This post summarizes published criminal decisions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on May 4, 2021. These summaries, which were written by Shea Denning and Jamie Markham, will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to present. (1) There was no speedy trial violation despite a seven-year delay between the defendant’s arrest and trial; (2) The trial court properly denied the defendant’s motion for a mistrial based on juror misconduct; (3) The defendant received ineffective assistance of counsel at his satellite-based monitoring determination hearing. State v. Spinks, 2021-NCCOA-218, ___ N.C. App. ___, ___ S.E.2d ___ (May 18, 2021). In this Guilford County case, the defendant was convicted by a jury of indecent liberties with a child in May 2019 for a 2011 incident involving his daughter’s 6-year-old friend. He was sentenced to 28-43 months in prison and ordered to enroll in satellite-based monitoring for life. (1) The defendant argued on appeal that his right to a speedy trial was violated by the seven-year delay between his arrest and trial. Applying the four-factor test from Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514 (1972) (the length of delay; the reason for the delay; the defendant’s assertion of his right; and prejudice to the defendant), the Court of Appeals concluded that there was no speedy trial violation. The seven-year delay undoubtedly triggered the need to continue the Barker inquiry. As to the second factor, however, the record showed that the vast majority of [...]
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