Case Summaries: N.C. Supreme Court (Oct. 20, 2023)

This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the Supreme Court of North Carolina released on October 20, 2023. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a free and searchable database of case summaries from 2008 to the present. Rule 404(b) testimony was admissible where alleged sexual assault was sufficiently similar and shared unique facts with the crime in question; trial court’s statement regarding “choice” during sentencing hearing was not obviously referencing defendant’s choice for a jury trial.   State v. Pickens, 276A22, ___ N.C. ___ (Oct. 20, 2023). In this Wake County case, the Supreme Court (1) affirmed the Court of Appeals holding that Rule 404(b) testimony was properly admitted, but (2) reversed the Court of Appeals decision vacating defendant’s sentence for improper consideration of the choice to pursue a jury trial, reinstating defendant’s original sentence. From August-September of 2015, defendant, a middle-school chorus teacher, repeatedly raped and assaulted an eleven-year old student in the bathroom of the middle school as the student took her daily trips to the school nurse for medication. The student eventually reported the details of the assaults, leading to defendant’s trial for statutory rape and statutory sexual offense with a child in October of 2019. At trial, defendant filed a motion in limine to prevent the State from admitting testimony under Rule of Evidence 404(b) regarding defendant’s alleged rape of a previous student, but the trial court denied his motion. After the jury found defendant guilty of all charges, he was sentenced [...]