This post summarizes published criminal decisions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on May 4, 2021. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to present. (1) Trial court did not commit reversible error by failing to cause the defendant to be timely served with the indictment; (2) Trial court did not err by denying defendant’s motion for standby counsel, which was made following multiple waivers of counsel and after the jury was empaneled. State v. Crudup, ___ N.C. App. ___, ___ S.E.2d ___ (May 4, 2021). The defendant was charged and convicted of felonious breaking and entering, felonious larceny after breaking and entering, and attaining the status of habitual felon for breaking into a neighbor’s house on April 24, 2018 and stealing a coffee canister of cash. (1) The defendant, who had been arrested two days after the crime, did not receive copies of the initial indictment or a superseding indictment until December 17, 2018 – the day his trial began. After receiving the indictment, the defendant said he was ready to proceed with trial. The defendant argued on appeal that the trial court’s failure to follow the timely notice requirements of G.S. 15A-630 undermined his ability to prepare for trial and to assert certain statutory rights. The Court of Appeals disagreed, reasoning that although the defendant was not timely served with the indictment, the delay was not jurisdictional, and the defendant did not show that [...]
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