Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Table of Contents
State v. Thompson, ___ N.C. App. ____, 801 S.E.2d 689 (Jun. 20, 2017)
The trial court erred by finding that the defendant had “gang affiliation” and ordering gang restrictions in the judgment. G.S. 14-50.25 provides that when a defendant is found guilty of a criminal offense relevant to the statute “the presiding judge shall determine whether the offense involved criminal street gang activity.” If the judge makes this determination, then he “shall indicate on the form reflecting the judgment that the offense involved criminal street gang activity.” Here, the judge made a judicial, not clerical error, where there was no evidence to support such a finding. The court declined to reach the defendant’s argument that the statute was unconstitutional under the Apprendi line of cases (holding that any fact other than a prior conviction that elevates a sentence must be submitted to the jury).