Smith's Criminal Case Compendium

Smith's Criminal Case Compendium

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This compendium includes significant criminal cases by the U.S. Supreme Court & N.C. appellate courts, Nov. 2008 – Present. Selected 4th Circuit cases also are included.

Jessica Smith prepared case summaries Nov. 2008-June 4, 2019; later summaries are prepared by other School staff.

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E.g., 12/04/2024
E.g., 12/04/2024

The defendant was charged by arrest warrant with misdemeanor injury to personal property, misdemeanor larceny, and reckless driving after he cut off the end of a truck stop’s air hose, attempted to strike his passenger with it, and then quickly fled with it when confronted by an undercover officer. He was convicted in district court and appealed to superior court. Before trial in superior court, the State moved to amend the charging language to correct the name of the corporate property owner for the injury to personal property and larceny charges. The prosecutor made the amendment on a misdemeanor statement of charges form with no objection from the defendant. The defendant was convicted and appealed. A divided Court of Appeals held that the superior court lacked jurisdiction to try the charges amended through the statement of charges, reasoning that under the language of G.S. 15A-922(e), a statement of charges may be filed after arraignment only if the defendant objects to the State’s original pleading. State v. Capps, ___ N.C. App. ___, 828 S.E.2d 733 (2019). The State appealed and the Supreme Court reversed, reinstating the convictions. The Court held that warrants may be amended at any time when doing so does not materially affect the nature of the charged offense or is otherwise authorized by law. And the State may make the amendment though a statement of charges, because the General Assembly intended statements of charges to be generally treated like amendments. The Court rejected the defendant’s argument that the defendant’s objection to the sufficiency of a warrant is a necessary prerequisite to a post-arraignment statement of charges.

In this Forsyth County case, defendant appealed his conviction for misdemeanor stalking, arguing a host of issues related to the charging document and jury instructions, as well as ineffective assistance of counsel. The Court of Appeals found no error. 

Over the course of 2020, defendant engaged in a series of harassing and intimidating behaviors towards his duplex neighbor, who was a 65-year-old black man. After an argument about yard waste, defendant placed a letter in the victim’s mailbox referencing Section 74-19 of the Winston-Salem ordinances, which requires residents to keep the streets and sidewalks free of vegetation. Defendant began putting milk jugs filled with water in his driveway, with letters written on them that spelled out racial and homophobic slurs. Late at night, defendant would rev up his truck’s engine with the taillights aimed at the victim’s bedroom window, and bang on the wall of the duplex which served as the victim’s bedroom wall. The victim eventually filed charges against defendant, leading to his conviction. 

On appeal, defendant first argued error in failing to instruct the jury to the specific course of conduct, which allowed the jury to convict him of stalking under a theory of conduct not alleged in the charging instrument. This led the court to consider whether it was invited error, as defense counsel participated in the discussion of the jury instructions based on the pattern instruction for stalking. After reviewing the relevant caselaw, the court could not establish invited error here. Defense counsel participated in discussion around the jury instructions, but “the specific issue of instructing the jury that its conviction could only be based on the course of conduct alleged in the charging instrument did not arise during the charge conference.” Slip Op. at 14. The court explained that “when a provision is excluded from the instruction and the appealing party did not affirmatively consent to its exclusion but only consented to the instructions as given[,]” the party’s actions do not rise to invited error. Id. at 16. The court then moved to plain error review, finding defendant could not show prejudice as the evidence supported conviction based on the course of conduct alleged in the charging document, and different instructions would not have produced a different result. 

Defendant also argued that admitting evidence of conduct not described in the charging document represented the admission of evidence under Rule of Evidence 404(b), and he argued this required a limiting instruction from the trial court. The court disagreed, explaining that defendant did not request a limiting instruction and “the trial court is not required to provide a limiting instruction when no party has requested one.” Id. at 21. Defendant then argued error in instructing the jury on theories of guilt under G.S. 14-277.3A that were not in the charging document, and here, in contrast to the issue above, the court found invited error because defendant “specifically and affirmatively consented to this construction of the charge.” Id. at 23. The court also pointed out that defendant could not demonstrate prejudice, as it was unlikely that the jury would find the defendant put the victim at fear of death or serious injury, but not of further harassment.

Defendant also argued ineffective assistance of counsel, pointing to the alleged errors discussed above. The court dispensed with this part of defendant’s argument by noting he could not establish the prejudice necessary to prevail on an ineffective assistance claim. Assuming counsel had objected to the various issues above, the court determined that the same guilty outcome was likely for defendant. Finally, the court considered defendant’s argument that the evidence was insufficient to support a conviction, determining that evidence of defendant’s “course of conduct . . . combined with evidence of his other actions towards [the victim]” supported the jury’s verdict. 

The superior court lacked jurisdiction to try the defendant for resisting arrest where the defendant was tried on a misdemeanor statement of charges filed in superior court. The State filed the statement of charges on its own, without an objection to the magistrate’s order having been made by the defendant. Under G.S. 15A-922, “the State has a limited window in which it may file a statement of charges on its own accord, and that is prior to arraignment” in district court. After arraignment, the State may only file a statement of charges when the defendant objects to the sufficiency of the pleading and the trial court rules that the pleading is insufficient.

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