NC Court Takes a Restrictive View of “Significant Change in the Law” MARs

In a bulletin here I wrote about NC’s procedure for post-conviction motions for appropriate relief (MARs). Among other things, that bulletin explains the types of claims that can be raised in a MAR. One of those claims is that “[t]here has been a significant change in law, either substantive or procedural, applied in the proceedings leading to the defendant's conviction or sentence, and retroactive application of the changed legal standard is required.” G.S. 15A-1415(b)(7). In a recent case, State v. Harwood, the NC Court of Appeals took a restrictive view of this MAR ground. In Harwood, the defendant pleaded guilty to 19 counts of felon in possession of a firearm. He later filed a MAR seeking to vacate 18 of the 19 counts. In support of his motion he asserted that the court’s decision in State v. Garris, 191 N.C. App. 276 (2008), constituted a significant change in the law that retroactively applied to his case and entitled him to relief. In Garris, the court held that a defendant may be convicted and sentenced only once for simultaneous possession of more than one firearm. Rejecting the defendant’s argument, the Court of Appeals determined that it didn’t even need to reach the question of whether Garris applied retroactively (a tricky question; if you need information about retroactivity, I discuss the relevant analysis here). Instead, the court concluded that Garris didn’t constitute a “significant change in the law” as contemplated by the MAR statute. It explained: At the time that this Court decided [...]