STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
v. Davidson County
No. 93 CRS 4448
CHRISTOPHER WAYNE ALFORD
Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General
Lisa Granberry Corbett, for the State.
Appellate Defender Staples Hughes, by Assistant Appellate
Defender Constance E. Widenhouse, for defendant-appellant.
WYNN, Judge.
Defendant, Christopher Wayne Alford, argues the trial court
erroneously (I) accepted Defendant's guilty plea without complying
with the statutory requirements of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1022; and
(II) found as an aggravating factor that Defendant had prior
convictions for criminal offenses punishable by more than sixty
days confinement. We affirm Defendant's conviction and sentence.
On or about 28 March 1993, Defendant was in lawful custody in
the Davidson County jail, awaiting transfer to the state prison
system
(See footnote 1)
, when he and two other inmates, escaped. Defendant wasmissing for approximately four or five days, when he was found in
Lexington, North Carolina. Defendant was subsequently charged with
felony escape from municipal confinement, whereupon he pled guilty
as charged. On 15 April 1993, the trial court entered judgment on
Defendant's guilty plea and sentenced Defendant to an aggravated
term of three years imprisonment, with the sentence to run
consecutively to any other sentence Defendant was then obligated to
serve.
On or about 9 October 2002, Defendant filed a pro se petition
for writ of certiorari seeking a belated appeal of the trial
court's 15 April 1993 judgment. By order entered 7 November 2002,
this Court allowed the petition, but limited this Court's review
“to those issues upon which Defendant had a right to direct appeal
under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1444.”
By his first assignment of error, Defendant argues, “The trial
court erred by accepting Defendant's guilty plea without first
complying with all the statutory requirements for accepting a
guilty plea under G.S. 15A-1022. This argument is outside of the
scope of G.S. 15A-1444, and therefore, this Court's 7 November 2002
order allowing Defendant's petition for writ of certiorari.
Accordingly, we summarily dismiss Defendant's first assignment of
error. See State v. Nance, 155 N.C. App. 773, 574 S.E.2d 692
(2003)(reiterating that a Defendant is not entitled to appellatereview as a matter of right when he has entered a plea of guilty to
a criminal charge in the superior court unless he is appealing
sentencing issues or the denial of a motion to suppress; and that
this Court is without authority to issue a writ of certiorari
except as provided under N.C.R. App. P. 21(a)(1)).
We move next to Defendant's second assignment of error, which
is properly before the Court, by which he argues that “[t]he trial
court erred by finding as an aggravating factor that [he] had prior
convictions for criminal offenses punishable by more than sixty
days confinement[.]” Defendant contends that “the State failed to
present competent evidence to prove the prior convictions.” We
disagree.
In 1993, G.S. § 15A-1340.4(e) provided, “A prior conviction
may be proved by stipulation of the parties or by the original or
a certified copy of the court record of the prior conviction.” N.C.
Gen. Stat. § 15A-1340.4(e)(1993). The transcript in the present
case tends to show that Defendant stipulated to the factual basis
for the plea and the prosecutor summarized the evidence. During
this summarization, the prosecutor stated that Defendant had been
convicted of seven counts of felonious breaking and entering and
felonious larceny, breaking and entering a motor vehicle, robbery
with a dangerous weapon, assault with a deadly weapon with intent
to kill inflicting serious injury, and first degree burglary on 23
March 1993. The prosecutor went on to state his sentence, and the
fact that he escaped while awaiting transfer to state facilities.
After the prosecutor's showing, the Court asked, “Any objection tothe showing for the State?” Defendant's attorney replied, “No.”
Defendant did not propose any mitigating factors, and when asked if
he personally had anything to say, Defendant twice replied, “No,
sir.”
Based upon defense counsel's agreement with the prosecutor's
summarization of the evidence and Defendant's failure to propose
any factors of his own or object in any way to the accuracy of the
record as represented, we conclude that Defendant effectively
stipulated that he had been convicted of those offenses, for which
he had been sentenced to serve a total of 25 years in prison. See
State v. Bynum, 65 N.C. App. 813, 814-815, 310 S.E.2d 388, 390
(1984)(holding that it was not error to find the existence of an
aggravating factor had been established by a preponderance of the
evidence where defense counsel did not object to, but in fact
agreed with, the prosecutor's representation that Defendant had
several prior convictions punishable by more than 60 days
confinement; and Defendant did not, at sentencing, object to the
finding of fact as to the prior convictions and did not propose any
of his own proposed findings). Accordingly, we hold that the trial
court properly found as an aggravating factor that Defendant had
prior convictions punishable by more than 60 days confinement.
Affirmed.
Judges HUNTER and McCULLOUGH concur.
Report per Rule 30(e).
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