Court Opinion

ID: 9847020
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:52:22.07442+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:59.076521
License: Public Domain

GREENE, Judge,
dissenting.
I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that “a reasonable inference can [be] drawn from the evidence that Florida Street is a public street in North Carolina.” Accordingly, I dissent.
In considering a motion to dismiss, a trial court must determine whether there is substantial evidence of each essential element of the offense charged. State v. Butler, 356 N.C. 141, 145, 567 S.E.2d 137, 139 (2002). “Substantial evidence is that relevant evidence which a reasonable mind would find adequate to support a conclusion.” State v. Carr, 122 N.C. App. 369, 372, 470 S.E.2d 70, 72 (1996). Evidence creating a “mere suspicion” is not substantial evidence. Butler, 356 N.C. at 141, 567 S.E.2d at 139-40. The State, however, is entitled to all reasonable inferences drawn from the evidence. Id. at 145, 567 S.E.2d at 140. Thus, evidence is substantial if it leads to a reasonable inference of the existence of an element of the crime charged.
An inference is “[a] logical and reasonable conclusion of a fact not presented by direct evidence but which, by process of logic and reason, a trier of fact may conclude exists from the established facts.” Black’s Law Dictionary 778 (6th ed. 1990) [hereinafter Black’s]. A suspicion is “[t]he apprehension of something without proof or upon slight evidence. Suspicion implies a belief or opinion based upon facts or circumstances which do not amount to proof.” Black’s at 1447.
*348To withstand a motion to dismiss in this case the State was required to present substantial evidence defendant was driving a vehicle on a street while under the influence of an impairing substance. See N.C.G.S. § 20-138.1 (2001). A street is defined as a “highway.” N.C.G.S. § 20-4.01(46) (2001). A highway is “[t]he entire width between property or right-of-way lines of every way or place of whatever nature, when any part thereof is open to the use of the public as a matter of right for the purposes of vehicular traffic.” N.C.G.S. § 20-4.01(13) (2001).
Evidence defendant was driving on “Florida Street,” which is “near” Highway 29 and is twice the width of a “normal street out in the county” does not logically or reasonably lead to the conclusion “Florida Street” is “open to the use of the public as a matter of right.” To hold otherwise would mean that all named streets are “open to the use of the public as a matter of right,” and this simply is not true.2 Evidence of a name, general location, and size of a road only amounts to facts and circumstances raising a mere suspicion that “Florida Street” might be a “public street.”
Thus, the State failed to produce substantial evidence of an essential element of the crime charged. Accordingly, defendant’s motion to dismiss should have been allowed. In any event, assuming the majority has correctly decided this issue, defendant is entitled to a new sentencing hearing. The trial court found, as an aggravating factor, defendant had committed this driving while impaired offense while on release pending trial of another offense (driving while license revoked). This was error. See State v. Parks, 324 N.C. 94, 98, 376 S.E.2d 4, 7 (1989) (aggravating factor exists if the defendant has shown “disdain for the law by committing an offense while on release pending trial of an earlier charge”). The other offense had been dismissed and was not pending at the time defendant was charged with driving while impaired.

. A landowner having a private road on his property, where the public can be excluded, is not prohibited from naming the road. Indeed, some counties name each road within the county, whether private or public, to make it easier to locate people in the event of emergencies. See N.C.G.S. § 62A-3(3) (2001) (local government can name streets within its jurisdiction for purposes of 911 emergency response); see also N.C.G.S. § 153A-239.1(a) (2001) (county can name “anyroad”).