NC Criminal Law
This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Supreme Court released on March 20, 2026.
Circumstantial evidence was sufficient to submit robbery with a dangerous weapon to the jury where the evidence tended to show the defendant had opportunity, intent, and a plan or scheme to commit the offense.
State v. Perry, No. 64PA24 (N.C. Mar. 20, 2026) (Berger). On...
If the defendant (or any defendant in a multi-defendant case) puts on evidence, then state has the right to the first and last closing argument.
Language in an indictment or other criminal pleading that is unnecessary (“surplusage”) does not prohibit the state from proving theories or facts of the charged crime that are different from those alleged in the indictment.
The superior court has jurisdiction to accept a guilty plea to a misdemeanor tendered in lieu of a felony charge.
Two or more offenses may be joined for trial when the offenses are based on the same act or transaction or on a series of acts or transactions connected together or constituting parts of a single scheme or plan. See G.S. 15A-926(a).
Each separate offense charged against a defendant must be pled in a separate pleading, or in a separate count within a single pleading. See G.S. 15A-924(a)(2).