State v. Krider, 370 N.C. 692 (Sept. 21, 2018)

On appeal from the decision of a divided panel of the Court of Appeals, ___ N.C. App. ___, 810 S.E.2d 828 (2018), the court affirmed per curiam, holding that the State failed to carry its burden of presenting sufficient evidence to support the trial court’s decision to revoke the defendant’s probation based upon a finding that the defendant willfully absconded probation. It went on, however, to “disavow the portion of the opinion analyzing the pertinence of the fact that defendant’s probationary term expired prior to the date of the probation violation hearing and holding ‘that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to revoke defendant’s probation after his case expired.’” In the opinion below, the Court of Appeals held that because the State presented insufficient evidence to support a finding of willful absconding, the trial court lacked jurisdiction to revoke the defendant’s probation after the term of probation ended. When the defendant’s probation officer visited his reported address, an unidentified woman advised the officer that the defendant did not live there. The State presented no evidence regarding the identity of this person or her relationship to the defendant. The officer never attempted to contact the defendant again. However when the defendant contacted the officer following his absconding arrest, the officer met the defendant at the residence in question. The Court of Appeals held that the evidence was insufficient to establish absconding. It went on to hold that the trial court’s decision was not only an abuse of discretion but also was an error that deprived the court of jurisdiction to revoke the defendant’s probation after his probationary term expired.