State v. Parker, 274 N.C. App. 464 (Dec. 1, 2020)

(1) Evidence at trial tended to show that after the victim requested a ride to Walmart and the community college because his car was in the shop for repair, the defendant, who was the victim’s cousin, and the defendant’s girlfriend drove the victim to a secluded area where the defendant robbed him at gunpoint.  Viewed in the light most favorable to the State, the victim’s testimony of the defendant’s claim of having to “make a quick stop somewhere” on the way to the community college from Walmart, where the victim had cashed a check for a significant amount of money, was sufficient evidence that the defendant unlawfully removed the victim by means of fraud and trickery, without the victim’s consent, for the purpose of committing armed robbery such that the trial court did not err by denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss for insufficient evidence.  As the court explained, the “[d]efendant’s misrepresentations regarding the parties’ ultimate destination enabled him to remove [the victim] to the secluded location, where [the] [d]efendant robbed him at gunpoint.” Slip op. at 19.

(2) The record was insufficient to enable review of the merits of the defendant’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim regarding his trial attorney’s failure to stipulate to a prior conviction and the court dismissed the claim without prejudice so that the defendant could reassert it in a MAR.