# State v. Vardiman

> Court of Appeals of North Carolina · October 2, 2001 · 146 N.C. App. 381

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9852374

## Case

- **Full name:** State of North Carolina v. Stanley Marion Vardiman
- **Court:** Court of Appeals of North Carolina
- **Decided:** October 2, 2001
- **Citations:** 146 N.C. App. 381; 552 S.E.2d 697; 2001 N.C. App. LEXIS 936
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Greene
- **Judges:** Timmons-Goodson, John, Greene
- **Cited by:** 16 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/9852374

## Opinion text

GREENE, Judge,
dissenting.
Because I believe prosecution for habitual impaired driving violates the prohibition against double jeopardy, I respectfully dissent.
If “a criminal offense in its entirety is an essential element of another offense[,] a defendant may not be punished for both offenses,” as punishment for both offenses violates the prohibition against double jeopardy. State v. Williams, 295 N.C. 655, 659 , 249 *388 S.E.2d 709, 713 (1978). Because habitual impaired driving is a substantive offense, not a status, State v. Priddy, 115 N.C. App. 547, 550 , 445 S.E.2d 610, 612 , disc. review denied, 337 N.C. 805 , 449 S.E.2d 751 (1994), and because convictions for three or more offenses involving impaired driving are necessary elements of the habitual impaired driving offense, N.C.G.S. § 20-138.5(a) (1999), the defense of double jeopardy bars the prosecution for habitual impaired driving, see State v. Freeland, 316 N.C. 13, 21 , 340 S.E.2d 35, 39 (1986) (double jeopardy barred prosecution of defendant for both first-degree kidnapping and underlying sexual offense); State v. Cherry, 298 N.C. 86, 113 , 257 S.E.2d 551, 567 (1979) (defendant convicted of first-degree murder under the felony-murder rule cannot also be convicted of the underlying felony), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 941 , 64 L. Ed. 2d 796 (1980).

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9852374. Public record. Not legal advice.