Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Table of Contents
State v. Rogers, 227 N.C. App. 617 (Jun. 4, 2013)
Although the trial court erred when instructing the jury on first-degree burglary, no plain error occurred. The first-degree burglary indictment alleged that the defendant entered the dwelling with intent to commit larceny. The trial court instructed the jury that it could find the defendant guilty if at the time of the breaking and entering he intended to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon. Citing State v. Farrar, 361 N.C. 675 (2007) (burglary indictment alleged larceny as underlying felony but jury instructions stated that underlying felony was armed robbery; reviewing for plain error, the court held that the defendant had not been prejudiced by the instruction; because larceny is a lesser-included of armed robbery, the jury instructions benefitted defendant by adding an additional element for the State to prove), the court found that the defendant was not prejudiced by the error.