Consolidation Across Effective Dates

Many parts of the Justice Reinvestment Act, including most of the changes related to “front-end” sentencing, were made effective for offenses occurring on or after December 1, 2011. It takes some time for those offense-date based changes to show up in court for sentencing, but it’s starting to happen. Especially on the early end of the transition from prior law to new law, many offenders will be before the court for sentencing on multiple offenses, some of which will have occurred before December 1, and some on or after that date. And so questions will surely arise about how those convictions may relate to one another. One question I’ve already been asked is whether a post–December 1, 2011 offense may be consolidated with one that occurred before December 1. Under G.S. 15A-1340.15(b), if an offender is convicted of more than one offense at the same time, the court may consolidate the offenses for judgment and impose a single judgment for the consolidated offenses. That single judgment shall contain a sentence for the class of offense and prior record level of the “most serious offense.” But can acts sentenced under different versions of Structured Sentencing be consolidated for judgment? There’s some authority to suggest that they may not. In State v. Branch, 134 N.C. App. 637 (1999), the court of appeals considered whether it was permissible to consolidate an offense sentenced under Fair Sentencing with a Structured Sentencing offense. The defendant in the case initially received a consolidated Structured Sentencing judgment (12–15 [...]