Case Summaries: N.C. Court of Appeals (June 15, 2021)

This post summarizes published criminal decisions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on June 15, 2021. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to present. The defendant forfeited the right to counsel by firing various appointed attorneys and failing to hire an attorney after waiving appointed counsel State v. Atwell, ___ N.C. App. ___, 2021-NCCOA-271 (June 15, 2021).  In this case where the defendant was convicted of violating a DVPO by attempting to purchase a firearm, the indictment was facially valid and the trial court did not err in concluding that the defendant forfeited her right to appointed counsel. Reciting general principles regarding the facial validity of indictments, the court found the indictment in this case was valid because, among other things, it specifically referenced the defendant’s attempt to purchase a firearm and the existence of the DVPO. As to the defendant’s forfeiture of her right to counsel, the court discussed State v. Simpkins, 373 N.C. 530 (2020) and State v. Curlee, 251 N.C. App. 249 (2016), noting that the Simpkins court contemplated that counsel may be forfeited in situations where a defendant obstructs proceedings by continually hiring and firing counsel or refusing to obtain counsel after multiple opportunities to do so.  The court noted that the Curlee court contemplated that a defendant properly may be required to proceed to trial without counsel when the defendant waives appointed counsel and has a case continued several times [...]