How to access the above link?
Return to nccourts.org
Return to the Opinions Page
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
v. Onslow County
No. 06 CRS 50049-50051
DUJUAN WILLIAMS ROGERS
Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Associate Attorney General
LaToya B. Powell, for the State.
Sue Genrich Berry, for defendant-appellant.
ELMORE, Judge.
Dujuan Williams Rogers (defendant) was charged by three
indictments with (1) possession with intent to sell and deliver
cocaine, sale of cocaine, and delivery of cocaine; (2) possession
with intent to sell and deliver marijuana, sale of marijuana, and
delivery of marijuana; and (3) felony conspiracy and maintaining a
dwelling for the keeping and selling of controlled substances.
The State presented evidence tending to show that on 18
February 2005, officers of the Onslow County Sheriff's Department
supplied a confidential informant with $215.00 in cash for the
purpose of purchasing cocaine and marijuana from defendant. The
informant traveled to a mobile home, entered the residence, and
handed defendant the money. Defendant showed the informant twosubstances, weighed them, and handed them to her. The informant
delivered the substances to the officers. Subsequent chemical
analysis of the substances revealed them to be 3.6 grams of cocaine
hydrochloride and 13.4 grams of marijuana.
At the conclusion of the State's evidence, the trial court
dismissed the charges of felony conspiracy and maintaining a
dwelling for the keeping and selling of controlled substances.
Defendant testified that he acted as a go-between for a man
named Angel, who supplied him with the substances that he gave to
the confidential informant.
The jury found defendant guilty of all six of the remaining
charges. The trial court consolidated all of the counts pertaining
to cocaine and imposed an active sentence within the presumptive
range of a minimum term of thirteen months and a maximum term of
sixteen months. The trial court consolidated all of the counts
pertaining to marijuana and imposed a suspended sentence of a
minimum term of eight months and a maximum term of ten months.
Defendant contends that the trial court erred by sentencing
him for both sale and delivery of each substance. In State v.
Moore, 327 N.C. 378, 382, 395 S.E.2d 124, 127 (1990), the defendant
was convicted of three offenses arising out of a single transfer of
a controlled substance: possession with intent to sell or deliver
the substance, sale of the substance, and delivery of the
substance. Our Supreme Court held that a defendant may not be
convicted under N.C.G.S. § 90-95(a)(1) of both the sale and the
delivery of a controlled substance arising from a single transfer. Id. The Court directed that the judgments should be amended to
reflect that the defendant was convicted on each indictment of a
single count for the 'sale or delivery of a controlled substance.'
Id. at 383, 395 S.E.2d at 128. The Court also stated that
[b]ecause the three convictions on each indictment were
consolidated into one judgment per indictment, and because of the
lengths of the prison terms imposed, we are unable to determine
what weight, if any, the trial court gave each of the separate
convictions for sale and for delivery in calculating the sentences
imposed upon the defendant. This case must thus be remanded for
resentencing. Id. at 383, 395 S.E.2d at 127-28.
The State concedes that the trial court committed error by
sentencing defendant for both sale and delivery arising out of a
single transfer, but argues that remand for resentencing is not
required. It argues that although resentencing may have been
required in Moore, which arose under the Fair Sentencing Act, the
judgments in the present case may be corrected simply by vacating
defendant's delivery convictions. The State reasons that delivery
is a lesser crime than sale of a controlled substance or possession
with intent to sell or deliver a controlled substance. However,
until our Supreme Court overrules or creates an exception to the
requirement of resentencing it imposed in Moore, we are bound to
follow that course until otherwise directed by that Court. Cannon
v. Miller, 313 N.C. 324, 327 S.E.2d 888 (1985).
In accordance with Moore, the matter is remanded to the trial
court for resentencing upon convictions of sale or delivery ofcocaine and sale or delivery of marijuana.
Remanded for resentencing.
Judges WYNN and BRYANT concur.
*** Converted from WordPerfect ***