Case Summaries – N.C. Court of Appeals (September 7, 2021)

This post summarizes published criminal decisions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on September 7, 2021. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to present. (1) The trial court did not err in denying the defendant’s request for a special jury instruction where the trial court’s instruction encompassed the substance of the law requested. (2) The trail court’s failure to find mitigating factors did not amount to prejudicial error. (3) The defendant did not show that the trial court considered irrelevant and improper matters in determining the severity of the sentence. State v. Guerrero, ___ N.C. App. ___, ___ S.E.2d ___ (Sept. 7, 2021). The defendant was arrested for driving while impaired. At the jail, the defendant provided a breath sample, and his alcohol concentration was reported as 0.09. The defendant pled not guilty to impaired driving in district court. Following a bench trial, the judge found the defendant guilty of impaired driving and imposed a Level Five sentence pursuant to G.S. 20-179. The defendant gave notice of appeal in open court. At trial in superior court, the judge denied the defendant’s request for a special jury instruction and instead delivered the pattern jury instruction for impaired driving. The jury found the defendant guilty of impaired driving. During sentencing, the defendant argued for three statutorily mandated mitigating factors, only one of which the judge ultimately found. The judge imposed a Level Five sentence and sentenced the defendant [...]