Case Summaries: N.C. Court of Appeals (Jan. 16, 2024)

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on January 16, 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. Defendant’s restraint of victim was separate from rape and supported kidnapping conviction; expert testimony regarding sexual assault examination did not violate Confrontation Clause. State v. Ball, COA 22-1029, ___ N.C. App. ___ (Jan. 16, 2024). In this Macon County case, defendant appealed his convictions for forcible rape, kidnapping, burglary, assault on a female, and interfering with an emergency communication, arguing error in (1) denying his motion to dismiss the kidnapping charge, (2) allowing expert testimony about a sexual assault nurse examination (“SANE”) from a nurse who did not conduct the examination, and (3) failing to intervene ex mero motu in response to the prosecutor’s statements during closing argument. The Court of Appeals found no error. In May of 2019, defendant appeared at the door of the victim’s home, telling her that his car was stuck in a ditch and he needed a place to stay for the night. Defendant was known to the victim through previous employment, and she offered her guesthouse to defendant for the night. According to the victim’s testimony, defendant then reappeared at her door asking for a cigarette lighter, barged in when she opened the door, and raped her on her bed. The victim eventually escaped and found officers from the sheriff’s department, who arrested [...]