Smith's Criminal Case Compendium

Smith's Criminal Case Compendium

About

This compendium includes significant criminal cases by the U.S. Supreme Court & N.C. appellate courts, Nov. 2008 – Present. Selected 4th Circuit cases also are included.

Jessica Smith prepared case summaries Nov. 2008-June 4, 2019; later summaries are prepared by other School staff.

Instructions

Navigate using the table of contents to the left or by using the search box below. Use quotations for an exact phrase search. A search for multiple terms without quotations functions as an “or” search. Not sure where to start? The 5 minute video tutorial offers a guided tour of main features – Launch Tutorial (opens in new tab).

E.g., 10/04/2024
E.g., 10/04/2024

On discretionary review of a unanimous decision of the Court of Appeals, 240 N.C. App. 264 (2015), the court reversed, holding that an indictment charging the defendant with injury to real property “of Katy’s Great Eats” was not fatally defective. The court rejected the argument that the...

Upon trial de novo in superior court, the defendant in this case was convicted of misdemeanor injury to personal property for throwing a balloon filled with black ink onto a painting during a protest at an arts event in Asheville. The defendant received a suspended 30-day sentence and was...

In a case where a juvenile was found to be delinquent based on the offense of injury to personal property with respect to a school printer, the trial court did not err by denying the juvenile’s motion to dismiss. The petition alleged that the juvenile damaged a printer owned by the “Charlotte...

(1) There was no fatal defect in an indictment charging the defendant with injury to personal property. The defendant asserted that the indictment was invalid because it failed to allege that the owner, a church, as an entity capable of owning property. In State v. Campbell, 368 N.C. 83...

The court rejected the defendant’s fatal variance argument regarding injury to real property charges, noting that the North Carolina Supreme Court recently held that an indictment charging this crime need only identify the real property, not its owner.

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...

No fatal variance between an indictment charging injury to real property and the evidence at trial. The indictment incorrectly described the lessee of the real property as its owner. The indictment was sufficient because it identified the lawful possessor of the property.

Show Table of Contents