State v. Stubbs

• Decision Date: 04 February 2014
• Docket Number: No. COA13–174.,COA13–174.
• Citation: 754 S.E.2d 174
• Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Larry STUBBS.

754 S.E.2d 174

STATE of North Carolina

v.Larry STUBBS.

No. COA13–174.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

Feb. 4, 2014.

Appeal by the State from judgment entered 5 December 2012 by Judge Gregory A. Weeks in Cumberland County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 5 June 2013.

Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General Daniel P. O'Brien, for the State.

Sarah Jessica Farber for defendant-appellee.

BRYANT, Judge.

Where the trial court erred in concluding that defendant's sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole was a violation of the Eighth Amendment, we reverse and remand the trial court order modifying defendant's original sentence.

On 7 May 1973, a complaint and warrant for arrest was issued against seventeen-year-old defendant Larry Connell Stubbs in Cumberland County.

[The complainant alleged that on that day, defendant] unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously and burglariously [sic] did break and enter, at or about the hour of two o'clock AM in the night ... the dwelling house of [the victim] located at 6697 Amanda Circle, Fayetteville, N.C. and then and there actually occupied by the said [victim], with the felonious intent [defendant], [sic] the goods and chattels of the said [victim], in the said dwelling house then and there being, then and there feloniously and burglariously [sic] to steal and carry away, said items stolen and carried away, one table lamp, one General Electric Record Player; one Magnus Electric Organ; One Portable General Electric 19? television set; ... one man's suit color black, the personal property of [the victim], and valued at $394.00.

In addition to first-degree burglary and felonious larceny, defendant was charged with and later indicted on the charge of rape. On 6 August 1973, defendant pled guilty to second-degree burglary and assault with intent to commit rape. The State dismissed the charge of felonious larceny.

On the charge of second-degree burglary, the trial court accepted defendant's plea, entered judgment, and sentenced defendant to an active term for “his natural life.” ¹ On the charge of assault with intent to commit rape, the trial court sentenced defendant to an active term of fifteen years to run concurrently with his life sentence.

On 11 May 2011, defendant filed a pro se motion for appropriate relief (MAR) in the Cumberland County Superior Court asking that his sentence of life in prison on the charge of second-degree burglary be set aside, that he be resentenced, and after awarding time served as credit toward the new sentence, that he be released from prison. As a statutory basis for the relief requested, defendant cited N.C. Gen.Stat. § 15A–1415(b)(7), “Grounds for appropriate relief which may be asserted by defendant after verdict; limitation as to time”, and G.S. § 15A–1340.17, “Punishment limits for each class of offense and prior record level” pursuant to the Structured Sentencing Act codified at §§ 15A–1340.10, et seq. Defendant's contention was that his original sentence was grossly disproportionate to the maximum sentence he could receive for the same crime if sentenced today. Sentenced to an active term for his natural life for second-degree burglary, defendant maintained that if he had been sentenced under the Structured Sentencing Act, effective 1 October 1994, his term would have been between twenty-nine and forty-four months. “Because there has been a ‘significant change’ in the law,” defendant asserted that his life sentence should now be considered cruel and unusual punishment. Defendant petitioned the Superior Court to resentence him based on “evolving standards of decency under the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment being inflicted[,] as does [ ] Article I, section 27 of the North Carolina Constitution.” Defendant also petitioned to proceed in forma pauperis.

On 10 October 2011, Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Gregory A. Weeks filed an order in which he concluded that defendant's “Motion for Appropriate Relief [was] not frivolous, [had] merit, that a summary disposition [was] inappropriate, and that a hearing [was] necessary.” The court appointed the Office of North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services to represent defendant.

On 13 August 2012, the State filed its Memorandum Opposing Defendant's Motion for Appropriate Relief. In its memorandum, the State addressed defendant's motion as a request for retroactive application of the Structured Sentencing Act and a challenge to his life sentence pursuant to the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The State maintained that defendant was not entitled to the relief sought: the Structured Sentencing Act was applicable to criminal offenses occurring on or after 1 October 1994; and “[t]o the extent that [ ] Defendant's argument challenges his sentence pursuant to the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” Eighth Amendment jurisprudence proscribes a different analysis than the one proposed by defendant. The State further asserted that our State Appellate Courts have rejected arguments similar to the one defendant presented.

