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

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on February 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. The summary of In re Laliveres below was prepared by Prof. James Markham. A final conviction for a New York crime that requires sex offender registration under the laws of that state falls within the definition of a reportable conviction in North Carolina, regardless of whether it is substantially similar to a North Carolina crime requiring registration. In re Laliveres, COA23-742, ___ N.C. App. ___ (Feb. 20, 2024). In this Wake County case, the petitioner appealed from the trial court’s order requiring him to register as a sex offender in North Carolina based on his out-of-state conviction from New York. The Court of Appeals concluded that the petitioner is required to register as a sex offender in North Carolina and affirmed the trial court’s order. The petitioner was convicted of attempted first-degree rape in New York in 1993. In 2022, after the petitioner moved to North Carolina, the Wake County Sheriff’s Office notified him that he was required to register as a sex offender based on the New York conviction. The petitioner filed for a judicial determination under G.S. 14-208.12B. The trial court concluded that the New York conviction was substantially similar to second-degree forcible rape under G.S. 14-27.22, and therefore required registration. On appeal, the petitioner argued that [...]