Case Summaries: N.C. Court of Appeals (Aug. 20, 2024)

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on August 20, 2024. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to the present. (1) State failed to admit sufficient evidence of premeditation and deliberation for first-degree murder conviction; (2) defendant was not entitled to stand-your-ground instruction because he was on neighbor’s property without explicit authorization to be there; (3) evidence of victim’s felony convictions were admissible for nonpropensity purposes. State v. Hague, COA 23-734, ___ N.C. App. ___ (Aug. 20, 2024). In this Iredell County case, defendant appealed his conviction for first-degree murder, arguing error in (1) denying his motion to dismiss for insufficient evidence of premeditation and deliberation, (2) omitting stand-your-ground from the instruction on self-defense, and (3) excluding evidence of the victim’s previous felony convictions. The Court of Appeals majority found error in (1) and (3), vacating defendant’s conviction and remanding for a new trial. In September of 2020, the victim and several other men were dove hunting in a field next to defendant’s land. The victim had permission from the landowner to hunt in the field, and had hunted here for several years, but as a convicted felon he could not legally possess a firearm. Defendant kept a horse rescue farm next to the field, and in 2017 a man hunting with the victim had shot one of defendant’s horses. After that incident, defendant asked the victim to be [...]