Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Table of Contents
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
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Because the defendant was sentenced in the presumptive range, the trial court did not err in failing to make findings regarding a mitigating factor.
The trial court did not err by considering the seriousness of the offense when exercising its discretion to choose a minimum term within the presumptive range.
The court rejected the defendant’s argument that because his sentence at the top of the presumptive range overlapped with the low end of the aggravated range, it was improper without findings of an aggravating factor. No such findings are required to support the defendant’s presumptive range...
The trial judge’s comments about the judgment and conviction form did not suggest that it incorrectly thought that it could not impose a sentence in the presumptive range when aggravating and mitigating factors were in equipoise.