{ "id": 9006560, "name": "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. DWIGHT McKENSEY PRICE, Defendant", "name_abbreviation": "State v. Price", "decision_date": "2005-06-07", "docket_number": "No. COA04-1024", "first_page": "672", "last_page": "675", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "170 N.C. App. 672" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "N.C. Ct. App.", "id": 14983, "name": "North Carolina Court of Appeals" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 5, "name_long": "North Carolina", "name": "N.C." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "178 S.E.2d 10", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1970, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "12" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "10 N.C. App. 143", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C. App.", "case_ids": [ 8551710 ], "year": 1970, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "145" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc-app/10/0143-01" ] }, { "cite": "562 S.E.2d 453", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 2002, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "456", "parenthetical": "quoting State v. Carroll, 10 N.C. App. 143, 145, 178 S.E.2d 10, 12 (1970)" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "149 N.C. App. 588", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C. App.", "case_ids": [ 9130405 ], "year": 2002, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "592", "parenthetical": "quoting State v. Carroll, 10 N.C. App. 143, 145, 178 S.E.2d 10, 12 (1970)" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc-app/149/0588-01" ] }, { "cite": "N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 14-54", "category": "laws:leg_statute", "reporter": "N.C. Gen. Stat.", "year": 2004, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "(a)", "parenthetical": "\"Any person who breaks or enters any building with intent to commit any felony....\"" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 14-56.1", "category": "laws:leg_statute", "reporter": "N.C. Gen. Stat.", "year": 2004, "pin_cites": [ { "parenthetical": "\"Any person who forcibly breaks into . . . any coin- or currency-operated machine with intent to steal any property or moneys therein shall be guilty ....\"" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "173 S.E.2d 642", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1970, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "643" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "8 N.C. App. 73", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C. App.", "case_ids": [ 8549088 ], "year": 1970, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "75" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc-app/8/0073-01" ] }, { "cite": "111 S.E.2d 901", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "weight": 3, "year": 1960, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "903" }, { "parenthetical": "citation omitted" }, { "page": "904" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "251 N.C. 658", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8626903 ], "year": 1960, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "661" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/251/0658-01" ] }, { "cite": "513 S.E.2d 801", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1999, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "803" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "132 N.C. App. 788", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C. App.", "case_ids": [ 11240619 ], "year": 1999, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "790" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc-app/132/0788-01" ] }, { "cite": "592 S.E.2d 272", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "weight": 2, "year": 2004, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "273", "parenthetical": "quoting State v. Woody, 132 N.C. App. 788, 790, 513 S.E.2d 801, 803 (1999)" }, { "page": "273" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "162 N.C. App. 719", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C. App.", "case_ids": [ 8920012 ], "weight": 2, "year": 2004, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "721", "parenthetical": "quoting State v. Woody, 132 N.C. App. 788, 790, 513 S.E.2d 801, 803 (1999)" }, { "page": "721" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc-app/162/0719-01" ] }, { "cite": "326 S.E.2d 256", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1985, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "258" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "313 N.C. 164", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 4726404 ], "year": 1985, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "166" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/313/0164-01" ] }, { "cite": "275 S.E.2d 200", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1981, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "201" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "51 N.C. App. 153", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C. App.", "case_ids": [ 2645518 ], "year": 1981, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "155" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc-app/51/0153-01" ] }, { "cite": "N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 14-160", "category": "laws:leg_statute", "reporter": "N.C. Gen. Stat.", "year": 2004, "pin_cites": [ { "parenthetical": "\"If any person shall wantonly and willfully injure the personal property of another he shall be guilty ....