State v. Pickens
Annotate this Case
The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court convicting Defendant, a former chorus teacher at a middle school, of first-degree rape and first-degree statutory sexual offense with a child, Ellen, a middle school student, holding that Defendant was not entitled to relief on his allegations of error.
At issue on appeal, among other things, was whether evidence of Defendant's alleged rape of another student, Kathleen, was properly admitted during trial under N.C. R. Evid. 404(b). The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals to vacate Defendant's sentence and otherwise affirmed, holding that the trial court (1) did not err in admitting Kathleen's Rule 404(b) testimony; and (2) did not improperly consider Defendant's choice not to plead guilty and exercise his right to a jury trial when it imposed Defendant's sentence or when it imposed consecutive sentences on Defendant.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.