NC Criminal Law
This post summarizes the published criminal opinions released by the Supreme Court of North Carolina on October 23, 2026.
A defendant who fled before sentencing violated an implied condition of his plea agreement, so when a judge later imposed a more severe sentence than the one set out in the plea agreement, the defendant was not entitled to an opportunity to withdraw his plea under G.S. 15A-1024
...The Double Jeopardy Clause does not prohibit multiple punishments for offenses when one is include within the other under the Blockburger test if both are tried at the same time and if the legislature specifically authorizes cumulative punishment for both offenses.
A judge may accept an Alford plea, in which a defendant pleads guilty but does not admit committing the offense and protests his or her innocence, if the record strongly supports the defendant’s guilt and the defendant intelligently concludes that it is in his or her interest to enter such a plea. The consent of the prosecutor is not required.
An indigent defendant who has been formally charged has a right to counsel at a pretrial lineup or other identification procedure at which defendant’s presence is required.
There is no double jeopardy bar to a second trial when a charge is dismissed because an indictment or other criminal pleading is fatally defective.
Even if he does not testify, the defendant may offer evidence of a “pertinent trait” of his character. G.S. 8C-404(a)(1).