State v. Gibbs, 402A21, ___ N.C. ___ (Jun. 16, 2023)

In this New Hanover County case, the Supreme Court per curiam vacated and remanded an unpublished Court of Appeals opinion that reversed defendant’s conviction for trafficking by possession of an opiate. The Court of Appeals majority ruled that the trial court abused its discretion by ruling that the State’s expert was qualified to testify that fentanyl is an opiate. The State appealed based on the dissent, which held that it was not an abuse of discretion to allow the expert’s testimony. 

The Supreme Court explained that the trial court erred by treating the issue as a fact question, as “whether fentanyl was an opiate for purposes of the trafficking statute in 2018 is a question of law.” Slip Op. at 3. As such, the court concluded that “[b]ecause it is a legal question of statutory interpretation, it was not necessary to have expert testimony to establish whether fentanyl is an opiate.” Id. The court remanded to the Court of Appeals for consideration of whether fentanyl was an opiate under the version of the trafficking statute in effect at the time of the events in the case.