Court Opinion

ID: 9588235
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:31:41.93085+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:59:40.222634
License: Public Domain

HUNTER, Judge,
dissenting.
As the majority notes, at the hearing on defendant’s motion for appropriate relief, he both withdrew that motion and orally entered notice of appeal. Had defendant requested that the court deny the motion for appropriate relief rather than withdrawing it, defendant would not have lost his right to appeal the other issues in this case. As the majority notes, Rule 4(a) of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure requires “ ‘filing notice of appeal . . . within 14 days after entry of the judgment or order or within 14 days after a ruling on a motion for appropriate relief made during the 14-day period following entry of the judgment or order.’ ” (Emphasis added.) Because the record reflects no notice of appeal filed within fourteen days of the judgment, defendant by withdrawing the motion for appropriate relief lost any right to appeal. As such, it is clear to me that the withdrawal of the motion was an inadvertent error. In light of this, I would grant certiorari and hear this appeal not only because I believe it would prevent injustice to defendant, who has lost his right to appeal because of this error, see N.C.R. App. P. 21(a)(1), but also in the interests of judicial economy: If we dismiss this appeal, defendant *653will almost certainly petition this Court for a writ of certiorari; given the issues of injustice that petition will present, this Court will likely grant the petition, and we will then have to hear this appeal on its merits instead of disposing of it with finality at this time.
For these reasons, I would not dismiss this appeal but hear it on its merits. After having reviewed the merits of this case, I would find no error in the judgment of the court as to the portion of defendant’s trial through the jury verdict, but would remand for resentencing as conceded by the State.