{
  "id": 8524652,
  "name": "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. MICHAEL EARL STAMPS",
  "name_abbreviation": "State v. Stamps",
  "decision_date": "1985-03-05",
  "docket_number": "No. 848SC584",
  "first_page": "473",
  "last_page": "474",
  "citations": [
    {
      "type": "official",
      "cite": "73 N.C. App. 473"
    }
  ],
  "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": [],
  "analysis": {
    "cardinality": 176,
    "char_count": 2919,
    "ocr_confidence": 0.805,
    "sha256": "ad3d366a46447def1fe43b5eea1c3b0b1cb38d2e07d399213b33d63ab128f4ec",
    "simhash": "1:d368992f7d0a9101",
    "word_count": 462
  },
  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T21:55:13.639601+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
  },
  "casebody": {
    "judges": [
      "Judges JOHNSON and Cozort concur."
    ],
    "parties": [
      "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. MICHAEL EARL STAMPS"
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "HEDRICK, Chief Judge.\nThe sole question presented by defendant is whether the trial court erred when it found a prior conviction as an aggravating factor at sentencing when the commission of that crime occurred after the commission of the crime for which defendant was being sentenced.\nOn 13 April 1983, defendant committed the act which was the basis of the manslaughter conviction. Sometime between the commission of the manslaughter and the trial for that offense defendant was arrested, tried and convicted for possession of a controlled substance, a crime which is punishable by more than sixty days. The trial court found the conviction for possession as an aggravating factor at the sentencing for the manslaughter conviction. Defendant argues that because the commission of the crime found in aggravation was subsequent to the commission of the crime for which defendant was sentenced it cannot be considered a prior conviction within the ambit of G.S. 15A-1340.4(a) (l)o. We disagree.\nG.S. 15A-1340.4(a)(l)o prescribes that the court find as an aggravating factor at sentencing, \u201ca prior conviction . . . for [a] criminal offensfe] punishable by more than 60 days\u2019 confinement.\u201d (Emphasis added.) The statute excludes only those crimes which are joinable with the crime for which defendant is currently being sentenced. Defendant was convicted of the offense found in aggravation prior to his being sentenced for manslaughter. The conviction found as an aggravating factor was not for an offense joinable with the crime for which defendant was being sentenced. The trial court was clearly within the ambit of the statute when it found the prior conviction as a factor in aggravation.\nThe sentence imposed by the trial court is affirmed.\nAffirmed.\nJudges JOHNSON and Cozort concur.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "HEDRICK, Chief Judge."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Attorney General Rufus L. Edmisten, by Special Deputy Attorney General John R. B. Matthis and Assistant Attorney General Alan S. Hirsch, for the State.",
      "Harrison and Heath, by Leland M. Heath, Jr., for defendant, appellant."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. MICHAEL EARL STAMPS\nNo. 848SC584\n(Filed 5 March 1985)\nCriminal Law \u00a7 138\u2014 aggravating factor \u2014 prior conviction \u2014crime committed after crime for which defendant sentenced\nThe trial court could properly find a prior conviction as an aggravating factor at sentencing when the commission of that crime occurred after the commission of the crime for which defendant was being sentenced.\nAppeal by defendant from Small, Judge. Judgment entered 7 February 1984 in Superior Court, LENOIR County. Heard in the Court of Appeals 11 February 1985.\nDefendant was charged in a proper bill of indictment with second degree murder. The jury in its verdict found defendant guilty of involuntary manslaughter. The trial court found a factor in aggravation and sentenced defendant to nine years imprisonment, a term in excess of the presumptive term. From the sentence imposed defendant appealed.\nAttorney General Rufus L. Edmisten, by Special Deputy Attorney General John R. B. Matthis and Assistant Attorney General Alan S. Hirsch, for the State.\nHarrison and Heath, by Leland M. Heath, Jr., for defendant, appellant."
  },
  "file_name": "0473-01",
  "first_page_order": 505,
  "last_page_order": 506
}