\"" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "294 S.E.2d 403", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "weight": 2, "year": 1982, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "404" }, { "page": "404" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "58 N.C. App. 756", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C. App.", "case_ids": [ 8526217 ], "weight": 2, "year": 1982, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "757" }, { "page": "757" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc-app/58/0756-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 469, "char_count": 8805, "ocr_confidence": 0.747, "pagerank": { "raw": 8.603961300618678e-08, "percentile": 0.49005366722152527 }, "sha256": "1ed75ac6a32720f3a125b73cf54b2c00a775522df58099dc1bf9dead3a8d8c67", "simhash": "1:e0850c795c6e4e5e", "word_count": 1411 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T16:44:47.676310+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [ "Judges BRYANT and JACKSON concur." ], "parties": [ "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. DWIGHT McKENSEY PRICE, Defendant" ], "opinions": [ { "text": "WYNN, Judge.\nIn State v. Strange, 58 N.C. App. 756, 757, 294 S.E.2d 403, 404 (1982) this Court found an indictment for larceny fatally defective because the words \u201cGranville County Law Enforcement Association\u201d did not import a legal entity capable of owning property. In this case, Defendant contends his convictions for larceny of parking meters cannot stand because the indictments named \u201cCity of Asheville Transit and Parking Services,\u201d which is not a legal entity capable of owning property, as the owner. Finding this Court\u2019s holding in Strange to be controlling, we agree; accordingly, we vacate Defendant\u2019s convictions for larceny and injury to personal property. However, we uphold Defendant\u2019s convictions for breaking into a coin-operated machine since we hold that an allegation of ownership is not necessary to sustain that charge.\nThe evidence at trial tended to show that on 5 September 2002, Officer Dwight Arrowood, a member of the Asheville Police Department, observed Defendant Dwight McKensey Price cutting into a parking meter with a hacksaw. Officer Arrowood arrested Defendant and seized his blue tote bag, hacksaw with a blade, and coins totaling $4.60.\nOn 17 November 2002, Officer Arrowood observed Defendant sitting on a bench with a \u201ctire tool\u201d approximately an arm\u2019s length away. Upon returning twenty-five to thirty minutes later, Officer Arrowood observed a parking meter that had been broken into \u2014 to the right of where Defendant had been sitting. A short while later Defendant was arrested with a \u201ctire tool\u201d and coins totaling $16.70.\nOn 8 January 2003, June Melton saw a man prying open the back of a parking meter in front of her business in downtown Asheville. Ms. Melton had a co-worker, Carol Laurent, watch the man while she called the police. Ms. Laurent gave a description of the man she saw and later identified Defendant. Officer Luke Bigelow arrested Defendant, who had a screwdriver in his hand and $9.96 in coins.\nThe jury found Defendant guilty of misdemeanor larceny, three counts of breaking into a coin-operated machine, and injury to personal property causing more than $200.00 of damage. The jury also found Defendant guilty of being a habitual felon. Defendant was sentenced to ninety-three months to 121 months imprisonment! Defendant appeals.\nOn appeal, Defendant first challenges the indictments supporting his convictions for injury to personal property and larceny.\nTo convict a defendant of injury to personal property, the State must prove that the personal property was that \u201cof another,\u201d i.e., someone other than the person or persons accused. N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 14-160 (2004) (\u201cIf any person shall wantonly and willfully injure the personal property of another he shall be guilty ....\u201d); In re Meaut, 51 N.C. App. 153, 155, 275 S.E.2d 200, 201 (1981). Moreover, \u201can indictment for larceny must allege the owner or person in lawful possession of the stolen property.\u201d State v. Downing, 313 N.C. 164, 166, 326 S.E.2d 256, 258 (1985). Thus, to be sufficient, an indictment for injury to personal property or larceny must allege the owner or person in lawful possession of the injured or stolen property. However, \u201c[i]f the entity named in the indictment is not a person, it must be alleged \u2018that the victim was a legal entity capable of owning property!.]\u2019\u201d State v. Phillips, 162 N.C. App. 719, 721, 592 S.E.2d 272, 273 (2004) (quoting State v. Woody, 132 N.C. App. 788, 790, 513 S.E.2d 801, 803 (1999)).\nHere, the indictments for injury to personal property and larceny named the property owner as \u201cCity of Asheville Transit and Parking Services,\u201d which is not a natural person. Significantly, the indictment did not allege that it was a legal entity capable of owning property. See Phillips, 162 N.C. App. at 721, 592 S.E.2d at 273.\nIn State v. Thornton, 251 N.C. 658, 661, 111 S.E.2d 901, 903 (1960), our Supreme Court held \u201cthat the fact of incorporation need not be alleged where the corporate name is correctly set out in the indictment.