Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
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State v. Jefferies, 243 N.C. App. 455 (Oct. 6, 2015)
In this burning of personal property case where the indictment charged that the defendant set fire to the victim’s bed, jewelry, and clothing and the evidence showed only that he set fire to her bedding, no fatal variance occurred. The State was not required to show that the defendant also set fire to her jewelry and clothing. The court rejected the defendant’s argument that there was a fatal variance between the indictment’s allegation that he set fire to her bed and the evidence, which showed he set fire to her bedding. Any variance in this regard was not material, given that there was no evidence that the “bedding” was found anywhere other than on the bed. It concluded: “we are unable to discern how Defendant was unfairly surprised, misled, or otherwise prejudiced in the preparation of his defense by the indictment’s failure to identify the ‘bedding’ rather than the ‘bed.’”