State v. Wilkins, 22-339

In 2018 police stopped an SUV; officers found two drug-filled "footballs" and cash; Wilkins (front-seat passenger) was arrested and charged with drug offenses and attaining habitual felon status.
Defense counsel initially moved for a competency hearing; the trial court found Wilkins’ capacity "in question" and ordered a forensic evaluation, but the State never produced Wilkins for evaluation and no exam occurred.
Wilkins was released on bail; three years later he appeared at trial with new counsel who did not renew the competency issue or object to the lack of the ordered evaluation; Wilkins was convicted on drug counts and later pleaded guilty to habitual felon.
On appeal Wilkins raised (only) a statutory competency claim under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1002 and argued plain error from admission of testimony about his silence during the stop; he expressly did not press a constitutional (due process) competency claim.
The Court of Appeals majority held Wilkins waived his statutory competency claim by failing to assert it at trial under controlling North Carolina Supreme Court precedent, and found no plain error concerning testimony about Wilkins’s silence.

Issue	State's Argument	Wilkins's Argument	Held
Whether trial court’s failure to obtain the ordered competency evaluation/hearing requires reversal	Waiver: statutory competency claims are forfeited if not raised at trial under controlling precedent	Statutory right not waived where court judicially questioned competency and ordered evaluation that the State failed to carry out; this factual posture should be treated like nonwaivable constitutional claims	Waived: under Young, King, Badgett, and related Supreme Court precedent the statutory claim was not preserved because Wilkins did not renew it at trial; constitutional claim was not raised so not considered
Whether admission of officers’ testimony about Wilkins’s silence was plain error (Fifth Amendment)	Testimony was admissible absent a timely Fifth Amendment objection; issue is waived for failure to object	Admission of silence violated Fifth Amendment and, absent waiver, warrants reversal	No plain error: Wilkins failed to preserve the constitutional objection; even if plain-error review applied, defendant did not show probable impact on verdict or that the error undermined trial fairness

State v. Sides, 376 N.C. 449 (2020) (constitutional due-process duty to institute a sua sponte competency hearing when substantial evidence of incompetence exists)
State v. Young, 291 N.C. 562 (1977) (statutory right to competency hearing is waived if not asserted at trial under the case’s facts)
State v. Dollar, 292 N.C. 344 (1977) (waiver where psychiatric report indicated competency and defendant did not request a hearing)
State v. King, 353 N.C. 457 (2001) (statutory competency right waived when neither defendant nor counsel questioned capacity)
State v. Badgett, 361 N.C. 234 (2007) (same: statutory right waived when not raised at trial)
In re E.D., 372 N.C. 111 (2019) (discussing nonwaivable statutory-mandate principles in other contexts)
State v. Myrick, 277 N.C. App. 112 (2021) (Court of Appeals remedied failure to determine capacity where competency had been questioned and no hearing occurred)
State v. Gates, 65 N.C. App. 277 (1983) (trial court need not make formal written findings when evidence plainly demonstrates competency)
State v. Lawrence, 365 N.C. 506 (2012) (plain-error standard and requirements)
Pate v. Robinson, 383 U.S. 375 (1966) (a defendant cannot intelligently waive a competency hearing if competency is in doubt)
Medina v. California, 505 U.S. 437 (1992) (discusses competency and waiver principles)