Resentencing on Remand: G.S. 15A-1335 Applied to Multiple Convictions

Under G.S. 15A-1335, “[w]hen a conviction or sentence imposed in superior court has been set aside on direct review or collateral attack, the court may not impose a new sentence for the same offense, or for a different offense based on the same conduct, which is more severe than the prior sentence less the portion of the prior sentence previously served.” That law is North Carolina’s statutory response to the United States Supreme Court’s decision in North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711 (1969), which limited a judge’s authority to impose a more severe after a defendant’s successful appeal. Our statute is actually a little more protective for defendants than Pearce itself—something you can read all about in Jessie Smith’s excellent bulletin on the Limitations on a Judge’s Authority to Impose a More Severe Sentence After a Defendant’s Successful Appeal or Collateral Attack. The law is straightforward enough when the sentence for a single conviction is overturned on appeal. It’s more complicated, though, when multiple convictions are involved. The court of appeals’ recent decision in State v. Daniels provides an illustration. In Daniels, the defendant was convicted of first-degree rape and first-degree kidnapping. He was sentenced to consecutive terms of 307–378 months for the rape and 133–169 months for the kidnapping. On Daniels’ first appeal, the court of appeals held it was error for the trial court to permit the same sexual assault to serve as the basis for the defendant’s first-degree rape and first-degree kidnapping convictions. (Though not the primary [...]