# State v. Hutchins

> Supreme Court of North Carolina · July 8, 1981 · 303 N.C. 321

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9618421

## Case

- **Full name:** State of North Carolina v. James W. Hutchins
- **Court:** Supreme Court of North Carolina
- **Decided:** July 8, 1981
- **Citations:** 303 N.C. 321; 279 S.E.2d 788; 1981 N.C. LEXIS 1186
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Carlton
- **Judges:** Exum, Carlton, Meyer
- **Cited by:** 179 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9618421

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding constitutional guarantees are not absolute as defendants “may waive the benefit of constitutional guarantees by express consent, failure to assert it in apt time, or by conduct inconsistent with a purpose to insist upon it”
- holding that “the decision of whether appointed counsel shall be replaced is a matter committed to the sound discretion of the trial court”

## Opinion text

Justice CARLTON
dissenting.
I agree with that portion of Justice Exum’s dissent which relies on the principles enunciated by this Court in State v. Thacker, 301 N.C. 348 , 271 S.E. 2d 252 (1980). However, I do not reach the question whether defendant received fair representation at the sentencing hearing. I believe this is unnecessary because defendant was denied his constitutional right to counsel from the time the trial court denied his request for substitute counsel. I think defendant’s lawyers did the best they could under the most trying of circumstances.
I prefer that this Court voluntarily apply principles it has already established instead of being ordered to do so by higher authority. The State has presented strong evidence of this defendant’s guilt. It is simply incumbent upon the State to give him a fair trial before imposing the appropriate punishment.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9618421. Public record. Not legal advice.