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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The defendant was charged with four counts of engaging in sexual acts against a child under 13 and taking indecent liberties with a child. The defendant was alleged to have touched a child, A.M.D., in sexual manner on several occasions over a period of one to two years. The state’s...
In this murder case, the trial court did not err by admitting a witness’s prior statement to the police to corroborate his in-court testimony. According to the defendant, the prior statement added “critical facts” that were not otherwise shown by the evidence. The court found that many of the...
The trial court did not err by allowing the introduction of a video recording of the State’s witness being interviewed by law enforcement to corroborate the officer’s prior testimony about the interview.
In this kidnapping and rape case, the defendant’s confrontation rights were not violated when the trial court admitted, for the purposes of corroboration, statements made by deceased victims to law enforcement personnel. The statements were admitted to corroborate statements made by the victims...
(1) The trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting a recording of a witness’s interview with the police for corroboration and impeachment. The witness in question testified for the State. Although much of her testimony was consistent with her earlier interview, it diverged in some...
In this robbery case, the court held that no plain error occurred when the trial court admitted into evidence for purposes of corroboration a videotape of an interview with the defendant’s accomplice, when the accomplice testified at trial. The defendant asserted that the accomplice’s statements...
The trial court did not abuse its discretion by allowing the State to admit, for purposes of corroboration, a prior consistent statement made by a State’s witness. The court rejected the defendant’s argument that the prior statement differed significantly from the witness’s trial testimony.
No plain error occurred when the trial court admitted the child victim’s prior statements to corroborate her trial testimony. Any differences between the statements and the victim’s trial testimony were “minor inconsistencies.”
In a case in which the defendant was charged with sexually assaulting his minor child, the court held that no plain error occurred when the trial judge admitted the victim’s prior statements that at the time in question the defendant sexually assaulted both her and her sister. The victim...
A witness’s written statement, admitted to corroborate his trial testimony, was not hearsay. The statement was generally consistent with the witness’s trial testimony. Any points of difference were slight, only affecting credibility, or permissible because they added new or additional...
A witness’s out-of-court statement to an officer was properly admitted to corroborate her trial testimony. Although the witness’s out-of-court statement contained information not included in her in-court testimony, the out-of-court statement was generally consistent with her trial testimony and...
In a child sexual assault case, prior statements of the victim made to an expert witness regarding “grooming” techniques employed by the defendant were properly admitted to corroborate the victim’s trial testimony. Although the prior statements provided new or additional information, they tended...
Officer’s testimony relating an incident of digital penetration described to him by the victim was properly admitted to corroborate victim’s testimony, even though the victim did not mention the incident in her testimony. The victim testified that the first time she remembered the defendant...