Case Summaries – N.C. Court of Appeals (Mar. 2, 2021)

This post summarizes published criminal decisions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on March 2, 2021. As always, they will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to present. (1) The trial court did not commit plain error by admitting the State’s expert testimony that the minor victim’s medical history was “consistent with” child sexual abuse. (2) The trial court acted within its statutory and inherent authority to control the courtroom when closing the courtroom and locking the doors during delivery of the jury instructions. (3) The defendant failed to show prejudice sufficient to constitute ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. State v. Perdomo, ___ N.C. App. ___, ___ S.E.2d ___ (Mar. 2, 2021). The defendant was found guilty of taking indecent liberties with a child after his thirteen-year-old niece disclosed to several people that the defendant was behaving in a sexually inappropriate manner toward her. On appeal, the defendant contended that the trial court committed plain error by permitting the State’s expert to vouch for the minor’s credibility. The defendant argued that the expert impermissibly testified that the minor’s medical history “was consistent with child sexual abuse” and that her “physical exam would be consistent with a child who had disclosed child sexual abuse.” Slip op. at ¶ 8. The Court of Appeals rejected the defendant’s argument, noting that for expert testimony to amount to vouching for a witness’s credibility, that expert testimony must present “a definitive diagnosis of [...]