Summary
adopting 102 N.C. App. 535, 538-40, 402 S.E.2d 851, 853-55 (Greene, J., dissenting)
Summary of this case from State v. CrudupOpinion
No. 244A91
Filed 7 November 1991
APPEAL by defendant pursuant to N.C.G.S. 7A-30 (2) from the decision of a divided panel of the Court of Appeals, 102 N.C. App. 535, 402 S.E.2d 851 (1991), finding no error in defendant's trial at the 30 April 1990 session of Superior Court, MECKLENBURG County, Gaines, J., presiding. Heard in the Supreme Court 17 October 1991.
Lacy H. Thornburg, Attorney General, by Teresa L. White, Assistant Attorney General, for the State.
Isabel Scott Day, Public Defender, by Allen W. Boyer, Assistant Public Defender, for defendant-appellant.
Defendant was convicted of felonious possession of cocaine with intent to sell, in violation of N.C.G.S. 90-95, and sentenced to a prison term of three years. A majority of the Court of Appeals panel concluded the trial court did not err in admitting certain statements made by defendant to law enforcement officers shortly before his arrest. Judge Greene, dissenting, concluded that these statements should have been excluded because they were taken in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Judge Greene further concluded that because of the erroneous admission of these statements, defendant was entitled to a new trial.
For the reasons stated in Judge Greene's dissenting opinion, the decision of the Court of Appeals is reversed; defendant's conviction is vacated; and the case is remanded to the Court of Appeals for further remand to the Superior Court, Mecklenburg County, for a new trial or for such other further proceedings as are not inconsistent with this decision.
Reversed and remanded.