On 15 August 2012, defendant, through appointed counsel, filed a Memorandum Supporting Defendant's Motion for Appropriate Relief. Acknowledging our North Carolina Supreme Court's holding which declined to retroactively apply the sentencing provisions codified under the Structured Sentencing Act, see State v. Whitehead, 365 N.C. 444, 722 S.E.2d 492 (2012), defendant asserted that he was entitled to relief “because his sentence of Life Imprisonment for his conviction of Second Degree Burglary in 1973 is unconstitutionally excessive under evolving standards of decency and the Eighth Amendmentto the United States Constitution ... and Article I, Section 27 of the North Carolina Constitution.” Defendant asserted that “[t]o gauge evolving standards of decency, the [United States] Supreme Court looks to legislative changes and enactments.” Defendant also asserted that “[t]he [Structured Sentencing Act] is the most current expression of North Carolina's assessment of appropriate and humane sentences, and [ ] is an objective index of sentence proportionality for Eighth Amendment analysis purposes.” “As of today, Defendant has served nearly forty years in prison for his Second Degree Burglary conviction. This is nearly ten times the length of time that any defendant could be ordered to serve today.” Defendant contended that his sentence was excessive, that it violated the United States Constitution and the North Carolina Constitution “making it necessary to vacate Defendant's life sentence and to resentence him to a term of years that is not disproportionate, cruel, or unusual.”

Following a 13 August 2012 hearing, the trial court on 5 December 2012 entered an order in which it found that on 6 August 1973, defendant pled guilty to second-degree burglary and assault with intent to commit rape. Defendant had been sentenced to life in prison for second-degree burglary along with a concurrent sentence of fifteen years imprisonment for assault with intent to commit rape. Defendant completed his sentence for assault with intent to commit rape in 1983 and was currently incarcerated solely for his second-degree burglary conviction. “As of 30 November 2012, [defendant] has been in the custody of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety for this crime for more than thirty-six years.” The court found that defendant was paroled in December 2008 and that while on parole, he was charged with and convicted of driving while impaired. Subsequent to his conviction, defendant's parole status was revoked, and he was returned to incarceration. The trial court concluded that under “evolving standards, [defendant's] sentence violated the Eighth Amendment and is invalid as a matter of law.” The trial court granted defendant's motion for appropriate relief and vacated the judgment entered 6 August 1973 as to the second-degree burglary conviction, resentencing defendant to a term of thirty years. Defendant was given credit for 13,652 days spent in confinement. The trial court further ordered that the North Carolina Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction release defendant immediately.

The State filed with this Court petitions for a writ of certiorari to review the 5 December 2012 trial court order and a writ of supersedeas to stay imposition of the trial court's order pending appeal. Both petitions were granted.²

_________________________

On appeal, the State brings forth the issue of whether the Superior Court erred by ruling that defendant's 1973 sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole for a second-degree burglary conviction is now in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, vacating defendant's 1973 judgment, and resentencing him. The State argues on appeal that (A) the trial court lacked jurisdiction over the original judgment and (B) that it incorrectly interpreted the precedent of the Supreme Court of the United States.

“Our review of a trial court's ruling on a defendant's MAR is ‘whether the findingsof fact are supported by evidence, whether the findings of fact support the conclusions of law, and whether the conclusions of law support the order entered by the trial court.’ ” State v. Peterson, –––N.C.App. ––––, ––––, 744 S.E.2d 153, 157 (2013) (quoting State v. Stevens, 305 N.C. 712, 720, 291 S.E.2d 585, 591 (1982)).

A

The State argues that the trial court lacked jurisdiction over the original judgment. Specifically, the State contends that defendant's motion for appropriate relief was made pursuant to N.C. Gen.Stat. § 15A–1415 but that no provision of section 15A–1415 granted the trial court jurisdiction to modify the original sentence. We disagree.

A trial court loses jurisdiction to modify a defendant...