Summary
The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed Tydarrius Dajun Sloan’s convictions arising from two incidents involving assault, firearm possession, threats, and firearm discharges into an occupied dwelling. The court upheld joinder of the offenses, admission of evidence under North Carolina Rule of Evidence 404(b), and exclusion of certain impeachment text messages, while declining to review an unpreserved constitutional challenge to the felon-in-possession statute. The case was remanded solely to correct clerical errors in the Judgment and Commitment worksheet.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the trial court erred by excluding certain text messages between Sampson and Sloan's new girlfriend that Sloan offered to show Sampson's motive to fabricate and to impeach her credibility.
- Whether the trial court erred by joining the offenses arising from the 21 June and 29 June incidents for trial.
- Whether the trial court erred by admitting evidence of the 21 June incident under North Carolina Rule of Evidence 404(b), despite Sloan's guilty plea to the charges arising from that incident.
- Whether North Carolina General Statutes section 14-415.1 was facially or as-applied unconstitutional under the Second and Fourteenth Amendments.
- Whether clerical errors in the Judgment and Commitment worksheet required correction on remand.
Holdings
- The trial court did not abuse its discretion by excluding inflammatory text messages sent by Sampson to Sloan's new girlfriend because the messages did not materially advance Sloan's theory of motive or impeachment, and Sloan was otherwise afforded extensive opportunity to challenge Sampson's credibility.
- The trial court properly joined the offenses arising from the 21 June and 29 June incidents because the incidents had a sufficient transactional connection.
- The trial court properly admitted evidence of the 21 June incident under Rule 404(b) to show identity, motive, intent, and a common scheme, rather than propensity.
- The Court of Appeals declined to review Sloan's unpreserved facial and as-applied constitutional challenge to N.C.G.S. § 14-415.1 under Rule 2 because Sloan failed to show manifest injustice or a sufficient public-interest basis for discretionary review.
- The case must be remanded for the limited purpose of correcting the Judgment and Commitment worksheet to accurately state that Sloan was convicted of four counts of discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling, Class D felonies.
Key quotations
“The North Carolina Rules of Evidence 404(b) is a “general rule of inclusion.”” (at 10)
“When, on appeal, a clerical error is discovered in the trial court’s judgment or order, it is appropriate to remand the case to the trial court for correction because of the importance that the record speak the truth.” (at 14)
Factual background
On 21 June 2021, Sloan confronted his former girlfriend, Marianna Sampson, with a firearm, assaulted her, took her phone, and threatened her and her friend. Eight days later, Sloan allegedly approached Sampson outside her parents' home, threatened to shoot her father, and fired multiple shots as she ran toward the house; bullets struck the dwelling and wounded Sampson's brother. Sampson initially identified Sloan, later recanted and claimed she had lied, and subsequently renewed her accusation. At trial, the court admitted evidence of the 21 June incident under Rule 404(b), excluded certain inflammatory text messages between Sampson and Sloan's new girlfriend, and the jury convicted Sloan of the charges arising from the 29 June incident.
Procedural history
Sloan was indicted on charges arising from incidents on 21 June 2021 and 29 June 2021. The trial court joined the offenses for trial; Sloan pleaded guilty to the charges arising from 21 June, while a jury found him guilty of the charges arising from 29 June. The Mecklenburg County Superior Court entered judgments on 1 December 2023, imposing consecutive consolidated terms of imprisonment. The Court of Appeals found no substantive error, declined to review the unpreserved constitutional challenge, and remanded solely to correct clerical errors in the Judgment and Commitment worksheet.
Remand instructions
Remand solely to correct the Judgment and Commitment worksheet so that it accurately reflects Sloan's four convictions for discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling and the applicable felony classification. The court otherwise discerned no error.