STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
v. Alamance County
No. 01 CRS 054464
TONY HESTER VINSON
Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Special Deputy Attorney
General Thomas J. Ziko, for the State.
J. Clark Fischer for defendant-ppellant.
TIMMONS-GOODSON, Judge.
After reserving the right to appeal the denial of his motion
to suppress pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-979(b) (2003),
defendant entered a guilty plea to trafficking in at least 400
grams of cocaine by possession and five lesser narcotics offenses.
The trial court consolidated the offenses for judgment and
sentenced defendant to an active prison term of 115 to 147 months.
On 4 June 2003, we allowed defendant's petition for writ of
certiorari to review the judgment. Our order explicitly provided,
however, that “[s]uch review shall be limited to the issues within
defendant's appeal of right from his guilty plea.”
In his sole argument on appeal, defendant claims the trialcourt erred in denying his motion to enforce a prior plea agreement
with the State. The record reflects the prosecutor withdrew the
earlier plea offer after defendant signed a written agreement but
before he entered his plea thereunder. Defendant claims the State
should be bound by the earlier plea agreement, in light of his
detrimental reliance thereon.
“The right to appeal in a criminal proceeding is purely
statutory.” State v. Nichols, 140 N.C. App. 597, 598-99, 537
S.E.2d 825, 826 (2000). The appellate rights of a defendant who
pleads guilty are defined by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1444 (2003).
See State v. Jarman, 140 N.C. App. 198, 200, 535 S.E.2d 875, 877
(2000). Under § 15A-1444(a1) and (a2), a defendant who pleads
guilty may raise the following issues related to his sentence: (1)
whether the evidence supports the defendant's sentence, if the
sentence is not within the presumptive range; (2) whether the
defendant's prior record level or prior conviction level is
correctly calculated; (3) whether the type of sentence or term of
imprisonment is authorized by statute, based on the defendant's
class of offense and prior record or conviction level. In addition
to these sentencing issues, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1444(e) (2003)
allows a defendant to appeal the denial of a pre-trial motion to
suppress, if he gives notice to the prosecutor and trial court
before entering his guilty plea. Finally, a defendant has an
appeal of right from the denial of a motion to withdraw his guilty
plea. Id. If a defendant who pleads guilty fails to raise issues
within this limited appeal of right, his appeal must be dismissed. See State v. Hamby, 129 N.C. App. 366, 369, 499 S.E.2d 195, 196
(1998) (citing State v. Golden, 96 N.C. App. 249, 385 S.E.2d 346
(1989)).
As shown above, the issue raised by defendant lies outside his
statutory appeal of right under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1444 and,
therefore, outside the scope of the writ of certiorari issued by
this Court on 4 June 2003. Accordingly, we dismiss defendant's
appeal.
Appeal dismissed.
Judges CALABRIA and LEVINSON concur.
Report per Rule 30(e).
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