State v. Lawrence, 360 N.C. 368

Summary

The Supreme Court of North Carolina held that the defendant was unanimously convicted of three counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor and five counts of first-degree statutory rape, despite identical short-form indictments and the absence of incident-specific details. The court reversed the Court of Appeals in part and remanded the case for consideration of the remaining assignments of error. The defendant's six first-degree sexual offense convictions remained undisturbed because that issue was not properly before the court.

Holdings

1. A defendant may be unanimously convicted of multiple counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor even when identical short-form indictments lack details identifying the specific incidents, and jurors may have considered more incidents than the number of counts charged, because the statute does not define discrete criminal activities as separate alternative elements.
2. The jury unanimously convicted defendant of five counts of first-degree statutory rape where the victim testified to five specific incidents of statutory rape, the defendant was charged with five counts, and the jury returned five guilty verdicts on separate verdict sheets, despite evidence of additional sexual encounters and identical short-form indictments.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the jury unanimously convicted defendant of three counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor when the short-form indictments were identical and did not identify the particular incidents supporting each count.
2. Whether the jury unanimously convicted defendant of five counts of first-degree statutory rape when the five indictments were identically worded, the evidence involved multiple sexual encounters, and the indictments did not identify particular incidents.
3. Whether the Court of Appeals properly reversed or remanded the statutory-rape and indecent-liberties convictions on the ground that the verdicts may not have been unanimous.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded