Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Table of Contents
Evidence
Arrest, Search, and Investigation
Criminal Offenses
Drug Offenses
State v. Parks, ___ N.C. App. ___, 824 S.E.2d 881 (Feb. 19, 2019)
In this assault case, the trial court did not err by instructing the jury that it could consider the defendant’s alleged flight as evidence of guilt. The court began: “The probative value of flight evidence has been ‘consistently doubted’” in our legal system, and we note at the outset that we similarly doubt the probative value of Defendant’s alleged flight here.” However, it went on to conclude that the evidence supports a flight instruction. Specifically, witnesses testified that the defendant ran from the scene of the altercation.