\u201d Id. (citation omitted). Nonetheless, the Court found an indictment for embezzlement fatally defective because the words \u201cThe Chuck Wagon\u201d did not import a corporation capable of owning property. Id. at 662, 111 S.E.2d at 904. Thereafter, in State v. Turner, 8 N.C. App. 73, 75, 173 S.E.2d 642, 643 (1970), this Court upheld an indictment for larceny that named the \u201cCity of Hendersonville\u201d as the property owner because it clearly denoted a municipal corporation authorized to own personal property. But more recently, in Strange, 58 N.C. App. at 757, 294 S.E.2d at 404, this Court held an indictment for larceny naming \u201cGranville County Law Enforcement Association\u201d as the property owner to be fatally defective because the words neither correctly set out a corporate name nor imported a legal entity capable of owning property.\nHere, as in Strange, the words \u201cCity of Asheville Transit and Parking Services\u201d do not indicate a legal entity capable of owning property. Moreover, this case is unlike Tamer, in which \u201cCity of Hendersonville\u201d was sufficient as it clearly denoted a municipal corporation, because the additional words after \u201cCity of Asheville\u201d make it questionable what type of organization it is. Following Strange, we conclude that the name on the indictment in this case did not clearly indicate a corporate entity capable of owning property; and the indictments for larceny and injury to personal property failed to allege that \u201cCity of Asheville Transit and Parking Services\u201d was an entity capable of owning property. Accordingly, these indictments were fatally defective and must be vacated.\nDefendant further contends that his convictions for breaking into a coin-operated machine in violation of section 14-56.1 of the North Carolina General Statutes must likewise be vacated because ownership was not properly alleged. N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 14-56.1 (2004) (\u201cAny person who forcibly breaks into . . . any coin- or currency-operated machine with intent to steal any property or moneys therein shall be guilty ....\u201d)\u25a0 We disagree with that contention.\nAs this Court has not examined whether the State must prove, as an element of section 14-56.1, the identification of the owner of the property, we will look to an analogous statute. Section 14-54(a) of the North Carolina General Statutes makes breaking and entering buildings a crime. N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 14-54(a) (2004) (\u201cAny person who breaks or enters any building with intent to commit any felony....\u201d). This Court has held that,\nit was not necessary that the indictment allege ownership of the building; it was only necessary that the State \u2018identify the building with reasonable particularity so as to enable the defendant to prepare his defense and plead his conviction or acquittal as a bar to further prosecution for the same offense.\u2019\nState v. Norman, 149 N.C. App. 588, 592, 562 S.E.2d 453, 456 (2002) (quoting State v. Carroll, 10 N.C. App. 143, 145, 178 S.E.2d 10, 12 (1970)). Because we find section 14-56.1 to be analogous to section 14-54(a) of the North Carolina General Statutes, we conclude that the identification of the owner of the property is not an element of the crime of breaking into a coin-operated machine under section 14-56.1. Accordingly, we uphold Defendant\u2019s convictions under the three indictments for breaking into a coin-operated machine.\nDefendant failed to argue his remaining assignment of error in his brief; it is therefore deemed abandoned. N.C. R. App. R 28(b)(6).\nIn sum, we vacate 02CRS61581 and 02CRS15483 and find no error as to 03CRS50310, 02CRS65019, and 02CRS61580.\nVacated in part, No Error in part.\nJudges BRYANT and JACKSON concur.", "type": "majority", "author": "WYNN, Judge." } ], "attorneys": [ "Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General David J. Adinolfi II, for the State.", "Bryan Gates, Jr., for defendant-appellant." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. DWIGHT McKENSEY PRICE, Defendant\nNo. COA04-1024\n(Filed 7 June 2005)\n1. Larceny; Personal Property\u2014 larceny \u2014 injury to personal property \u2014 indictment\u2014entity capable of owning property\nDefendant\u2019s convictions for larceny of parking meters and injury to personal property are vacated because the indictments named \u201cCity of Asheville Transit and Parking Services\u201d as the owner of the property which did not clearly indicate an entity capable of owning property.\n2. Burglary and Unlawful Breaking or Entering\u2014 breaking into coin-operated machine \u2014 indictment\u2014allegation of ownership unnecessary\nDefendant\u2019s convictions for breaking into a coin-operated machine under N.C.G.S. \u00a7 14-56.1 is upheld even though ownership was not alleged in the indictment, because an allegation of ownership is not necessary to sustain this charge.\nAppeal by Defendant from judgment entered 29 October 2003 by Judge Albert Diaz in Superior Court, Buncombe County. Heard in the Court of Appeals 10 May 2005.\nAttorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General David J. Adinolfi II, for the State.\nBryan Gates, Jr., for defendant-appellant." }, "file_name": "0672-01", "first_page_order": 702, "last_page_order": 705 }