State v. Wilson

571 S.E.2d 631, 154 N.C. App. 127, 2002 N.C. App. LEXIS 1401
Court of Appeals of North Carolina·Decided November 19, 2002·No. COA01-1559·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinions

McGEE, Judge.

Alvino Rae Wilson, Jr. (defendant) was indicted on 8 April 1996 for first-degree kidnapping. Defendant pleaded guilty on 25 June 1996 to one count of second-degree kidnapping, felony firearm enhancement, felonious larceny, and misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon. The trial court determined defendant to have a Prior Record Level of II and sentenced him to twenty-nine to forty-four months’ active imprisonment for the second-degree kidnapping. The trial court entered a separate judgment imposing a consecutive sentence of sixty to eighty-one months’ active imprisonment for the firearm enhancement penalty. The trial court arrested judgment on the misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon offense and sentenced defendant for felonious larceny to eight to ten months suspended, running consecutively with the sentence from the firearm enhancement penalty.

After notification by the Department of Correction of an irregularity in sentencing in having two separate judgments for the second-degree kidnapping and the firearm enhancement penalty, the trial court ordered on 5 October 2000 that defendant be re-sentenced. Defendant was re-sentenced on 14 September 2001 to eighty-nine to [129]*129one-hundred sixteen months in a single judgment for the second-degree kidnapping offense with a firearm enhancement. Defendant appeals this re-sentencing.

I.

The State argues defendant’s appeal should be dismissed because defendant is not entitled to an appeal as a matter of right. Defendant contends that the sentence imposed in the re-sentencing hearing on 14 September 2001 resulted in a sentence exceeding the range authorized by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1340.17 due to the enhancement of his second-degree kidnapping sentence. Defendant argues that this falls into one of the categories of appeal authorized as of right under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1444(a2), and therefore he is entitled to appeal. The sentence imposed by the trial court on re-sentencing exceeds the range authorized by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1340.17 (2001), and we therefore review the re-sentencing to determine whether it was properly enhanced under N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 14-2.2 and 15A-1340.16A (2001). See N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1444(a2)(2) (2001).

II.

Defendant assigns as error the trial court’s re-sentencing to an enhanced term under N.C.G.S. § 14-2.2(a), arguing that the re-sentencing violates his right to due process under both the United States and North Carolina Constitutions as the trial court lacked jurisdiction to sentence upon a non-indicted count. N.C.G.S. § 14.2.2(a) states that

[i]f a person is convicted of a Class A, B, Bl, B2, C, D, or E felony and the person used, displayed, or threatened to use or display a firearm during the commission of the felony, the person shall, in addition to the punishment for the underlying felony, be sentenced to a minimum term of imprisonment for 60 months as provided by G.S. 15A-1340.16A.

Therefore, a trial court applying the firearm enhancement penalty must do so in accordance with N.C.G.S. § 15A-1340.16A. The relevant portion of N.C.G.S. § 15A-1340.16A states that

[i]f a person is convicted of a Class A, Bl, B2, C, D, or E felony and the court finds that the person used, displayed, or threatened to use or display a firearm at the time of the felony, the court shall increase the minimum term of imprisonment to which the person is sentenced by 60 months.

[130]*130The recent North Carolina Supreme Court case of State v. Lucas, 353 N.C. 568, 548 S.E.2d 712 (2001), explicitly adopted the rule announced by the United States Supreme Court in Jones v. United States, 526 U.S. 227, 143 L. Ed. 2d 311 (1999) and Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 147 L. Ed. 2d 435 (2000). In Lucas, our Supreme Court stated that the sentencing of a defendant to an enhanced sentence pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 15A-1340.16A

is forbidden by Jones and Apprendi unless the use of a firearm under the statute is charged in the indictment, proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and submitted to the jury. Accordingly, we hold that in every instance where the State seeks an enhanced sentence pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 15A-1340.16A, it must allege the statutory factors supporting the enhancement in an indictment, which may be the same indictment that charges the underlying offense, and submit those factors to the jury. If the jury returns a guilty verdict that includes these factors, the trial judge shall make the finding set out in the statute and impose an enhanced sentence.

Lucas, 353 N.C. at 597-98, 548 S.E.2d at 731.

However, the decision in Lucas only “applies to cases in which the defendants have not been indicted as of the certification date of [that] opinion, [9 August 2001,] and to cases that are now pending on direct review or are not yet final.” Id. at 598, 548 S.E.2d at 732. Defendant essentially argues that the re-sentencing in the present case resulted in his case no longer being “final” at the moment of re-sentencing, thus bringing it under the strictures of Lucas. A case is “final” when “ ‘a judgment of conviction has been rendered, the availability of appeal exhausted, and the time for a petition of certiorari elapsed or a petition for certiorari finally denied.’ ” State v. Zuniga, 336 N.C. 508, 511 n.1, 444 S.E.2d 443, 445 n.1 (1994) (quoting Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 321 n.6, 93 L. Ed. 2d 649, 657 n.6 (1987)).

Although defendant pleaded guilty to a firearm enhancement, the statutory factors necessary for the enhancement were not alleged in the indictment. Therefore, as the State correctly points out, whether defendant was properly sentenced to a firearm enhancement at the re-sentencing on 14 September 2001 depends on whether the case before us was “final” at the time of re-sentencing. If defendant’s case was “final,” then Lucas does not apply and the sentencing will stand. See Lucas, 353 N.C. at 598, 548 S.E.2d at 732. If defendant’s case was [131]*131not “final,” defendant cannot be sentenced for a plea based upon a firearm enhancement when the necessary statutory factors were not alleged in the indictment. See State v. Wimbish, 147 N.C. App. 287, 292, 555 S.E.2d 329, 333 (2001).

The use of two separate judgments by the trial court in the original disposition of the case was in error. The Department of Correction, as it did in State v. Branch, 134 N.C. App. 637, 640-41, 518 S.E.2d 213, 215-16 (1999), brought this error to the attention of the trial court by letter. In Branch, our Court noted this was an appropriate method for the Department of Correction to bring an irregularity in sentencing to the attention of the trial court. Id. In the case before us, the trial court set the matter for re-sentencing and conducted a re-sentencing hearing to correct its erroneous sentence originally imposed.

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State v. Wilson, 571 S.E.2d 631, 154 N.C. App. 127, 2002 N.C. App. LEXIS 1401 (N.C. Ct. App. 2002).

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