Thanks for visiting! Welcome to a new way to research case law. You are viewing a free summary from Descrybe.ai. For citation and good law / bad law checking, legal issue analysis, and other advanced tools, explore our Legal Research Toolkit — not free, but close.
State v. Fuller
Citations: 663 S.E.2d 12; 191 N.C. App. 400; 2008 N.C. App. LEXIS 1378Docket: COA07-663
Court: Court of Appeals of North Carolina; July 15, 2008; North Carolina; State Appellate Court
In the case of State of North Carolina v. William Earl Fuller, the North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld the defendant's convictions for first degree rape of a child and indecent liberties with a child but vacated his initial sentence, remanding for re-sentencing. Upon re-sentencing, the trial court classified Fuller as a prior record level III, leading to an imprisonment term of 300 to 369 months. Fuller appealed, arguing that the State did not meet its burden under N.C. Gen. Stat. 15A-1340.14(f) to prove his prior record level. The court found that Fuller had stipulated to his prior convictions, which warranted the categorization as prior record level III. The court emphasized that while a prior record level worksheet was presented, it alone is insufficient to establish a defendant's prior convictions without supporting evidence. Nonetheless, since Fuller had previously stipulated to his convictions, the court affirmed the sentence. Defense counsel's stipulation to the defendant's prior convictions was evident during the re-sentencing hearing. The Supreme Court of North Carolina clarified that a stipulation regarding a defendant's prior record level does not require an explicit statement; silence can imply agreement, especially if the defendant had a chance to object but did not. Counsel argued that two convictions arose from the same incident, impacting the calculation of points for prior record level classification, which could lower the defendant from Level III to Level II if one point were deducted. Throughout the hearing, counsel did not dispute any of the convictions listed on the sentencing worksheet, which led to the conclusion that there was a valid stipulation under N.C. Gen. Stat. 15A-1340.14(f). Prior case law supports this interpretation, affirming that counsel's failure to object constitutes a stipulation. Consequently, since the listed convictions support a prior record level of III, the trial court's judgment was affirmed. Judges McCULLOUGH and STEELMAN concurred. The court noted that it did not need to address the State's argument regarding the law of the case doctrine due to its conclusion.