Court Opinion

ID: 9594430
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:29:55.896933+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:02:16.559150
License: Public Domain

Justice MEYER
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from both the reasoning and result reached by the majority on the issue of whether defendant’s prior adjudication under the Alabama Youthful Offender Act was properly considered in sentencing.
In 1974 the defendant, then twenty years old and serving in the United States Army, pled guilty in an Alabama court of law to a charge of rape, a crime involving the use or threat of violence to the person. The judgment of the Alabama court is as follows:
*567Youthful Offender Action, Sentence by Court. Probation Denied
State of Alabama ) Y.O. #6684 vs. ) Youthful Offender Action John Vincent Beal ) Charge: Rape Youthful Offender) Guilty Plea as charged Sentence and Denial of Probation.
This the 4th day of February, 1975:
This Youthful Offender Action having commenced trial by the Court without the intervention of a Jury and the Defendant having pled guilty, and the Court having adjudged the Defendant a Youthful Offender and guilty of the underlying offense of Rape and the Defendant having applied for probation:
Comes now the Defendant in open Court in his own proper person and with Attorney, Honorable H. Darden Williams, and being asked by the Court if he had anything to say why the sentence of the law should not now be pronounced upon him says “Nothing” and before passing sentence the Court determines by examination of said Defendant and other evidence that said Defendant was by trade or occupation “a soldier, army of the United States of America” and he is of the white race, male sex, is twenty (20) years of age (d/b; May 11, 1954) and his physical condition is “good, need dental work.”
It is considered, ordered and adjudged by the Court that the Youthful offender be and he is hereby sentenced to imprisonment in the custody of the Director of the Board of Corrections of the State of Alabama for a term of three years, as punishment fixed by the Court, and, the Court hereby denies Probation.
(Judge Wm. C. Bibb)
(Emphasis added.)
Beal was sentenced to three years imprisonment and received the benefits of adjudication as a youthful offender, thereby entitling him to the protections afforded that status under Alabama law. In 1982 this same defendant was convicted, in a *568North Carolina court of law, of first degree murder. It is my position that whatever protections he was earlier afforded as a youthful offender were lost as a result of his subsequent conviction for first degree murder.
In North Carolina we have no statutory provision that would preclude consideration of defendant’s prior plea of guilty to the charge of rape, irrespective of his youthful offender status. Furthermore, I believe that the language of the Alabama Youthful Offender Act, the policy underlying that statute, and the case law interpreting it dictate a result contrary to that reached by the majority.
I. North Carolina Law.
There is no authority under North Carolina law for affording the defendant the protections which he contends are afforded him under the Alabama Youthful Offender Act. Even in the case of misdemeanors (with the exception of certain misdemeanor drug violations) and in adjudications of juvenile delinquency, North Carolina law allows the judge to consider the prior convictions and adjudications.
G.S. § 15-223 provides, in pertinent part, that
Expunction of records for first offenders under the age of 18 at the time of conviction of misdemeanor. —(a) Whenever any person who has not yet attained the age of 18 years and has not previously been convicted of any felony, or misdemeanor other than a traffic violation, under the laws of the United States, the laws of this State or any other state, pleads guilty to or is guilty of a misdemeanor other than a traffic violation, he may file a petition in the court where he was convicted for expunction of the misdemeanor from his criminal record. The petition cannot be filed earlier than two years after the date of the conviction or any period of probation, whichever occurs later,.... (b) If the court, after hearing, finds that the petitioner had remained of good behavior and been free of conviction of any felony or misdemeanor, other than a traffic violation, for two years from the date of conviction of the misdemeanor in question, and petitioner was not 18 years old at the time of the conviction in question, it shall order that such person be restored, in the contempla*569tion of the law, to the status he occupied before such arrest or indictment or information. No person as to whom such order has been entered shall be held thereafter under any provision of any laws to be guilty of perjury or otherwise giving a false statement by reason of his failure to recite or acknowledge such arrest, or indictment, information, or trial, or response to any inquiry made of him for any purpose.
The statute provides that the information in the file be disclosed to judges for the purpose of ascertaining whether the offender had previously been granted a discharge.
As the defendant in the present case was over the age of 18 when the offense was committed, and the offense with which he was charged was a felony—rape, he would not have been eligible to receive the benefits of G.S. § 15-223 in North Carolina.
When our legislature has deemed it appropriate, it has provided for the blanket protections which this defendant argues should be afforded him. G.S. § 90-96 provides for the expunction of records for first offense misdemeanor controlled substance violations. That section specifically provides that
(a) . . . Upon fulfillment of the terms and conditions, the court shall discharge such person and dismiss the proceedings against him. Discharge and dismissal under this section shall be without court adjudication of guilt and shall not be deemed a conviction for purposes of this section or for purposes of disqualifications or disabilities imposed by law upon conviction of a crime including the additional penalties imposed for second or subsequent convictions of this Article.
I read nothing in G.S. § 90-96, however, to suggest that these protections afforded in limited cases of first offense misdemeanor drug violations should extend to a felony rape conviction.
Finally, G.S. § 7A-638 provides that:
An adjudication that a juvenile is delinquent or commitment of a juvenile to the Division of Youth Services shall neither be considered conviction of any criminal offense nor cause the juvenile to forfeit any citizenship rights.
