Last year, I wrote a paper about North Carolina’s habitual felon, violent habitual felon, and habitual breaking and entering laws. Around the time the paper came out, the General Assembly passed S.L. 2013-369, a broad bill concerning firearm regulations. The new law adds a new habitual offense, the offense of armed habitual felon. I’ve had a few questions about armed habitual felon recently, so this post unpacks the new law. Armed habitual felon in a nutshell. The new law is patterned after the regular habitual felon law and is codified nearby, at G.S. 14-7.35 through G.S. 14-7.41. It is a “two strikes” law that applies to a defendant who, having already been convicted of one firearm-related felony, proceeds to commit a second. It elevates the second felony so that it is punished as a Class C felony, with a mandatory minimum of 120 months’ active time. Procedurally, an armed habitual felon case is similar to a regular habitual felon case, but there are several wrinkles discussed below. Qualifying previous felonies. In order to be an armed habitual felon, a defendant must have a previous conviction for a “firearm-related felony,” which is defined by statute as “[a]ny felony committed by a person in which the person used or displayed a firearm while committing the felony.” G.S. 14-7.35(2). Furthermore, the previous conviction must be one “in which evidence of the person’s use, display, or threatened use or display of a firearm was needed to prove an element of the felony or was needed [...]
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