Court Opinion

ID: 9625860
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:53:23.907885+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:57:40.231102
License: Public Domain

*511Judge Walker
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in the majority opinion which finds no error in the defendant’s conviction on the assault charge.
I respectfully dissent to the majority opinion which vacates the defendant’s conviction on the charge of common law robbery. I disagree with the general rule asserted that a typical purse snatching incident is larceny and not common law robbery. Here, the victim was seated on a bus and was holding her purse which had a strap over her shoulder. Even though the defendant and the victim knew each other, the victim, in her statement, stated that defendant said, “I’ll fix you” as he grabbed her purse and pulled it from her hands.
In State v. Sawyer, 224 N.C. 61, 29 S.E.2d 34 (1944), our Supreme Court held that the degree of force is immaterial so long as it is sufficient to cause the victim to part with her property. A purse snatching incident, as here, involves an element of force and violence such that the State’s evidence was sufficient to withstand the defendant’s motion to dismiss.