Case Summaries -- N.C. Supreme Court (September 24, 2021)

This post summarizes criminal decisions released by the Supreme Court of North Carolina on Friday, September 24, 2021. The Court of Appeals abused its discretion by allowing the defendant’s petition for writ of certiorari and invoking Rule 2 to review the satellite-based monitoring orders issued by the trial court. State v. Ricks, ___ N.C. ___, 2021 NCSC-116 (Sept. 24, 2021). In this case involving the trial court’s imposition of lifetime satellite-based monitoring (SBM) following the defendant’s conviction for statutory rape of a child by an adult and other sex offenses, the North Carolina Supreme Court held that the Court of Appeals erred by allowing the defendant’s petition for writ of certiorari and invoking Rule 2 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure to review the defendant’s unpreserved challenge to the SBM orders. The defendant was convicted of three counts of statutory rape of a child by an adult, two counts of statutory sex offense with a child, and three counts of taking indecent liberties with a child. The trial court held an SBM hearing and determined that all of the defendant’s offenses were sexually violent and involved the physical, mental, or sexual abuse of a minor. The trial court also found that the statutory rape and statutory sex offense convictions were aggravated offenses. For these convictions, the trial court ordered lifetime SBM pursuant to G.S. 14-208.40A(c). The defendant did not object to the imposition of SBM or file a written notice of appeal from the SBM orders; nevertheless, he later petitioned the [...]