Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
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In re J.B., ___ N.C. App. ___, 809 S.E.2d 353 (Jan. 2, 2018)
In a case where a juvenile was found to be delinquent based on the offense of injury to personal property with respect to a school printer, the trial court did not err by denying the juvenile’s motion to dismiss. The petition alleged that the juvenile damaged a printer owned by the “Charlotte Mecklenburg Board of Education[.]” The juvenile argued that the trial court erred by denying the motion to dismiss because the petition failed to allege that the school was an entity capable of owning property and that the evidence at trial did not prove who owned the printer. The court held that because the juvenile conceded the fact that the school was an entity capable of owning property and the State presented evidence that the school owned the printer, the trial court did not err by denying the motion. The court noted that the juvenile’s counsel expressly acknowledged to the trial court that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education is an entity capable of owning property. The court also noted that because the juvenile did not contest this issue at trial, it could not be raised for the first time on appeal. As to the evidence, the State presented a witness who testified to ownership of the printer. A concurring judge recognized that with respect to the petition’s failure to plead that the owner was an entity capable of owning property, had the pleading been an indictment, the issue could be raised for the first time on appeal. However, the concurring judge concluded that the owner’s capability of owning property does not need have been pleaded in a petition with the same specificity as in an indictment.