Case Summaries – N.C. Court of Appeals (Dec. 6, 2022)

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on December 6, 2022. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to the present. Prosecuting defendant for murder 21 years after defendant’s conviction for felony child abuse based on the same events did not represent double jeopardy because the requisite element of victim’s death did not occur until 2018. State v. Tripp, 2022-NCCOA-795, ___ N.C. App. ___ (Dec. 6, 2022). In this Brunswick County case, defendant appealed denial of his motion to dismiss the murder charge against him, arguing that it represented double jeopardy. The Court of Appeals granted certiorari to review defendant’s interlocutory appeal, and affirmed the trial court’s denial of the motion. In 1997, the fifteen-month-old child of defendant’s girlfriend was taken to the emergency room with severe injuries. A pediatrician who treated the child determined he had Battered Child Syndrome and life-altering brain injuries that would prevent the child from ever living or functioning on his own. One year later, defendant entered an Alford plea to four counts of felony child abuse; defendant completed his sentence in 2008. The child lived in long-term care facility until 2018 when he passed away, allegedly from complications related to his injuries. The State brought charges for first-degree murder against defendant after the 2018 death of the child. Taking up the double jeopardy argument, the court explained that under the same-elements test from Blockburger [...]