State v. Alonzo, 373 N.C. 437 (Feb. 28, 2020)

Contrary to the conclusion of the Court of Appeals below, the trial court did not err in this felony child abuse case under G.S. 14-318.4 by failing to instruct the jury that the term “sexual act” for purposes of the offense is the definition provided for the term in what is now Article 7B of G.S. Chapter 14 (Rape and Other Sex Offenses).  Conducting a statutory construction analysis, the Supreme Court concluded that the legislative history of the Article 7B definitions statute, G.S. 14-27.20, indicated that the provided definition of “sexual act” was intended by the legislature to apply within its own article and, consequently, not to the offense of felony child abuse.  The court noted that since its enactment and throughout numerous legislative changes the definitions statute in Article 7B consistently has stated that its applicability is limited to its own article.  As neither the defendant nor the state presented the issue for the court in their petitions for discretionary review, the court declined to reach the defendant’s argument that the trial court’s instruction on the term “sexual act,” which seemed to match the definition of indecent liberties under G.S. 14-202.1, was erroneously overbroad.