Criminal Practice – DWI – Sentencing – Aggravating Factor — $1,000 Damage – Blakeley – Harmless Error – Restitution

State v. Wood (Lawyers Weekly No. 12-16-0620, 16 pp.) (Sam Ervin IV, J.) Appealed from Mecklenburg County Superior Court. (Jesse B. Caldwell III, J.) N.C. App. Unpub. Full-text opinion.

Holding: Even though the trial court should have allowed the jury to decide the aggravating-factor issue of whether defendant’s negligence led to an accident causing more than $1,000 in property damage, the voir dire testimony of the victim of that accident clearly established that the damage to his vehicle could be repaired for approximately $1,600. The trial court’s error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.

We affirm defendant’s sentence except as to the restitution order. We reverse the $540 restitution order and remand for re-calculation.

On voir dire, the victim testified that his insurance carrier sent him a check for the estimated amount of his loss, less a $500 deductible. Nevertheless, the trial court ordered defendant to pay $540 in restitution. The record does not provide any support for the additional $40, so we remand to allow the trial court to calculate the correct amount of restitution.