State v. Hanton

In State v. Hanton, 140 N.C. App. 679, 540 S.E.2d 376 (2000), the defendant was found guilty of second degree murder. Hanton, 140 N.C. App. at 682, 540 S.E.2d at 378. On appeal, defendant asserted that his sentence was improperly calculated because the State failed to show that a foreign conviction was substantially similar to the North Carolina offense. Id. at 688-89, 540 S.E.2d at 382. The Court agreed with defendant Hanton as there was no clear stipulation by the defendant, oral or written, and the State failed to present any evidence regarding substantial similarity of the crimes. Id. at 690, 540 S.E.2d at 383. The Court stated, "while we agree that a defendant might stipulate that out-of-state offenses are substantially similar to corresponding North Carolina offenses, we do not agree that defendant did so here." Id.