Court Opinion

ID: 9595115
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:35:53.258011+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:59:30.326367
License: Public Domain

Judge McCRODDEN
concurring.
I concur in the result reached by the majority, but I do not believe that that opinion fully explores the problems inherent in indictments, such as the one in Case No. 91 CRS 101, alleging first degree rape of T.B. during a period spanning two years. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-924(a)(4) (1988) requires that a criminal pleading must contain a statement that “the offense charged was committed on, or on or about, a designated date, or during a designated period of time.” Our courts have recognized and allowed the leniency afforded young witnesses whose concept of time is not precise, see, e.g., State v. Everett, 328 N.C. 72, 75, 399 S.E.2d 305, 306 (1991), and periods of time stated in indictments have increased to reflect the unfortunate fact that many cases involving sexual abuse of children continue undetected for months and years.
*375Those facts, however, should not give prosecutors a false sense about their pleadings. In this case, for example, as counsel for defendant argued, evidence at trial showed that another first degree rape of T.B., the one charged in 90 CRS 6084 as occurring on 15 March 1988, actually occurred sometime in 1987, possibly within the two-year period of the first degree rape alleged by 91 CRS 101. This scenario raises the constitutional issue of double jeopardy, an issue the majority glosses over, in parts I and II of its opinion, by relying on that time-honored phrase that, where time is not of the essence of a particular crime, (I) the designation of a two-year period in the indictment is not fatal, and (II) a variance between the date alleged in the indictment and the date proved at trial is not grounds for dismissal. The case of State v. Wise, 66 N.C. 120 (1872), cited by the majority, stands for more than the majority indicated. In that case, while the Supreme Court acknowledged that time was not of the essence of the crime (arson) for which Wise had been indicted, it noted that “time has a most important effect upon the punishment,” 66 N.C. at 124, because the date upon which Wise had committed his criminal deed would decide whether he received imprisonment under a law passed in 1869, or death under an 1871 act. The Court reversed the judgment based on the 1871 act, reserved for the future the question of whether the prosecutor could maintain a motion for judgment as upon a conviction under the 1869 act, and stated that, “it may be that judgment cannot be pronounced as upon conviction on either one of the statutes, by reason of the uncertainty.” Id. at 125.
Absent other evidence that defendant in the instant case had committed first degree rape of T.B. on a number of occasions, this Court would not be able to determine whether the jury convicted defendant of the two first degree rape charges found in 90 CRS 6084 and 91 CRS 101 on the basis of the single 1987 incident. Indeed, absent such evidence, time would have a “most important effect upon the punishment,” because defendant would have received two consecutive life sentences for identical offenses based upon the same act, in violation of defendant’s Fifth Amendment right not to be twice tried for the same offense. Only because there is ample evidence that defendant had sexual intercourse with the child on a number of occasions within this period, including possibly the date in 1987 used to convict him of the rape charge in the 90 CRS 6084 indictment, will I stand with the majority in finding no error.