Case Summaries: N.C. Supreme Court (Dec. 16, 2022)

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the Supreme Court of North Carolina released on December 16, 2022. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to the present. Trial court’s procedure for consenting to defendant’s waiver of jury trial complied with G.S. 15A-1201(d)(1) and did not represent abuse of discretion. State v. Rollinson, 2022-NCSC-139, ___ N.C. ___ (Dec. 16, 2022). In this Iredell County case, the Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals decision finding that the trial court complied with G.S. 15A-1201(d)(1) when consenting to defendant’s waiver of the right to a jury trial for habitual felon status. After the 2014 amendment to the North Carolina constitution permitting defendants to waive their right to a jury trial in non-death penalty cases with the consent of the trial court, the General Assembly enacted G.S. 15A-1201(d), outlining the process for judicial consent to a defendant’s jury trial waiver. Defendant argued that trial court erred by permitting his counsel to respond on his behalf to the trial court’s inquiry as to whether he understood the consequences of waiving his right to a jury trial. The Supreme Court considered the interpretation of G.S. 15A-1201(d) de novo, and noted that while the statute mandates who to address (defendant) and what must be determined (whether defendant understands the consequences of waiving a jury trial), the statute does not specify the procedure the trial court must follow. Because the statute is silent, the [...]