IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NORTH CAROLINA
No. 66A16
Filed 23 September 2016
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
v.
SHAMELE COLLINS
Appeal pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-30(2) from the decision of a divided panel of
the Court of Appeals, ___ N.C. App. ___, 782 S.E.2d 350 (2016), finding no error in
the trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion to suppress, but vacating the judgment
entered on 8 September 2014 by Judge William Z. Wood in Superior Court, Forsyth
County, and remanding for resentencing. Heard in the Supreme Court on 29 August
2016.
Roy Cooper, Attorney General, by Douglas W. Corkhill, Special Deputy Attorney
General, for the State.
Erik R. Zimmerman for defendant-appellant.
PER CURIAM.
This matter is before the Court based upon a dissent at the Court of Appeals.
State v. Collins, ___ N.C. App. ___, ___, 782 S.E.2d 350, 360-62 (2016). The majority
at the Court of Appeals upheld the trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion to
suppress evidence seized at the time of his arrest, concluding, inter alia, that
“defendant failed to raise the timing of [the police officer’s] observation of powder on
STATE V. COLLINS
Opinion of the Court
the floor” before the trial court. Id. at ___, 782 S.E.2d at 358. We agree that defendant
failed to preserve his timing argument for appeal because he did not raise this
argument before the trial court. See State v. Eason, 328 N.C. 409, 420, 402 S.E.2d
809, 814 (1991) (“In order to preserve a question for appellate review, a party must
have presented the trial court with a timely request, objection or motion, stating the
specific grounds for the ruling sought if the specific grounds are not apparent.” (citing
N.C. R. App. P. 10(b) (recodified 2009 as N.C. R. App. P. 10(a)(1)). We therefore
modify and affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals solely on this ground. The
remaining issue addressed in the majority opinion of the Court of Appeals concerning
defendant’s right to be present at sentencing is unchallenged and unaffected by our
decision.
MODIFIED AND AFFIRMED.
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