Case Summaries: N.C. Court of Appeals (Feb. 16, 2021)

This post summarizes published criminal decisions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on February 16, 2021. Gabrielle Supak and Shea Denning prepared these summaries. As always, they will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to present. The trial court properly denied the defendant’s request for a jury instruction on lack of flight, and even if failing to offer the instruction was error, it was harmless due to the overwhelming evidence of the defendant’s guilt. State v. Edwards, ___ N.C. App. ___, ___ S.E.2d ___ (Feb. 16, 2021). The defendant was charged and convicted of first-degree felony murder for the attempted robbery and fatal shooting of a taxi cab driver whom the defendant had summoned to his apartment complex. When the taxi cab arrived, witnesses saw a man shoot the driver, drag the driver from his car, and then rummage through his pockets. The shooter then ran to a white four-door car, which then left the apartment complex. Officers found a sweatshirt on the rear floorboard of the taxi cab with a prepaid cell phone inside. The cell phone contained photos of the defendant, his State-issued identification card, and his electric bill. The cell phone also contained texts between the defendant and another man regarding the defendant’s obtaining a handgun and his need for money to pay his electric bill. Officers went to the defendant’s home a short time later. The defendant agreed to come to the station for questioning [...]