The New Firearm/Deadly Weapon Enhancement

Structured Sentencing has always included a provision allowing for an enhanced sentence for felonies committed by using, displaying, or threatening to use or display a firearm or deadly weapon. G.S. 15A-1340.16A. It isn’t used very often. It was used only once statewide last year, and not at all the year before that. That may change under the amended version of the law, enacted in S.L. 2013-369 (H 937) and effective for offenses committed on or after October 1, 2013. The revised law makes several changes to the existing enhancement. First, the enhancement is expanded so that it applies to all classes of felonies. The previous version applied only to Class A through E felonies. Second, the law is amended so that that the number of months of the enhancement varies depending on the offense class of the underlying felony. The rules are as follows: Class A–E felonies: 72-month minimum sentence enhancement. Class F and G felonies: 36-month minimum sentence enhancement. Class H and I felonies: 12-month minimum sentence enhancement. Remember that these are minimum sentence enhancements. You cannot just add the same number of months to the maximum sentence. State v. Lucas, 353 N.C. 568, 599 (2001) (“Accordingly, we believe that the General Assembly intended that the trial court add 60 months to the minimum sentence, then refer to the sentencing charts to determine the corresponding maximum sentence.”). Rather, the law instructs that the enhanced maximum is the maximum that corresponds to the inflated minimum as specified in G.S. 15A-1340.17(e) and [...]