State v. Mebane

398 S.E.2d 672, 101 N.C. App. 225
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedDecember 18, 1990
Docket9015SC172
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 398 S.E.2d 672 (State v. Mebane) 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. Mebane, 398 S.E.2d 672, 101 N.C. App. 225 (N.C. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

398 S.E.2d 672 (1990)
101 N.C. App. 225

STATE of North Carolina
v.
Clarence MEBANE.

No. 9015SC172.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

December 18, 1990.

*673 Attorney Gen. Lacy H. Thornburg by Asst. Atty. Gen. Patricia F. Padgett, Raleigh, for the State.

Appellate Defender Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr. by Asst. Appellate Defender M. Patricia DeVine, Raleigh, for defendant-appellant.

LEWIS, Judge.

The first question on appeal is whether the defendant's conviction and sentencing under the North Carolina Controlled Substances Act by the trial court violated the prohibition against double jeopardy contained in the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and in the North Carolina Constitution, article I § 19. The second question on appeal is whether the trial court erred in ordering the forfeiture of the defendant's vehicle pursuant to the Act.

The defendant was convicted and punished for committing the following crimes on 20 January 1989 in one drug related transaction:

1) felonious possession of cocaine under N.C.G.S. § 90-95(a)(3);

2) possession with intent to sell or deliver cocaine under N.C.G.S. § 90-95(a)(1);

3) sale and delivery of cocaine under N.C. G.S. § 90-95(a)(1);

4) conspiracy to sell or deliver cocaine under North Carolina common law; and

5) maintaining of vehicle (Chevrolet Corvette) under N.C.G.S. § 90-108(a)(7).

The defendant was convicted and punished for committing the following crimes on 3 February 1989 in one drug related transaction:

1) felonious possession of cocaine under N.C.G.S. § 90-95(a)(3);

2) possession with intent to sell or deliver cocaine under N.C.G.S. § 90-95(a)(1);

3) sale and delivery of cocaine under N.C. G.S. § 90-95(a)(1); and

4) conspiracy to sell or deliver cocaine under North Carolina Common Law.

The defendant was convicted and punished for committing the following crimes on 17 February 1989 in one drug related transaction:

1) felonious possession of cocaine under N.C.G.S. § 90-95(a)(3);

2) possession with intent to sell or deliver cocaine under N.C.G.S. § 90-95(a)(1);

3) maintaining of vehicle (Nissan Maxima) under N.C.G.S. § 90-108(a)(7);

4) conspiracy to traffic in cocaine under North Carolina common law;

*674 5) trafficking in cocaine by possession under N.C.G.S. § 90-95(h)(3); and

6) sale and delivery of cocaine under N.C. G.S. § 90-95(a)(1).

The trial judge consolidated the cases for judgment and sentenced the defendant to fifteen years imprisonment. The trial judge also ordered that the defendant forfeit the Chevrolet Corvette allegedly involved in the cocaine transaction of 20 January 1989.

Double Jeopardy

"The Double Jeopardy Clause protects against (1) a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal, (2) a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction, and (3) multiple punishments for the same offense." State v. Gardner, 315 N.C. 444, 451, 340 S.E.2d 701, 707 (1986) (citations omitted). Here we are concerned with multiple punishments for the same offense.

The defendant was convicted of possession with intent to sell or deliver a controlled substance and possessing a controlled substance under N.C.G.S. § 90-95(a)(1) and N.C.G.S. § 90-95(a)(3) on three separate occasions. The defendant committed one transaction relating to the two convictions on each of the days in question. The defendant argues that principles of double jeopardy bar the defendant's conviction and punishment for both offenses on each of the days in question. We agree.

Although possession of one gram or more of cocaine is not a lesser included offense of possession of cocaine with intent to sell or deliver, the North Carolina Supreme Court has held and this Court has recently reiterated that double jeopardy principles bar punishment for both offenses for possession of the same cocaine. State v. McGill, 296 N.C. 564, 568, 251 S.E.2d 616, 619 (1979); State v. Williams, 98 N.C. App. 405, 407, 390 S.E.2d 729, 730 (1990). Unless and until the Supreme Court overrules these decisions, we are bound by their holdings.

The trial judge should have instructed the jury to first consider the offense of possession with intent to sell and deliver cocaine; if, and only if, the jury found him not guilty of that offense were they to consider the offense of possession of cocaine. McGill, 296 N.C. at 569, 251 S.E.2d at 620. Therefore, we arrest judgment on the three charges of possession of cocaine. With respect to this issue, we find no error in the three convictions on possession with intent to sell and deliver.

The defendant also contends that principles of double jeopardy bar defendant's punishment for possession with intent to sell and deliver cocaine under N.C.G.S. § 90-95(a)(1), and trafficking in the same cocaine by possession under N.C.G.S. § 90-95(h)(3). The defendant argues that possession with intent to sell and deliver cocaine is a lesser included offense of trafficking in cocaine by possession.

In State v. Sanderson, 60 N.C.App. 604, 610, 300 S.E.2d 9, 14, disc. rev. denied, 308 N.C. 679, 304 S.E.2d 759 (1983), the North Carolina Court of Appeals held that possession of marijuana with intent to sell is a lesser included offense of trafficking by possessing one hundred pounds of marijuana. The court did not expressly review the elements of each offense involved and thus, did not explain its conclusion. However, the court did apply the test set forth in Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306, 309 (1932) to determine whether the offenses are not the "same offense" within the meaning of the double jeopardy clause. The Blockburger test is: "whether each provision requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not." Id. Applying the Blockburger test, the court held in Sanderson that "possession under G.S. 90-95(a) does not require proof of any additional facts beyond those required under G.S. 90-95(h)(1), therefore convictions under both statutes violate defendants' protection against double jeopardy, and the convictions for the lesser included offenses should be vacated." State v. Sanderson, 60 N.C.App. 604, 610, 300 S.E.2d 9, 14, disc. rev. denied, 308 N.C. 679, 304 S.E.2d 759 (1983).

*675 After State v. Sanderson, the North Carolina Supreme Court held in State v. Gardner, 315 N.C. 444, 340 S.E.2d 701 (1986), that "[i]n single prosecution situations, the presumption raised by the Blockburger test is only a federal rule for determining legislative intent as to violations of federal criminal laws and is neither binding on state courts nor conclusive." Id. 315 N.C. at 455, 340 S.E.2d at 709. Likewise, "where a legislature clearly expresses its intent to proscribe and punish exactly the same conduct under two separate statutes, a trial court in a single trial

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
398 S.E.2d 672, 101 N.C. App. 225, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mebane-ncctapp-1990.