State v. Martin, 241 N.C. App. 602

Defendant, a substitute high school teacher, was charged with two counts of sexual offense with a student for incidents at a school in 2006 and 2008.
The 2008 incident involved Katie, who testified Defendant directed her to perform oral sex after locking a door in a classroom.
The 2006 incident involved a different student who testified that Defendant forced her to perform oral sex in a classroom.
Defendant was tried in a single trial with jurors acquitting him of two counts of second‑degree sexual offense but convicting him of two counts of sexual offense with a student.
The trial court sentenced him to two consecutive terms of 13 to 16 months; appeal focused on evidentiary ruling under Rule 412 (Rape Shield).
Defendant sought to admit testimony from himself and witnesses to show Katie’s motive to falsely accuse him; the court ruled the evidence per se inadmissible under Rule 412.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Preservation of the offer of proof	Lamont-McKinney preserved appeal via informal forecast	Offer of proof sufficient to preserve error per Walston approach	Offer of proof preserved appeal; informal forecast sufficient
Admissibility under Rule 412	Motive evidence could be admissible beyond four exceptions if probative	Rule 412 exclusion per se; no discretion to admit	Trial court erred by treating evidence as per se inadmissible; discretion to balance under Rule 403 required
Prejudice to 2008 conviction	Motive evidence relevant to credibility and falsity in the 2008 case	Evidence does not affect 2006 conviction and could prejudice the 2008 verdict	Error prejudicial to the 2008 conviction; remand for new trial on that count

State v. Jacobs, 363 N.C. 815 (N.C. 2010) (offer of proof sufficiency to preserve evidentiary ruling)
State v. Walston, 747 S.E.2d 724 (N.C. App. 2013) (informal offer may suffice to establish expected testimony content)
State v. Black, 111 N.C. App. 284 (N.C. App. 1993) (informal offer rejected for crossing examination context)
State v. Cook, 195 N.C. App. 230 (N.C. App. 2009) (informal offer and cross-examination considerations; distinguishable from the case)
State v. Edmonds, 212 N.C. App. 575 (N.C. App. 2011) (court may admit nonstatutory relevant evidence under Rule 403 balancing)
State v. Fortney, 301 N.C. 31 (N.C. 1980) (Rape Shield not to bar all relevant evidence in rape trials)
State v. Younger, 306 N.C. 692 (N.C. 1982) (Rape Shield exceptions are not sole gauge of admissibility)
State v. Bass, 121 N.C. App. 306 (N.C. App. 1996) (impeachment by prior inconsistent statements and related evidence)
State v. Fenn, 94 N.C. App. 127 (N.C. App. 1989) (impeachment and related evidentiary considerations in sexual conduct cases)