Suppose a defendant is convicted of a class I felony and has a prior record level of I. That’s a “C” block on the felony sentencing grid, where only community punishment is authorized. Community punishment can include a range of punishments from a fine only, up to supervised probation, but does not encompass a straight active sentence. The defendant informs the sentencing court that she wants to serve her time in prison. The defendant further explicitly states she will not accept probation and refuses to meet with probation, missing several opportunities to begin the intake process. What options does the trial court have? Since a 1995 amendment to G.S. 15A-1341 (repealing subsection (c) of that statute, effective 1/1/1997), the law no longer requires that the defendant consent to be placed on probation, nor may the defendant elect to activate her sentence, at least in any straightforward sense. That said, it seems possible to arrange for an otherwise mandatory suspended sentence to be immediately invoked if certain findings are made and procedural protections observed. Jamie has discussed the issue of electing to serve a sentence before here and here. It’s certainly not as easy to immediately invoke a ‘C’ block sentence in the post-Justice Reinvestment world, but there are options for the trial court if a defendant “refuses” probation. Failure to follow the process to the letter, however, can result in problems, as the McCaster case illustrates. Facts In State v. McCaster, ___ N.C. App. ___ (February 6, 2018), the defendant was [...]
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