Criminal

North Carolina Constitutional Criminal Criminal Procedure

Court of Appeals of North Carolina

Uncategorized

State v. Wilder — Defendant Who Refuses to Answer § 15A-1242 Inquiry Cannot Establish Knowing Waiver of Counsel

/ July 3, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals held that a defendant who clearly invokes the right to self-representation but then refuses to answer any of the trial court’s N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1242 questions cannot establish a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver of counsel, and the trial court therefore did not err in denying the request to proceed pro se.

North Carolina Criminal Double Jeopardy Evidence

Court of Appeals of North Carolina

Uncategorized

State v. Broadway — AWDWIKISI and AISBI Merge Under Double Jeopardy; Prosecutor’s Breath-Hold Demonstration Not Grossly Improper

/ July 3, 2026

The North Carolina Court of Appeals arrested judgment on an assault-inflicting-serious-bodily-injury conviction as merging with AWDWIKISI under the double jeopardy clause when no distinct interruption in the assault was established, while affirming that a prosecutor’s one-minute breath-holding demonstration during closing argument was not grossly improper and that a lesser-included offense instruction on assault inflicting serious injury was not required where the State’s evidence of deadly-weapon use was uncontradicted.