Significantly, this provision, unlike the Alabama Youthful Offender Act, makes no exception for consideration of the adjudica*570tion for subsequent sentencing purposes. Also of significance and consistent with its policy of protecting the youthful offender from the stigma of conviction, is that cases construing the Alabama Youthful Offender Act have held that one so adjudicated may not be impeached by the fact of his adjudication. North Carolina law is to the contrary. G.S. § 7A-676 provides for the expunction of records of juveniles adjudicated delinquent and undisciplined. G.S. § 7A-677, however, provides that
(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), in any criminal or delinquency case if the juvenile is the defendant and chooses to testify or if he is not the defendant and is called as a witness, the juvenile may be ordered to testify with respect to whether he was adjudicated delinquent.
Furthermore, similar to the provisions of G.S. § 15-223(d), G.S. § 7A-678 provides that “upon testifying in a criminal or delinquency proceeding [the juvenile] may be required by a judge to disclose that he was adjudicated a delinquent.”
Whether viewed under North Carolina or Alabama law, the defendant in this case was clearly not a juvenile at the time he committed the offense. In fact, the Alabama Youthful Offender Act specifically excludes juveniles. Ala. Code § 15-19-l(a).
In summary, although our legislature has recognized, in limited cases, that juveniles, youthful offenders, and first offenders for drug violations may be entitled to and afforded protections through expunction of records, and that an adjudication of delinquency should not be considered a conviction, I find no authority in North Carolina to support the majority’s conclusion that this defendant’s plea of guilty to a charge of rape must be ignored in the sentencing phase of a capital case simply because he was afforded the status and protections of a youthful offender in Alabama.
II. Alabama Law.
The Alabama Youthful Offender Act, § 15-19-7(a), provides in pertinent part that determination as a youthful offender “shall not be deemed a conviction of crime; provided, however, that if he is subsequently convicted of a crime, the prior adjudication as youthful offender shall be considered.” The term “convicted of a crime” is not used in the narrow sense but is a broad phrase *571which would include pleas of guilty and adjudications of delinquency where the offense was a felony. I read this language to mean that if a defendant is subsequently convicted of a crime, his prior adjudication as a youthful offender must then be considered in the sentencing for the subsequent crime.
The stated purpose of the Alabama Youthful Offender Act supports this interpretation. Ala. Code § 15-19-17(a) provides that “[n]o determination made under the provisions of this chapter shall disqualify any youth for public office or public employment, operate as a forfeiture of any right or privilege or make him ineligible to receive any license granted by public authority.” In Raines v. State, 294 Ala. 360, 366, 317 So. 2d 559, 564, reh’g denied, 294 Ala. 767 (1975), the Alabama court noted that “[t]he Alabama Youthful Offender Act was conceived for the purpose of protecting those who fall within its ambit from the stigma and practical consequences of a conviction for a crime." (Emphasis supplied.) Clearly, the Act is intended solely to protect those who, following a transgression in their youth, become law abiding citizens. However, equally clear is the fact that once subsequently convicted of a crime, those same individuals no longer need, nor are they entitled to protection “from the stigma and practical consequences of a conviction for a crime.”
In Thomas v. State, 445 So. 2d 992 (Ala. 1984), after noting that a prior adjudication as a youthful offender may not be used to enhance punishment under the Habitual Offender Act, see Ex Parte Thomas, 435 So. 2d 1324 (Ala. 1982), the Alabama court stated:
The purpose of the Youthful Offender Act is to protect “those who fall within its ambit from the stigma and practical consequences of a conviction for a crime.” Raines v. State, 294 Ala. 360, 366, 317 So. 2d 559 (1975). It is clear, however, that the Act is not intended to prevent the consideration of the adjudication for every conceivable purpose during the entire life-time of the youthful offender. Under Section 15-19-7(a), if a youthful offender “is subsequently convicted of crime, the prior adjudication as youthful offender shall be considered.” (Emphasis added.) Similarly, adjudication as a juvenile is admissible in “a disposition hearing in a juvenile court or in sentencing proceedings after conviction of a crime *572for the purposes of presentence study and report.” Alabama Code Section 12-15-72(b) (1975).
Id. at 994.
The court then noted that under the circumstances of the case then at bar (involving impeachment of a youthful offender’s credibility) the “State’s policy interest in protecting the confidentiality of a youthful offender’s record must yield to the public’s right to the integrity of the judicial system.” Id.
Ex parte Thomas, 435 So. 2d 1324 is not dispositive of the issue. That case merely held that adjudication as a youthful offender may not be considered as a prior felony conviction under the Alabama Habitual Offender Act. The case does not preclude consideration of the underlying crime for sentencing in general.
G.S. § 15A-2000, our capital punishment statute, provides that: (a)(3) “Evidence may be presented as to any matter that the court deems relevant to sentence, and may include matters relating to any of the aggravating or mitigating circumstances enumerated in subsections (e) and (f). Any evidence which the court deems to have probative value may be received.” (Emphasis added.) Following defendant’s conviction for first degree murder in this case, he was no longer entitled to the protection afforded by the Alabama Youthful Offender Act. For purposes of sentencing, there was no longer a policy interest in protecting the confidentiality of defendant’s youthful offender record. There remained only “the public’s right to the integrity of the judicial system.” I would therefore hold that evidence pertaining to defendant’s plea of guilty to a charge of rape is relevant to sentencing and may now be considered by the courts of North Carolina.
Justice COPELAND joins in this dissent.