Case Summaries: N.C. Court of Appeals (March 5, 2025)

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on March 5, 2025. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to the present. Second trial judge did not have authority to enter order denying motion to dismiss when hearing was held and ruling was rendered by previous trial judge who retired before entry of the order. State v. Fearns, COA23-650, ___ N.C. App. ___ (March 5, 2025). For more in-depth discussion of this case, see this post by Prof. Shea Denning. In this Granville County case, defendant appealed her conviction for embezzlement, arguing that the trial court lacked authority to enter the order denying her motion to dismiss because it was not issued by the superior court judge who held the hearing. The Court of Appeals vacated the trial court’s order denying Defendant’s motion and remanded the matter for a new hearing on the motion. In 2008, police began investigating defendant, an employee of a law firm, for allegedly embezzling approximately $50,000 from client trust funds. Due to various complications, including personnel changes and difficulty obtaining records, charges were not brought until January 2019. Defendant moved to dismiss, alleging the delay prejudiced her due to the unavailability of key documents. The trial judge who presided over the motion hearing in January 2020 orally denied it and asked the State to draft the order. This trial judge retired in October 2020. In September [...]