State v. Hilton
Decision Date | 24 September 2021 |
Docket Number | No. 292A20,292A20 |
Citation | 862 S.E.2d 806,378 N.C. 692 |
Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. Donald Eugene HILTON |
Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Joshua H. Stein, Attorney General, by Joseph Finarelli, Special Deputy Attorney General, for the State-appellee.
Glenn Gerding, Appellate Defender, by Nicholas C. Woomer-Deters, Assistant App Defender, and James R. Grant, Assistant Appellate Defender, for defendant-appellant.
¶ 1The Supreme Court of the United States held that North Carolina's satellite-based monitoring (SBM) program effects a Fourth Amendment search.As such, the imposition of SBM on a limited category of sex offenders is constitutional so long as it is reasonable."The reasonableness of a search depends on the totality of the circumstances, including the nature and purpose of the search and the extent to which the search intrudes upon reasonable privacy expectations."Grady v. North Carolina (Grady I ), 575 U.S. 306, 310, 135 S. Ct. 1368, 1371, 191 L.Ed.2d 459(2015)(per curiam).The Fourth Amendment reasonableness test requires balancing significant competing interests: the State's interest in protecting children and others from sexual abuse and a convicted sex offender's right to privacy from government monitoring.
¶ 2 Upon remand from the Supreme Court's Grady I order, this Court held the SBM program to be unconstitutional as applied to the narrow category of individuals "who are subject to mandatory lifetime SBM based solely on their status as a statutorily defined ‘recidivist’ who have completed their prison sentences and are no longer supervised by the State through probation, parole, or post-release supervision."State v. Grady(Grady III ), 372 N.C. 509, 522, 831 S.E.2d 542, 553(2019)(footnote omitted).Our Grady III decision, however, left unanswered the question of whether the SBM program is constitutional as applied to sex offenders who are in categories other than that of recidivists who are no longer under State supervision.
¶ 3Defendant here is not a member of the category contemplated in Grady III .Rather, he falls into the aggravated offender category, which consists of defendants who are subject to SBM due to their conviction of at least one statutorily defined "aggravated offense."A limited number of very serious sexual offenses such as rape are categorized as aggravated.Defendant's crime being one of the most serious sex offenses impacts our weighing of the reasonableness factors, including society's interest in protecting its most vulnerable members and the expectation of privacy that society recognizes as legitimate.As such, the task here is to determine whether the SBM program1 is constitutional as applied to aggravated offenders.
¶ 4 For guidance, the Supreme Court has provided two examples for conducting the Fourth Amendment reasonableness test in the context of categorical searches.Grady I , 575 U.S. at 310, 135 S. Ct. at 1371( ).Having conducted the reasonableness analysis in light of Samson, Vernonia , and our prior decision in Grady III , we conclude that searches effected by the imposition of lifetime SBM upon aggravated offenders are reasonable.We also conclude that the SBM program does not violate Article I, Section 20 of the North Carolina Constitution.The trial court's order imposing lifetime SBM based upon defendant's status as an aggravated offender thus complies with the Fourth AmendmentandArticle I, Section 20.Accordingly, we(1) modify and affirm the portion of the decision of the Court of Appeals which upheld the imposition of SBM during post-release supervision and (2) reverse the portion of the decision which held the imposition of post-supervision SBM to be an unreasonable search.Therefore, the trial court's SBM order is reinstated.
¶ 5 During an interview with a criminal investigator on 8 June 2005, defendant admitted to having sexual intercourse with one minor child and sexual contact with another while a third minor child watched.On 5 July 2005, defendant was charged with first-degree statutory rape and first-degree statutory sexual offense.On 26 April 2007, he pled guilty to the charges and received a sentence of 144 to 182 months.Defendant was released from prison on 9 July 2017 and placed on post-release supervision for a period of five years.Defendant's post-release supervision terms prohibited him from leaving Catawba County without first obtaining approval from his probation officer.Defendant, however, traveled to Caldwell County on several occasions without his probation officer's consent.While in Caldwell County, defendant sexually assaulted his minor niece.As a result, defendant was charged in Caldwell County with taking indecent liberties with a child.2
¶ 6The trial court in Catawba County conducted a hearing on 19 April 2018 and 10 May 2018 to determine whether defendant should be enrolled in SBM based upon his 2007 convictions.Finding that defendant"[fell] into at least one of the categories requiring [SBM] under [N.C.]G.S. [§] 14-208.40, in that ... the offense of which ... defendant was convicted was an aggravated offense,"the trial court ordered defendant to enroll in lifetime SBM.In support of its order, the trial court made the following additional findings:
Based upon these findings, the trial court concluded that, under the totality of the circumstances, the SBM program is constitutionally reasonable as applied to defendant.Defendant appealed.
¶ 7 Before the Court of Appeals, defendant argued: (1)the trial court exceeded its constitutional authority because the SBM order effected an unreasonable search; (2) the SBM statute is facially unconstitutional due to the State's failure to demonstrate that the program serves a legitimate government interest; and (3) orders authorizing SBM pursuant to the program constitute "general warrants" in violation of Article I, Section 20 of the North Carolina Constitution.That court issued a divided decision where it affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded to the trial court.State v. Hilton , 271 N.C. App. 505, 514, 845 S.E.2d 81, 88(2020).The Court of Appeals noted that under Grady I the constitutionality of an SBM order depends on whether it is reasonable "based on the ‘totality of the circumstances.’ "Id. at 509, 845 S.E.2d at 85(quotingGrady I , 575 U.S. at 310, 135 S. Ct. at 1371 ).It also recognized that a reviewing court should "consider, among other things, ‘the nature and purpose of the search’ and ‘the extent to which the search intrudes upon reasonable expectations of privacy.’ "Id.(quotingGrady I , 575 U.S. at 310, 135 S. Ct. at 1371 ).
¶ 8The Court of Appeals then considered this Court's holding in Grady III and opined:
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...to determine the reasonableness of the trial court's imposition of lifetime SBM in defendant's case. See Hilton , 2021-NCSC-115, ¶ 18, 862 S.E.2d 806 (recognizing that Grady III's as-applied holding was limited to the facts of that case, while employing the Fourth Amendment reasonableness a......
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State v. Perkins
...Court's decision in State v. Hilton, 378 N.C. 692, 2021-NCSC-115, 862 S.E.2d 806, and our Court's recent decisions interpreting and applying Hilton State v. Carter, 2022-NCCOA-262 ¶¶ 18-20 and State v. Anthony, 2022-NCCOA-414 ¶¶ 24-32-decisions we are bound to follow as an intermediate appe......
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...its consistency with other related decisions, developments since the decision was handed down, and reliance on the decision." State v. Hilton , 378 N.C. 692, 2021-NCSC-115, ¶ 78, 862 S.E.2d 806 (Earls, J., dissenting) (alterations in the original) (quoting Janus v. Am. Fed'n of State, Cnty.......