State v. PeaceÂ, 808 S.E.2d 318

On April 18, 2013, Oxford police observed Bertylar Peace, Jr. driving erratically, failing to stop at a stop sign, crossing the center line, and nearly exiting the roadway; officer observed slurred speech, swaying, drooping eyes, and an almost-empty bottle of gin in the vehicle.
Officer administered a preliminary breath test (PBT) at the scene but the trial court later struck PBT testimony as improperly administered and instructed the jury to disregard it.
At the station, Peace refused to provide a statutory breath sample; officers nonetheless testified he was appreciably impaired.
Peace was tried in Granville County Superior Court and convicted by a jury of driving while impaired on July 20, 2016 and sentenced to 24 months imprisonment as a Level 1 offender.
On appeal, Peace argued (1) ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to raise the statute-of-limitations as an affirmative defense, and (2) prosecutorial misconduct during closing argument for allegedly improper statements.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Peace)	Held
Ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to raise statute of limitations	N/A at appellate stage; State opposed relief on direct appeal	Counsel was ineffective for not asserting statute-of-limitations as an affirmative defense	Claim dismissed without prejudice as prematurely raised on direct appeal; should be raised via MAR/trial court factfinding
Prosecutorial remarks during closing argument	Remarks summarized evidence and law; within latitude to argue reasonable inferences	Prosecutor improperly expressed opinion, misstated law on implied consent and breath tests, and misstated evidence about admission of drinking	No error: remarks were consistent with record, not grossly improper, and jury instructions cured any concerns; no prejudice shown

State v. Stroud, 147 N.C. App. 549 (2001) (ineffective-assistance claims generally addressed in post-conviction proceedings rather than on direct appeal)
State v. Todd, 799 S.E.2d 834 (2017) (insufficient record on direct appeal requires trial-court factfinding for ineffective-assistance claims)
State v. Jones, 355 N.C. 117 (2002) (counsel have wide latitude in arguing reasonable inferences from the evidence)
State v. Campbell, 359 N.C. 644 (2005) (trial court instructions can cure potentially improper prosecutorial remarks)
State v. Huey, 804 S.E.2d 464 (2017) (appellate review requires showing prejudice from improper prosecutorial argument; no reasonable possibility of different result defeats claim)