Court Opinion

ID: 9567627
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:56:15.074392+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:00:44.043120
License: Public Domain

Justice MARTIN,
concurring.
I concur in the majority’s holding that the trial court erred under Blakely by increasing defendant’s statutory sentence based upon facts which were not found by the jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Furthermore, I acknowledge that State v. Allen, 359 N.C. 425, 615 S.E.2d 256 (2005) (holding Blakely errors are structural errors and not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt), requires remand of this case for resentencing. I dissented from the majority opinion in Allen and maintain that the reasoning of the concurring and dissenting opinion was correct. Id. at 452-73, "615 S.E.2d at 274-88 (Martin, J., Lake, C.J., and Newby, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (stating that Blakely errors are subject to harmless error analysis). Nonetheless, in light of the doctrine of stare decisis, I accept Allen as controlling and concur in the decision of the majority in the instant case. See State v. Camacho, 337 N.C. 224, 235, 446 S.E.2d 8, 14 (1994) (Mitchell, J. (later C.J.), concurring).
Justice NEWBY joins in this concurring opinion.