Jury instructions; lesser-included offenses; assault with a deadly weapon; serious injury; attorney's fees.

Defendant convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of a stolen firearm, possession of cocaine, and knowingly maintaining a dwelling to keep a controlled substance; issue writ of certiorari; motions to dismiss for insufficiency of evidence; no substantial evidence that Defendant allowed others to resort to his dwelling to use controlled substances; North Carolina General Statutes Section 90-108(a)(7); reversed and remanded in part; North Carolina Rule of Evidence 702; reliability of expert testimony; no plain error

termination of sex offender registration

probable cause, DWI, impaired, HGN Test, breath test, motion to suppress, totality of the circumstances

scope of resentencing on remand after sentence of mandatory life without parole (LWOP) for a juvenile is vacated in light of Miller v. Alabama; trial court did not err in failing to disturb unrelated consecutive sentences for armed robbery on remand from vacated LWOP sentence for felony murder; argument regarding propriety of consecutive sentences for unrelated convictions aggregated with vacated LWOP sentence for felony murder was waived where counsel conceded unrelated convictions were not before the court at resentencing; ineffective assistance of counsel claim regarding consecutive sentences for felony murder and kidnapping failed because the defendant could not demonstrate make required showing of prejudice; court declined to address and dismissed without prejudice ineffective assistance of counsel claim regarding Miller's prohibition against disproportionate punishment for juvenile offenders under the Eighth Amendment by imposing LWOP because of conflicting opinions regarding the constitutionality of de facto LWOP sentences for juveniles and pendency of appeal before North Carolina Supreme Court that will resolve this issue

certiorari, attorney?s fees, restitution order, opportunity to be heard

amendment of indictment was permissible because indictment was facially valid and amendment did not add any previously omitted essential element of the offense charged, resulting in a substantial alteration; proof of sexual activity by a substitute parent or custodian does not require that person who assumed position of a parent reside in the home with the minor victim; consistent distinction between predicate acts for two counts of sexual activity by a substitute parent in jury instructions and verdict sheets demonstrated that jury verdicts were unanimous, though distinguishing between the predicate acts in the verdict sheets was not required; indictment charging multiple counts of a single crime based on distinct predicate acts was not multiplicious; distinct sexual acts occurring during the same sexual encounter can provide the basis for multiple charges of sexual activity by a substitute parent or custodian; trial court did not abuse its discretion by imposing consecutive rather than concurrent sentences

no violation of the right to confrontation occurred during probation violation proceeding; ineffective assistance of counsel claim failed where there was no showing that counsel's performance was deficient; trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding that the defendant willfully failed to pay monies owed as a condition of probation

Relevance, undue prejudice, substantially outweighed, improper closing statement, caretaker abuse, manipulation by defendant

first-degree murder, gun, self-defense, defense of another, verbal threats, character evidence, excluded evidence

Waiver of right to assistance counsel; N.C. Gen. Stat. ?? 15A-942, 15A-1242; and new trial

Attorney?s fees, attorney charging lien, contingent fee agreement, contingency, levy, liens, personal property, priority

Interlocutory appeal; substantial right; immunity from suit; release from liability, risk of inconsistent verdicts

Sovereign immunity, judicial immunity, and interlocutory appeal

summary judgment, claim of undue influence over settlor of trust, abandonment of issues on appeal

denial of request for special jury instruction proper; jury instructions concerning motor vehicle negligence; no abuse of discretion where trial court required admission of additional deposition excerpts pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. ? 1A-1, Rule 32(a)(5).

defendant's actions were not a proximate cause of injuries; no error in granting summary judgment when there was no material issue of fact as to proximate cause

Equitable distribution; insufficient findings of fact to support unequal distribution; trial court must find that equal distribution is not equitable before ordering unequal distribution