State v. Brooks

210 S.E.2d 535, 24 N.C. App. 338, 1975 N.C. App. LEXIS 2386
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedJanuary 2, 1975
DocketNo. 7416SC96
StatusPublished

This text of 210 S.E.2d 535 (State v. Brooks) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Brooks, 210 S.E.2d 535, 24 N.C. App. 338, 1975 N.C. App. LEXIS 2386 (N.C. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

PARKER, Judge.

Prior to pleading upon trial de novo in Superior Court, defendant moved to quash the warrants as to all three charges on the grounds that the underlying statutes are unconstitutionally vague and overbroad and infringe upon fundamental First Amendment rights. By his first assignment of error defendant how seeks review of the denial of these motions. We find the statutes valid.

[342]*342The statute involved in the cases in which defendant was charged with inciting and engaging in a riot, G.S. 14-288.2, was enacted as a part of Section 1 of Chap. 869 of the 1969 Session Laws, entitled “An Act to Revise and Clarify the Law Relating to Riots and Civil Disorders.” Long before enactment of that statute, participation in a riot had been recognized as a common-law crime in this State, State v. Moseley, 251 N.C. 285, 111 S.E. 2d 308 (1959) ; State v. Hoffman, 199 N.C. 328, 154 S.E. 314 (1930) ; State Stalcup, 23 N.C. 30 (1840), and the companion common-law crime of inciting a riot has been recognized as a distinct offense. State v. Cole, 249 N.C. 733, 107 S.E. 2d 732 (1959), cert. denied, 361 U.S. 867, 4 L.Ed. 2d 107, 80 S.Ct. 128 (1959). As stated in State v. Moseley, supra, at 288, 111 S.E. 2d at 311, the common-law offense of riot was “composed of three necessary and constituent elements: (1) unlawful assembly; (2) intent to mutually assist against lawful authority; and (3) acts of violence.” The common-law offense of inciting a riot was described in State v. Cole, supra, at 741, 107 S.E. 2d at 738, quoting from a Pennsylvania case, as follows:

“Inciting to riot from the very sense of the language used, means such a course of conduct, by the use of words, signs or language, or any other means by which one can be urged on to action, as would naturally lead, or urge other men to engage in or enter upon conduct which, if completed, would make a riot.”

In enacting the 1969 Act, the Legislature expressly declared that the provisions of the statute “are intended- to supersede and extend the coverage of the common-law crimes of riot and inciting to riot.” G.S. 14-288.3. Comparison of the provisions of G.S. 14-288.2 with the recognized elements of the common-law crimes which it supersedes discloses only a limited extension of the common-law offenses. Under G.S. 14-288.2 (d) “[a]ny person who wilfully incites or urges another to engage in a riot, so that as a result of such inciting or urgings a riot occurs or a clear and present danger of a riot is created, is guilty of a misdemeanor. ...” Under G.S. 14-288.2 (b) “[a]ny person who wilfully engages in a riot is guilty of a misdemeanor. ...” The statute, G.S. 14-288.2(a), defines a riot as follows:

“A riot is a public disturbance involving an assemblage of three or more persons which by disorderly and violent conduct, or the imminent threat of disorderly and violent conduct, results in injury or damage to persons or property [343]*343or creates a clear and present danger of injury or damage to persons or property.”

There is nothing constitutionally offensive in this definition. The words employed are not “so slippery and imprecise to the man of common understanding that he would have to guess at their meaning,” Fuller v. Scott, 328 F. Supp. 842, 850 (1971), and clearly the State transgreses upon no constitutionally protected activity when it makes it an offense to engage in a “riot” defined in terms of “violent” behavior and the “clear and present danger” of resultant harm. Nor does G.S. 14-288.2 (d) fail to pass constitutional scrutiny. The advocacy of imminent lawless action is not protected by the First Amendment, Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444, 23 L.Ed. 2d 430, 89 S.Ct. 1827 (1969), and this is the only type of speech any reasonable construction of the statute would seem to cover. We find the statute under which defendant was prosecuted for inciting and engaging in a riot, G.S. 14-288.2, to be constitutionally valid. As to the charge of failing to comply with a lawful command to disperse, this Court has already ruled adversely to defendants present contentions. In State v. Orange, 22 N.C. App. 220, 206 S.E. 2d 377 (1974) and State v. Clark, 22 N.C. App. 81, 206 S.E. 2d 252 (1974), we upheld judgments imposed for violations of G.S. 14-288.5. In so doing, we considered and rejected the contention that the underlying statutes were unconstitutional. Defendant’s first assignment of error is overruled.

When the cases were called for trial in the District Court, defendant’s counsel filed a motion that the Court provide, at the expense of the State, a stenographic reporter to take down the proceedings at the trial in that Court and that he be furnished a transcript. In support of this motion, counsel offered to have defendant sign an affidavit to show his indigency. The District Court denied the motion, in so doing making findings that it is not customary to have a stenographic record in the District Court, that the District Court has no statutory authority to provide at the State’s expense a stenographic reporter in that Court, that while counsel offered to have the defendant make affidavit of indigency, no such affidavit had been theretofore filed, and the defendant appeared represented by privately employed counsel, that the motion was made after the case was called by the Solicitor for trial, that there is a scarcity of court reporters, and that to provide a reporter would delay the trial [344]*344which was already scheduled for its third trial date. The Court did permit defendant to submit his affidavit of indigency for the record, but no finding as to indigency was made by the Court. At the call of the cases for trial de novo in the Superior Court and prior to pleading in that Court, the defendant, still represented by the same privately employed counsel, moved in the alternative for remand of the cases for a new trial in the District Court with a transcript to be provided to defendant, arrest of the District Court judgments, or for dismissal of the charges because of denial of his motion in the District Court to have a transcript of the trial in that Court made at the State’s expense. The denial of this motion in the Superior Court is the subject of defendant’s second assignment of error on this appeal.

Customarily, no court reporter is available and no transcript is made of criminal trial proceedings in our District Courts nor is such a transcript necessary to protect adequately the rights of a criminal defendant. This is so because when a defendant in a criminal case is convicted in the District Court, he has an absolute right to appeal to the Superior Court for trial de novo. G.S. 7A-290. In such event the trial in the Superior Court is in all respects de novo, and, “in contemplation of law it is as if the case had been brought there originally and there had been no previous trial.” State v. Sparrow, 276 N.C. 499, 507, 173 S.E. 2d 897, 902 (1970). Thus, a transcript of the criminal trial proceedings in the District Court, where the case is heard by the Judge without a jury, is of no substantial value to an effective appeal to the Superior Court, where the trial is completely de novo before Judge and a jury. It should be noted, also, that in this respect our practice treats the poor man in exactly the same manner as it treats the rich. Customarily no transcript of District Court criminal proceedings is available to either.

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Related

Brandenburg v. Ohio
395 U.S. 444 (Supreme Court, 1969)
State v. Summrell
192 S.E.2d 569 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1972)
State v. Sparrow
173 S.E.2d 897 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1970)
State v. Clark
206 S.E.2d 252 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1974)
State v. Orange
206 S.E.2d 377 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1974)
State v. Moseley
111 S.E.2d 308 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1959)
State v. Cole
107 S.E.2d 732 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1959)
State v. . Hoffman
154 S.E. 314 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1930)
State v. . Stalcup
23 N.C. 30 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1840)
Fuller v. Scott
328 F. Supp. 842 (M.D. North Carolina, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
210 S.E.2d 535, 24 N.C. App. 338, 1975 N.C. App. LEXIS 2386, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-brooks-ncctapp-1975.