Court Opinion

ID: 9622801
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 06:23:50.892327+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:20.575987
License: Public Domain

WYNN, Judge,
concurring.
I concur with the majority, writing only to note that the facts of this case are almost identical to those in State v. Miller, 159 N.C. App. 608, 583 S.E.2d 620 (2003), aff’d per curiam, 358 N.C. 133, 591 S.E.2d 520 (2004), in which we held the indictments were fatally flawed because they named the wrong statute. See State v. Jones, 358 N.C. 473, 487, 598 S.E.2d 125, 133-34 (2004) (“Where a panel of the Court of Appeals has decided the same issue, albeit in a different case, a subsequent panel of the same court is bound by that precedent, unless it has been overturned by a higher court.” (internal quotation and citation omitted)).
By the very terms of the indictments here, as in Miller, even if facts were included sufficient to support each element of the actual crimes Defendant was accused of committing, the indictments could not also then contain facts supporting each element of the crimes contained in the wrongly cited statute.
The dissent cites to a number of inapposite cases that involved immaterial mistakes in indictments, such as what goods were actually stolen, see State v. Parker, 146 N.C. App. 715, 719, 555 S.E.2d 609, 612 (2001); the type of weapon used in the crime, see State v. Joyce, 104 N.C. App. 558, 573, 410 S.E.2d 516, 525 (1991), cert. denied, 331 N.C. 120, 414 S.E.2d 764 (1992); or the name of the county in which the crime was allegedly committed, see State v. Hyder, 100 N.C. App. 270, 273, 396 S.E.2d 86, 88 (1990). Indeed, in each of those cases, this Court noted that a substantial alteration was one which would alter the proof needed for each element of the charge. Parker, 146 N.C. App. at 719, 555 S.E.2d at 612; Joyce, 104 N.C. App. at 573, 410 S.E.2d at 525; Hyder, 100 N.C. App. at 273, 396 S.E.2d at 88.
In the instant case, as in Miller, the statute cited in the indictment goes to the very heart of the charges and allegations against Defendant, and such an alteration of the indictment is clearly “substantial.” See Parker, 146 N.C. App. at 718, 555 S.E.2d at 611; N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-923(e) (2005). Changing the amendment to refer to a *223different statute, with different elements of the crime charged, unquestionably alters the proof needed for each element. Accordingly, I concur with the majority’s holding that it was error to allow the State to amend the indictments and therefore to vacate the judgments entered on the five defective indictments.