Case Summaries: N.C. Supreme Court (Dec. 15, 2023)

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the Supreme Court of North Carolina released on December 15, 2023. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to the present. Going armed to the terror of the public does not require allegation that defendant’s conduct occurred on a public highway. State v. Lancaster, 240A22, ___ N.C. ___ (Dec. 15, 2023). In this Craven County case, the State appealed a Court of Appeals majority opinion holding the indictment charging defendant with going armed to the terror of the public was deficient as it did not allege defendant’s conduct occurred on a public highway. The Supreme Court found no error in the indictment and reversed the Court of Appeals. Defendant was indicted for waiving a gun around and firing randomly in two parking lots during September of 2019. After defendant was convicted, his counsel filed an Anders brief with the Court of Appeals. After conducting an Anders review of the record, the Court of Appeals applied State v. Staten, 32 N.C. App. 495 (1977), and determined that defendant’s indictment was fatally flawed as it was missing the essential element that defendant committed his acts on a public highway. The State appealed based upon the dissent, which would have held that the allegations were sufficient. Taking up the appeal, the Supreme Court disagreed that going armed to the terror of the public “includes an element that the criminal conduct occur on a [...]