Criminal Practice –  Subject Matter Jurisdiction – Perjury – Indictment Allegations – False Statement

The indictment alleged only that defendant committed perjury “upon the trial of an action … wherein the State of North Carolina was the plaintiff and Carly Marie Shepherd was the defendant, by falsely asserting on solemn affirmation statements alleged to be false, knowing the statement, which was material, to be false.” The indictment failed to allege the false statement rendered by defendant, i.e., that Shepherd had assaulted defendant with a motor vehicle by striking defendant’s arm and running over defendant’s foot. As the state concedes, the indictment is facially defective, so the trial court lacked jurisdiction over the charge.

We vacate defendant’s perjury conviction.

State v. Gaddy (Lawyers Weekly No. 012-019-21, 5 pp.) (Darren Jackson, J.) Appealed from Buncombe County Superior Court (Gregory Horne, J.) Colin Justice for the state; Candace Washington for defendant. 2021-NCCOA-27