State v. Campbell, 369 N.C. 599

Background

Overnight on Aug. 15, 2012, sound equipment disappeared from Manna Baptist Church; defendant’s wallet was found nearby.
Defendant testified he entered the unlocked church to pray and slept there, leaving with nothing; an EMT who later treated him said he had no sound equipment.
Defendant was indicted for breaking/entering a place of religious worship with intent to commit larceny and for larceny after breaking/entering; convicted at trial and appealed.
The Court of Appeals reversed the breaking-and-entering conviction and vacated the larceny conviction, finding a fatal variance between the indictment (alleging ownership by both the church and its pastor) and the trial evidence (showing church ownership only).
This Court previously reversed the Court of Appeals on some grounds, remanding for consideration of four remaining issues including a Rule 2 invocation to review the unpreserved fatal-variance claim.
On the present review, the Supreme Court held that the Court of Appeals erred by treating Rule 2 review as automatic for fatal-variance claims and remanded for the Court of Appeals to exercise its discretion whether to invoke Rule 2 and reach the merits.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the Court of Appeals properly invoked Rule 2 to reach an unpreserved fatal-variance claim	State: Court of Appeals should not have invoked Rule 2 automatically; discretion required (this was the question before the Supreme Court)	Campbell: Rule 2 should be invoked to consider the unpreserved fatal-variance claim because the error is sufficiently serious to justify review	Court: Reversed Court of Appeals; remanded for that court to independently decide whether to exercise Rule 2 discretion (Rule 2 is not automatic)
Whether a fatal variance existed between the indictment and the evidence as to ownership of stolen property	State: Prior decision by this Court held indictment sufficiently alleged ownership by a legal entity; this is separate from the variance issue	Campbell: Indictment alleged ownership by both church and pastor but evidence showed only church ownership, creating a fatal variance	Court of Appeals (prior panel): Found a fatal variance and vacated larceny conviction; Supreme Court did not resolve merits here and left that determination to the Court of Appeals upon proper Rule 2 exercise
Whether the larceny indictment sufficiently alleged ownership in a legal entity capable of owning property	State: Indictment sufficiently alleged ownership by Manna Baptist Church as an entity	Campbell: Challenged earlier but Court of Appeals previously rejected; argued related defects existed	Supreme Court (in earlier opinion): Held indictment did sufficiently allege ownership in a legal entity capable of owning property (not at issue on current remand)
Whether the State presented sufficient evidence of intent to commit larceny for felony breaking/entering	State: Evidence was sufficient to support intent to commit larceny	Campbell: Argued insufficient evidence of intent	Supreme Court (earlier): Held evidence was sufficient and trial court did not err in denying motions to dismiss (this holding remains intact)

Key Cases Cited

Steingress v. Steingress, 350 N.C. 64 (1999) (Rule 2 is a residual, discretionary power to address exceptional circumstances)
Blumenthal v. Lynch, 315 N.C. 571 (1986) (Rule 2 may be used to prevent manifest injustice in exceptional cases)
Dogwood Dev. & Mgmt. Co. v. White Oak Transp. Co., 362 N.C. 191 (2008) (Rule 2 discretion must be applied case-by-case; precedent doesn’t create automatic entitlement)
State v. Hart, 361 N.C. 309 (2007) (whether substantial rights are affected is relevant to Rule 2 exercise)
State v. Sanders, 312 N.C. 318 (1984) (gravity of case and potential injustice inform Rule 2 invocation)
State v. Campbell, 368 N.C. 83 (2015) (Supreme Court previously held indictment alleged ownership in a legal entity and that evidence supported intent for breaking/entering)