Case Summaries: N.C. Court of Appeals (July 18, 2023)

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on July 18, 2023. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to the present. No substantial evidence before trial court indicating defendant’s lack of capacity; ineffective assistance of counsel claim required development of the record through motion for appropriate relief; handwritten changes to wavier of defendant’s right to indictment required remand to trial court. State v. George, COA23-62, ___ N.C. App. ___ (July 18, 2023). In this Wayne County case, defendant appealed judgments for possession of heroin and cocaine and resisting a public officer, arguing error in failing to order a competency hearing sua sponte and ineffective assistance of counsel. Defendant’s appellate counsel also filed a brief under Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), requesting the Court of Appeals conduct an independent review of the record. After review, the court found no error with the lack of a competency hearing, dismissed the ineffective assistance of counsel argument without prejudice, and remanded the matter to the trial court for review of whether defendant validly waived indictment. Defendant’s convictions arose from separate incidents in December 2018 and April 2021, where defendant was found with heroin and cocaine, respectively. In May of 2022 defendant pleaded guilty to the charges. Defendant’s appellate counsel then filed an Anders brief and defendant filed arguments on his own. Examining defendant’s first argument, the Court of Appeals disagreed that the [...]