Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Table of Contents
Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
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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.
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A Kansas identity theft statute which criminalizes the “using” of any “personal identifying information” belonging to another person with the intent to “[d]efraud that person, or anyone else, in order to receive any benefit” was not preempted by the federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of...
On appeal from the decision of a divided panel of the Court of Appeals, ___ N.C. App. ___, 802 S.E.2d 508 (2017), the court reversed, holding that the obtaining property by false pretenses indictment was not defective and that the evidence was sufficient to sustain the conviction on that charge...
Affirming the decision below in State v. Jones, 223 N.C. App. 487 (Nov. 20, 2012), the court held that the evidence was sufficient to establish identity theft. The case arose out of a scheme...
In this Wake County case, defendant appealed his convictions for six counts of obtaining property by false pretenses and six counts of felony obstruction of justice, arguing error in denying his motions to dismiss the charges. The Court of Appeals agreed, reversing the denial of the motion to...
In this New Hanover County case, defendant appealed her convictions for felony forgery of endorsement and felony uttering a forged endorsement, arguing error in (1) denying her motion to dismiss the uttering a forged instrument charge due to a flawed indictment, and (2) admitting an out-of-court...
In this Duplin County case, defendant appealed his conviction for obtaining property by false pretenses, arguing the indictment was insufficient and the trial court erred by denying his motion to dismiss for insufficient evidence. The Court of Appeals disagreed, finding no error.
In June...
In this obtaining property by false pretenses case, there was sufficient evidence that the victim was a “person within this State” as the term is used in G.S. 14-100(a) as well as sufficient evidence of the value of the property at issue. Addressing what it characterized as an issue of first...
The defendant engaged in a scheme whereby she would submit electronic payments towards delinquent taxes to the North Carolina Department of Revenue (“NCDOR”) from invalid accounts (or, in one case out of 48, an account with insufficient funds). The payments to NCDOR were all made towards...
In this Cleveland County case, the defendant was convicted of forgery of an endorsement pursuant to G.S. 14-120, uttering a forged check pursuant to G.S. 14-120 and attaining habitual felon status pursuant to G.S. 14-7.1. (1) The defendant argued on appeal that the State failed to prove the...
The defendant was charged with insurance fraud and obtaining property by false pretenses based on her submission of claims for living expenses that she did not incur. Following Hurricane Matthew, the defendant submitted a lease agreement purportedly signed by her stepfather providing that...
When the defendant was treated at the hospital for gunshot wounds he sustained in his altercation with the victim, he provided another person’s name, date of birth, and address. A warrant for his arrest was issued under this false identity, and he was subsequently charged with identity theft....
The trial court committed plain error with respect to its obtaining property by false pretenses instructions. The case was before the court on certification from the state Supreme Court for consideration of whether the trial court committed plain error by failing to instruct the jury that it...
The evidence was sufficient to convict the defendant of unlawfully accessing a government computer in violation of G.S. 14-454.1. The case arose out of false information submitted by the defendant in connection with his work as a bail bondsman. On appeal the defendant first argued that the...
The evidence was insufficient to support the defendant’s conviction of obtaining property by false pretenses. The case arose out of false information submitted by the defendant in connection with his work as a bail bondsman. The indictment alleged that the thing of value obtained was a...
Because the State presented no evidence that the defendant made fraudulent representations in support of an insurance claim to The Hartford Insurance Company as alleged by the indictment, the trial court erred by denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss this charge. The evidence at trial showed...
The doctrine of recent possession applies to obtaining property by false pretenses. Thus, the trial court did not err by instructing the jury on this doctrine.
(1) The evidence was sufficient to sustain a conviction for obtaining property by false pretenses. After the defendant falsely reported that his girlfriend had written 3 checks on his account without authorization, he received a provisional credit on his bank account with respect to one of the...
The trial court did not err by denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss a charge of attempting to obtain property by false pretenses. After an officer learned about larcenies of Michael Kors items from a local store, he found an online posting for similar items in an online flea market. Using a...
The evidence was sufficient to establish financial transaction card theft. The defendant argued that the evidence was insufficient to prove the took or obtained the victim’s card with the intent to use it. The evidence showed that on the day that the card was stolen someone other than the victim...
The trial court did not err by denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss a charge of obtaining property by false pretenses. The indictment alleged that the defendant obtained US currency by selling to a company named BIMCO electrical wire that was falsely represented not to have been stolen. The...
