Case Summaries: N.C. Court of Appeals (April 16, 2025)

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on April 16, 2025. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to the present. Circumstances surrounding arrest and discovery of pipe supported conclusion that defendant intended to use the pipe for controlled substances other than marijuana. State v. Bryant, COA24-436, ___ N.C. App. ___ (Apr. 16, 2025). In this Union County case, defendant appealed his conviction for misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, arguing insufficient evidence that he intended to use the paraphernalia, a pipe, for a controlled substance other than marijuana. The Court of Appeals disagreed, finding no error. Defendant was arrested after an encounter in September 2021 where police officers thought defendant and his two acquaintances were shoplifting from a local Belk. The officers did not find any store merchandise, but while searching one of the acquaintances, the officers found a medicine bottle with small baggies filled with a brown powder. Defendant ran from the officers, throwing a bottle that also contained the brown powdery substance. When defendant was detained, officers found a glass pipe, red straw, and plastic baggies containing power on his person. The brown substance was confirmed to be heroin after testing. Defendant came to trial on charges of felony trafficking in heroin by possession and transporting, as well as the misdemeanor charge. Defendant moved to dismiss the misdemeanor, but the trial court denied the motion, and defendant was [...]