NC Criminal Law
This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on September 16, 2026.
Trial court did not err by finding a violation of conditions of probation based on Defendant’s admission to failure to pay; insufficient evidence supported the findings that Defendant committed new criminal offenses and failed to report as directed; trial court did not err by imposing a five-month...
A criminal charge contained in a pleading must be sufficiently definite to identify the offense, enable the defendant to prepare his or her defense, bar a subsequent prosecution for the same offense, and enable the court to impose judgment.
If evidence is excluded by the trial court, the proponent of the evidence generally must provide an adequate offer of proof regarding the nature of the excluded evidence in order to argue on appeal that the evidence should have been allowed. See G.S. 8C-103(a)(2).
A statement of charges may charge the same offenses as the original pleading or additional or different misdemeanor offenses. G.S. 15A-922(d).
The state must give the defendant, at the beginning of jury selection, a written list of the names of all witnesses whom the state reasonably expects to call during the trial.
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.