Can the State Obtain Appellate Review of a Judge's Order Granting a Defendant's MAR?

I’ve been asked a couple of times recently whether the state can obtain appellate review of a judge’s order granting a defendant’s motion for appropriate relief, or MAR. The questions have come up in the context of superior court proceedings, so that’s what this post will address. The answer might be different for district court cases, as Jessie Smith notes in this paper. The crucial, and confusing, case in this area of law is State v. Starkey, 177 N.C. App. 264 (2006). In Starkey, the defendant was charged with possession of a miniscule amount of cocaine and with being a habitual felon. He was convicted, and the trial judge sentenced him to 70 to 93 months. The judge then sua sponte granted his own MAR, finding the sentence unconstitutionally harsh, and resentenced the defendant to 8 to 10 months. The state sought to review the judge’s order by (1) appeal and (2) petition for a writ of certiorari. The court of appeals first analyzed the state’s right to appeal. The court treated the MAR as if it had been made under G.S. 15A-1414, which allows virtually any error to be the subject of a defendant’s MAR so long as the motion is filed within 10 days of the entry of judgment. Technically, this wasn’t correct, since the MAR at issue in Starkey was the court’s motion, not the defendant’s, but since this post is concerned with MARs filed by defendants, that doesn’t matter. The court noted that G.S. 15A-1422(b) governs appeals [...]