Issue

Waiver of right to counsel—statutory colloquy—range of permissible punishments—tantamount to a life sentence

Summary

Where defendant sought to waive his right to counsel and represent himself on numerous felony charges–arising from his assault, kidnapping, and rape of his mother–and the trial court, in undertaking the colloquy required by N.C.G.S. § 15A-1242, erroneously informed defendant (then 29 years old) that he could face a term of imprisonment of 75 to 175 years (the actual sentence imposed upon defendant's convictions totaled 121 to 178 years), the Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals' determination that defendant was not entitled to a new trial because, despite the trial court's numerically inaccurate statement of the range of sentences defendant could receive, defendant was made aware that he faced what was tantamount to a life sentence; accordingly, no statutory error occurred. The Court of Appeals' decision was modified to clarify that the trial court was responsible for engaging defendant in a thorough colloquy as required by statute as to all charges–not just the most serious–and could not delegate that duty to the prosecutor.

Summary from the North Carolina Reports digest (official subject index). Read the opinion →