Case Summaries: N.C. Supreme Court (Oct. 18, 2024)

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the Supreme Court of North Carolina released on October 18, 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. Supreme Court per curiam affirms the Court of Appeals decision regarding exigent circumstances justifying warrantless blood draw. State v. Burris, 198A23, ___ N.C. ___ (Oct. 18, 2024). The Supreme Court per curiam affirmed the Court of Appeals decision State v. Burris, 289 N.C. App. 535 (2023). In that decision, the Court of Appeals majority held that denying defendant’s motion to suppress the results of a warrantless blood draw did not represent error because the State established sufficient evidence of exigent circumstances. Further discussion about the Court of Appeals decision and the applicable legal standard is in this blog post by Prof. Shea Denning. Trial judge’s finding of aggravating factors in violation of the DWI sentencing statute did not automatically entitle a defendant to a new sentencing hearing; G.S. 20-179(a1)(2) does not provide defendant greater protection than required under Blakely and requires only harmless error review. State v. King, 119A23, ___ N.C. ___ (Oct. 18, 2024). In this Buncombe County case, the Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals decision vacating defendant’s convictions for driving while impaired (DWI) and reckless driving due to errors by the trial court in finding aggravating factors while sentencing. The Court remanded to the Court of Appeals for a new hearing to determine whether the [...]