(1) The evidence was sufficient to support a conviction for deterring an appearance by a witness under G.S. 14-226(a). After the defendant was arrested and charged with assaulting, kidnapping, and raping the victim, he began sending her threatening letters from jail. The court concluded that the...
(1) In a case arising out of insurance fraud, the trial court did not err by denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss three counts of obtaining property by false pretenses. Two of the counts arose out of payments the defendant received based on false moving company invoices submitted to her...
In an obtaining property by false pretenses case, the evidence was sufficient to support a conviction. The charges arose out of the defendant’s acts of approaching two individuals (Ms. Hoenig and Ms. Harward), falsely telling them their roofs needed repair, taking payment for the work and then...
The evidence was sufficient to establish obtaining property by false pretenses. After the defendant filed false documents purporting to give him a property interest in a home, he was found to be occupying the premises and arrested. The court rejected the defendant’s argument that the evidence...
In this food stamp fraud case, the trial court did not err by denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss where the evidence showed that the defendant knowingly submitted a fraudulent wage verification form to obtain food benefits to which he was not entitled.
In an obtaining property by false pretenses case based on the defendant having falsely represented to a pawn shop that items sold to the shop were not stolen, there was sufficient evidence that the items were stolen. As to the first count, the serial number of the item sold as shown on the shop’...
The evidence was sufficient to establish that the defendant obtained property by false pretenses where she sold products alleged to be gluten free but in fact contained gluten. The defendant argued that the evidence was insufficient as to one victim because he returned the check she gave him in...
The trial court erred by denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss false pretenses charges. The State failed to offer sufficient evidence to establish that the defendant made a false representation with the intent to deceive when he told the victims that he intended to invest the money that they...
Forgery and larceny of a chose in action are not mutually exclusive offenses. The defendant argued that both forgery and uttering a forged check require a counterfeit instrument while larceny of a chose in action requires a “valid instrument.” The court concluded that larceny of a chose in...
In an identity theft case, the evidence was sufficient to establish that the defendant "used" or "possessed" another person’s social security number to avoid legal consequences. After being detained and questioned for shoplifting, the defendant falsely gave the officer his name as Roy Lamar Ward...
There was sufficient evidence to establish the offense of conversion of property by a bailee in violation of G.S. 14-168.1. The court rejected the defendant’s argument that because “[e]vidence of nonfulfillment of a contract obligation” is not enough to establish intent for obtaining property by...
The evidence was sufficient to sustain the defendant’s convictions for uttering a forged instrument and attempting to obtain property by false pretenses. Both offenses involved a fraudulent check. The court rejected the defendant’s argument that there was insufficient evidence to establish that...
The evidence was sufficient to sustain the defendant’s convictions for uttering a forged instrument and attempting to obtain property by false pretenses. Both offenses involved a fraudulent check. The court rejected the defendant’s argument that there was insufficient evidence to establish that...
(1) The evidence was sufficient to sustain a conviction under G.S. 14-454.1(a)(2) (unlawful to “willfully . . . access or cause to be accessed any government computer for the purpose of . . . [o]btaining property or services by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises...
(1) The evidence was insufficient to support a charge of uttering a forged check. For forgery, the “false writing must purport to be the writing of a party other than the one who makes it and it must indicate an attempted deception of similarity.” Here, the State presented no evidence that the...
There was sufficient evidence to support a false pretenses conviction when the defendant falsely told a church congregation that his wife had died and that he was broke to elicit sympathy and obtain property.
There was sufficient evidence of obtaining property by false pretenses when the defendant received money for rental of a house that the defendant did not own or have the right to rent.
The defendant was charged with offenses under the current (G.S. 14-112.2) and prior (G.S. 14-32.3) statutes proscribing the crime of exploitation of an elder adult. (1) There was sufficient evidence that the victim was an elder adult. The victim was either 99 or 109 years old and had not driven...
There was sufficient evidence of forgery under G.S. 14-119 when the evidence showed that the defendant signed a law enforcement officer’s name on five North Carolina Uniform Citations.
The trial court erred in its jury instructions for the crime of impersonating an officer under G.S. 14-277(b). The court noted that while G.S. 14-277(a) makes it a crime for an individual to make a false representation to another person that he is a sworn law enforcement officer, G.S. 14-277(b)...
The defendant’s active (and false) acknowledgement to an officer that the last four digits of his social security number were “2301” constituted the use of identifying information of another within the meaning of G.S. 14-113.20(a).