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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In a case involving federal drug and RICO conspiracy charges the Court held that allocating to the defendant the burden of proving withdrawal from the conspiracy does not violate the Due Process Clause. This rule remains intact even when withdrawal is the basis of a statute of limitations...
In this Watauga County case, the Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals majority decision vacating defendant’s conviction for conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon, reinstating his conviction.
In April of 2017, defendant and two associates planned to rob a drug dealer...
The defendant was the twin brother of another criminal defendant and was attending his brother’s trial for assault on a government official in Watauga County (itself the subject of a published opinion, here). Following the...
In a per curiam opinion, the court affirmed the decision of a divided panel of the Court of Appeals, ___ N.C. App. ___, 807 S.E.2d 603 (2017). The defendant was charged with five indictments alleging five separate offenses of conspiracy to commit robbery arising from five separate incidents. The...
On appeal in this drug case from an unpublished opinion by the court of appeals, the supreme court held that there was sufficient evidence to support a conviction for conspiracy to traffic in opium. Specifically, the court pointed to evidence, detailed in the opinion, that the defendant agreed...
In this McDowell County case, defendant appealed his convictions for conspiracy to traffic in methamphetamine and aiding and abetting a continuing criminal enterprise (“CCE”), arguing (1) the CCE indictment was fatally flawed as it did not specify each of the acts committed under the CCE, and (2...
In this Randolph County case, the Court of Appeals upheld defendant’s conviction for solicitation to commit first-degree murder, finding no prejudicial error by the trial court.
In 2018, defendant, a high school student, confessed to his girlfriend that he had homicidal thoughts towards...
In this Hoke County case, defendant Stanley Draughon was found guilty by a jury of assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to kill inflicting serious injury (AWDWIKISI) and conspiracy to commit AWDWIKISI, and defendant Phyllis Mull was found guilty of conspiracy to commit AWDWIKISI....
The defendant was convicted of armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, felony breaking or entering, and conspiracy to commit breaking or entering in Watauga County. The offenses related to the attempted robbery of a drug dealer in an apartment in Boone. The jury convicted on all...
A longstanding feud and several prior altercations culminated in the defendant and an accomplice ambushing two victims as they were driving away from the home of a woman who helped set the victims up. As the victims’ vehicle left the woman’s home and approached an intersection, the...
The defendant was indicted for attempted first-degree murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon, and other offenses. The State alleged that the defendant shot a man and his wife, Bruce and Joanne Parker, as they were getting into their...
The defendant was convicted of first-degree murder based on felony murder, attempted first-degree murder, felonious discharge of a firearm into an occupied vehicle in operation, and two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. The defendant’s brother was the shooter and was convicted...
The defendant was convicted of attempted first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit attempted first-degree murder. (1) The defendant argued that the latter charge is invalid because it alleges a non-existent crime. The defendant argued that an attempt requires that the act fail; therefore, it...
The evidence showed that the defendant was in a car with two other men that arrived in a church parking lot near the victim’s house at the same time as another car driven by a female. The female then drove to the victim’s home and beeped her car horn. Shortly after the victim came out of his...
The evidence was sufficient to support a charge of conspiracy to commit armed robbery. On appeal, the defendant argued that there was insufficient evidence of an agreement to commit the robbery. Here, the victim identified the defendant and others as the individuals who robbed him. Additionally...
(1) The evidence was sufficient to support a conviction for conspiracy to traffic in opium by sale and delivery. The defendant was indicted on multiple drug offenses arising from three separate controlled buys. On appeal the defendant argued that the State failed to present evidence, aside from...
The evidence was sufficient to support a charge of conspiracy to possess stolen goods, a pistol. After the defendant took the pistol and other items from the victims’ purses, the pistol was found in the field near a residence. The defendant’s alleged accomplice was present at the residence and...
There was sufficient evidence of conspiracy to commit armed robbery. Although circumstantial, the evidence supported the inference that the defendant and his accomplices agreed to commit the robbery and other unlawful acts.
The State presented insufficient evidence to show that the defendant entered into an agreement to commit common law robbery. The mere fact that the crime the defendant allegedly conspired with others to commit took place does not, without more, prove the existence of a conspiracy. Lacking here...
The trial court did not err by denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss a charge of conspiracy to sell methamphetamine, given the substantial evidence of an implied understanding among the defendant, Fisher, and Adams to sell methamphetamine to the informants. The informants went to Fisher to...
The trial court properly determined that a charge of conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine was a Class C felony. The court rejected the defendant’s argument that G.S. 14-2.4(a) required punishment as a Class D felony (“Unless a different classification is expressly stated, a person who is...
Finding State v. Euceda-Valle, 182 N.C. App. 268, 276 (2007), controlling, the court held that there was insufficient evidence that the defendant and another person named Hall conspired to sell and deliver cocaine. The evidence showed only that the drugs were found in a car driven by...
The evidence was sufficient to show a drug trafficking conspiracy where there was evidence of an implied agreement between the defendant and his accomplice. The defendant was present at the scene and aware that his accomplice was involved producing methamphetamine and there was sufficient...
The evidence was insufficient to support trafficking by conspiracy convictions against both defendants. The drugs were found in secret compartments of a truck. Defendant Villalvavo was driving the vehicle, which was owned by a passenger, Velazquez-Perez, who hired Villalvavo to drive the truck....
In a case in which the defendant was charged with conspiracy to commit felony larceny, the trial court did not err by denying the defendant’s motion to submit a jury instruction on conspiracy to commit misdemeanor larceny. The court determined that evidence of the cumulative value of the goods...
There was sufficient evidence of a conspiracy to commit armed robbery. The victim was approached from behind by both defendants while walking alone. One defendant held the gun while the other reached for her cellphone. Although not showing an express agreement between defendants, these...
The evidence was sufficient to show a conspiracy to commit a robbery with a dangerous weapon. The defendant argued that there was no express agreement to use a dangerous weapon. The court held, in part, that there was an implied understanding to use such a weapon.
(1) The evidence was sufficient to support a charge of conspiracy to traffic in cocaine by possession. A detective arranged for a cocaine sale. The defendant and an individual named Blanco arrived at the preset location and both came over to the detective to look at the money. The defendant and...
(1) The evidence was insufficient to support two charges of conspiracy to commit armed robbery. Having failed to achieve the objective of the conspiracy on their first attempt, the defendant and his co-conspirators returned the next day to try again. When the State charges separate conspiracies...
In a conspiracy to commit robbery case, the evidence was sufficient to establish a mutual, implied understanding between the defendant and another man to rob the victim. The other man drove the defendant to intercept the victim; the defendant wore a ski mask and had a gun; after the defendant...
The trial court did not err by denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss a charge of conspiracy to discharge a firearm into occupied property. The defendant, Ray, Johnson, and Phelps left a high school basketball game because of the presence of rival gang members. As they left, the defendant...
Evidence of the words and actions of the defendant and others, when viewed collectively, provided sufficient evidence of an implied agreement to assault the victim. The court noted that the spontaneity of the plan did not defeat the conspiracy and that a meeting of the minds can occur when a...
There was sufficient evidence to support the defendant’s conviction of conspiracy to traffic in marijuana; the fact that the state took a voluntary dismissal of the conspiracy charge against the co-conspirator was irrelevant to that determination.