Case Summaries: N.C. Court of Appeals (Oct. 15, 2024)

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on October 15, 2024. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to the present. Search warrant was not invalid due to photographs of wrong property because it referenced correct address to be searched; edits made to warrant after issuance to remove references to photographs did not render it invalid. State v. Ellison, COA24-30, ___ N.C. App. ___ (Oct. 15, 2024). In this Watauga County case, defendant appealed after pleading guilty to larceny and breaking and entering, arguing error in denying his motion to suppress the results of a search of his property. The Court of Appeals found no error. In December of 2022, a caller reported two chainsaws were stolen from his property and provided law enforcement with trail camera footage of two men taking the chainsaws away in a wagon. Officers identified defendant as one of the men and prepared a search warrant for his property at 303 Tanner Road, including a photograph from the front of the property, an aerial photograph, and a description of a single wide mobile home with white siding. When executing the warrant, law enforcement officers realized they had provided photographs of the wrong property, which were of 310 Tanner Road. The officers went to the magistrate, who marked out the warrant’s reference to the attached photographs and initialed changes on the search warrant. The officers then [...]