moved to put the vehicle in gear, the officer reached in and attempted to remove the keys from the ignition. The defendant pulled forward, briefly pinning the officer’s arm in the car, before reversing and then driving away. Officers initially pursued the car, but broke off the chase due to the presence of a child in the vehicle. The defendant crashed his vehicle a short time later and was arrested. The defendant was charged with felony fleeing to elude an officer engaged in the lawful performance of his duties under G.S. 20-141.5. The defendant filed a pretrial motion to suppress all evidence on the grounds that his arrest was unlawful, which was denied, and later made a motion to dismiss at trial for insufficiency of the evidence, which was also denied. The defendant was convicted, received a suspended 6-17 month sentence, and appealed.
On appeal, the defendant argued that his motion to dismiss should have been granted because there was insufficient evidence that the officers were acting in the lawful performance of their duties. Specifically, the defendant argued on appeal that the officers had no reasonable suspicion to detain him and no probable cause to arrest him, and the attempted arrest also failed to comply with statutory requirements. The appellate court rejected all three arguments. First, although the officers had only briefly spoken with the principal and were still investigating the matter, under the totality of the circumstances (including the initial phone call, the defendant’s behavior upon seeing the officers, and the fact that bystanders and others inside the school were staring at the defendant) the officers had reasonable and articulable suspicion that the defendant may have been interrupting or disturbing the operation of the school in violation of G.S. 14-288.4(a)(6) (“Disorderly conduct”). Second, since the defendant was operating a motor vehicle but refused to provide his identification to the officers, there was probable cause to arrest him for a misdemeanor under G.S. 20-29 (“Surrender of license”). Finally, the appellate court rejected the defendant’s argument that the officers failed to comply with G.S. 15A-401 during the attempted arrest. The defendant argued that the officers did not provide the defendant with “notice of their authority and purpose for arresting him” as required by the statute, and unlawfully used force to enter his vehicle. The officer testified at trial that he told the defendant he would be arrested for obstructing an investigation, and was only prevented from further citing to G.S. 20-29 because the defendant was arguing with and talking over the officer. Similarly, the officer’s forcible entry only occurred because the defendant locked the doors and refused to exit the vehicle, and the officer reasonably believed that attempting to take the keys was necessary to prevent his escape. Viewed in the light most favorable to the state, this was sufficient evidence for a jury to find that the officers were acting in lawful performance of their duties, and the motion to dismiss was properly denied.
The defendant was charged with driving while license revoked, not an impaired revocation; assault on a female; possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of a felony; attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon; and habitual felon status. The State proceeded to trial on the charges of speeding to elude arrest and attaining habitual felon status, dismissing the other charges. The defendant was found guilty of both, and the trial judge sentenced the defendant to 97 to 129 months’ imprisonment.
The defendant argued that the trial judge erred in failing to dismiss the speeding to elude arrest charge. According to the defendant, at the time the law enforcement officer activated his blue lights and siren to initiate a traffic stop, the officer did not have reasonable suspicion to stop the defendant and therefore was not performing a lawful duty of his office. The Court of Appeals rejected this argument, holding that the circumstances before and after an officer signals his intent to stop a defendant determine whether there was reasonable suspicion for a stop. Here, after the officer put on his lights and siren, the defendant accelerated to speeds of 90 to 100 miles per hour, drove recklessly by almost hitting other cars, pulled onto the shoulder to pass other cars, swerved and fishtailed across multiple lanes, crossed over the double yellow line, and ran a stop sign before he parked in a driveway and took off running into a cow pasture, where the officers found him hiding in a ditch. These circumstances gave the officer reasonable suspicion of criminal activity before he seized the defendant.