STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
v. Cumberland County
Nos. 04 CRS 58047-48
JAMES TRAVIS LINDAHL 04 CRS 54407
Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General
Larissa S. Ellerbee, for the State.
Allen W. Boyer for defendant-appellant.
MARTIN, Chief Judge.
Defendant appeals from judgments entered upon revocation of
his probation. We affirm.
On 9 February 2005, defendant pled guilty to one count of
larceny of a dog and two counts each of forgery and uttering. He
was sentenced to three consecutive suspended prison terms and was
placed on two years of supervised probation.
In reports filed 14 April 2005, defendant was charged with the
following willful violations of the conditions of his probation:
(1) failing to sign up with the Community Service Coordinator to
perform the community service ordered in 04 CRS 54407; (2) failing
to report to his probation officer on two occasions; (3) missing
curfew on five occasions; (4) failing to satisfy the monetaryconditions of his probation in 04 CRS 54407; (5) leaving his place
of residence without making his whereabouts known to his probation
officer; (6) failing to obtain suitable employment; and (7) failing
to report for a TASC assessment. At his revocation hearing,
defendant's counsel admitted all of the alleged violations but
asked to be heard as to defendant's lack of willfulness. After
hearing from defendant's counsel and probation officer, the trial
court revoked defendant's probation and activated his suspended
sentences. While finding that defendant lacked the ability to
comply with the monetary conditions of his probation, the court
found all of the remaining violations to be willful and without
lawful excuse. All of the trial court's judgments include a
finding that [e]ach violation is, in and of itself, a sufficient
basis upon which this Court should revoke probation and activate
the suspended sentence[s].
On appeal, defendant claims that the trial court erred in
finding that his violations were willful despite his counsel's
explanation that he had been evicted from his mother's house and
was essentially homeless between 9 February 2005 and 14 April
2005, the period covered by the violation reports. As noted above,
however, defendant did not adduce competent evidence of a lack of
willfulness at the hearing, relying instead on the representations
of his counsel. See State v. Crouch, 74 N.C. App. 565, 567, 328
S.E.2d 833, 835 (1985) (holding that counsel's statements were not
competent evidence, and that the trial court was not, therefore,
under a duty to make specific findings with respect to defendant'salleged inability to comply.). Moreover, counsel's proffer had no
tendency to show that defendant lacked the ability to contact his
probation officer or his Community Service Coordinator, to obtain
employment, or to register for a TASC assessment. Defendant
admitted each of these violations, any one of which was sufficient
to support revocation. See, e.g., State v. Freeman, 47 N.C. App.
171, 176, 266 S.E.2d 723, 725 (citing State v. Braswell, 283 N.C.
332, 337, 196 S.E.2d 185, 188 (1973)), disc. review denied, 301
N.C. 99, 273 S.E.2d 304 (1980). Accordingly, we affirm the trial
court's judgments. Crouch, 74 N.C. App. at 568, 328 S.E.2d at 835.
Affirmed.
Judges CALABRIA and JACKSON concur.
Report per Rule 30(e).
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