State v. Brooks, 204 N.C. App. 193 (May. 18, 2010)

A defendant’s appeal from a trial court’s order requiring enrollment in SBM for life is a civil matter. Thus, oral notice of appeal pursuant to N.C.R. App. P. 4(a)(1) is insufficient to confer jurisdiction on the court of appeals. Instead, a defendant must give notice of appeal pursuant to N.C.R. App. P. 3(a) as is proper “in a civil action or special proceeding[.]” For related cases, compare State v. Clayton, 206 N.C. App. 300 (Aug. 3, 2010) (following Brooks and treating the defendant’s brief as a petition for writ of certiorari and granted the petition to address the merits of his appeal); State v. Oxendine, 206 N.C. App. 205 (Aug. 3, 2010) (same); State v. Cowan, 207 N.C. App. 192 (Sept. 21, 2010) (same); State v. May, 207 N.C. App. 260 (Sept. 21, 2010) (same); State v. Williams, 207 N.C. App. 499 (Oct. 19, 2010) (same), with State v. Inman, 206 N.C. App. 324 (Aug. 3, 2010) (over a dissent, the court followed Brooks and held that because there was no written notice of appeal, it lacked jurisdiction to consider the defendant’s appeal from a trial court order requiring SBM enrollment; the court declined to treat the defendant’s appeal as a petition for writ of certiorari; the dissenting opinion would have treated the defendant’s appeal as a writ of certiorari and affirmed the trial court’s order.