Case Summaries: North Carolina Supreme Court (Feb. 11, 2022)

This post summarized published criminal and related decisions from the North Carolina Supreme Court released on February 11, 2022. These summaries will be added to the Criminal Case Compendium. Absent physical evidence of abuse, it was plain error to admit expert testimony that sexual abuse had occurred and that identified the defendant as the perpetrator; new trial State v. Clark, ___ N.C. ___, 2022-NCSC-13 (Feb. 11, 2022). The defendant was convicted at trial of indecent liberties with a minor in Pitt County. The trial court allowed an expert witness for the State to testify the minor child had been sexually abused, despite a lack of physical evidence. The defendant did not object at the time. The same expert testified about her treatment recommendations for the minor victim, which included that the child have no contact with the defendant, again without objection. The defendant argued that the admission of this evidence was plain error, or alternatively that the record showed ineffective assistance of counsel based on trial counsel’s failure to object to the challenged testimony. A divided Court of Appeals affirmed in an unpublished decision. The majority found that admission of this testimony, though error, did not amount to plain error. The dissent at the Court of Appeals would have found ineffective assistance of counsel based on trial counsel’s failure to object to the expert testimony. A majority of the North Carolina Supreme Court reversed and granted a new trial. An expert may not testify that a child has been sexually abused [...]