North Carolina Possession Marijuana Firearm Felon Hearsay Confrontation Prior Record Lawyers Attorneys

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. CHRISTOPHER LAMONT WILLIAMS

COURT OF APPEALS OF NORTH CAROLINA

January 27, 2010, Heard in the Court of Appeals

August 3, 2010, Filed

Following his arrest, Defendant was indicted with charges of possession of marijuana, resisting a public officer, habitual felon status, and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Following a trial on 5 March 2009, Defendant was found guilty of the crimes for which he was indicted.

Issues:

Whether the trial court erred in admitting hearsay statements about a chemical analysis by a non-testifying witness?

Whether the trial court erred in allowing the State to publish to the jury, a portion of Defendant's prior criminal record?

Whether the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss made at the close of all the evidence?

Observation and Holding:

Preliminarily, we note that Defendant's trial concluded in March 2009. Melendez-Diaz was not decided until 25 June 2009. However, despite being decided after Defendant's case was finalized, the Supreme Court's reasoning in Melendez-Diaz is applicable in the instant case. Here, the trial court's decision to admit the State Bureau of Investigation lab reportwas erroneous. Relying on the lab report, Officer Rouse testified that the discarded bag contained "marijuana, Schedule IV, weight 4.6 grams." At no point during the trial did the lab technician that analyzed the seized substance testify. Moreover, the State offered no evidence that the lab technician was unavailable to testify or that Defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine the lab technician.

Our Supreme Court also noted that they have also found "no error in a case in which a prior indictment was read to the jury for the purpose of proving the existence of a prior felony. The indictments and information provided in Exhibit 1 pertain to prior indictments and were not prohibited by N.C. Gen. Stat. 15A-1221(b). The trial court also provided a limiting instruction informing jurors that the indictment is admissible only as evidence of Defendant's prior felony record. Accordingly, we hold that the trial court did not err by publishing evidence of Defendant's prior convictions to the jury.

Disclaimer:

These summaries are provided by the SRIS Law Group. They represent the firm's unofficial views of the Justices' opinions. The original opinions should be consulted for their authoritative content

North Carolina Possession Marijuana Firearm Felon Hearsay Confrontation Prior Record Lawyers Attorneys

By: Atchuthan Sriskandarajah

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