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., 10/13/2024
E.g., 10/13/2024

In this Iredell County case, defendant appealed his conviction for solicitation of a child by an electronic device, arguing he did not know the victim was under sixteen years old. The Court of Appeals found no error. 

In September of 2019, defendant exchanged snapchat messages with a fourteen-year-old girl he had met when he was giving a roofing estimate to her parents. Defendant’s messages to the girl became sexually explicit, and he set up a time to meet with her, driving to her home. At that point, the girl became scared and told her parents, who called police to report the situation. Defendant never met with the victim, but snapchat messages were later retrieved from her phone and used by officers in the investigation. Defendant moved to dismiss the charges, arguing insufficient evidence was admitted that he knew the victim’s age before traveling to meet her, but the trial court denied the motion. 

Taking up defendant’s argument, the Court of Appeals explained substantial evidence, both circumstantial and direct, supported denial of defendant’s motion. Circumstantially, defendant knew that the girl was taking dual-enrollment community college classes while still in high school. For direct evidence, the girl messaged defendant that she was under fourteen after she went into her parents’ room to tell them of the situation, and in her message, she asked defendant if that was a problem. Defendant responded “naw,” which was ambiguous, but the court explained “in the light most favorable to the State, Defendant’s response indicated he did not care that [the victim] was fourteen and chose to proceed with the plan to meet with her to engage in sexual activity regardless of her age.” Slip op. at 10. 

In this New Hanover County case, defendant appealed his conviction for soliciting a child by computer, arguing error in denying his motion to dismiss for insufficient evidence. The Court of Appeals found no error. 

In 2019, defendant began communicating with a fifteen-year-old girl online. Defendant was aware of her age, but still messaged her regarding sexual activity, and on at least four occasions the girl went to defendant’s house. During these visits, defendant groped and kissed the girl. The FBI received a tip regarding defendant’s behavior and observed a conversation in August of 2019 where defendant messaged the girl on snapchat. Defendant was indicted on several charges related to his contact with the fifteen-year-old, but during the trial moved to dismiss only the charge of soliciting a child by computer. After being convicted of indecent liberties with a child and several over related offenses, defendant appealed the sufficiency of the evidence regarding the soliciting a child by computer charge alone.

Defendant argued that the evidence for soliciting a child by computer was insufficient because the snapchat messages from August of 2019 did not arrange a plan or show a request to meet in person before the fifteen-year-old’s sixteenth birthday. Defendant argued that this evidence failed to prove he intended to “commit an unlawful sex act” as required by G.S. 14-202.3(a). Slip Op. at 4-5. The Court of Appeals disagreed, explaining that although there was no explicit plan to meet in the snapchat messages, defendant’s intent could be inferred from the content of the messages and his previous conduct with the girl when she came to his house. Because defendant’s intent could be inferred regarding the necessary sex act, the court found no error when dismissing defendant’s motion. 

The defendant advised or enticed an officer posing as a child to meet the defendant, on the facts presented. The court noted that since the terms advise and entice were not defined by the statute, the General Assembly is presumed to have used the words to convey their natural and ordinary meaning.

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