Opinion
No. 7226SC760
Filed 22 November 1972
Criminal Law 155.5 — failure to docket record on appeal in apt time Though the record on appeal was not docketed in apt time, the court on appeal reviewed the record and found it to be without prejudicial error.
APPEAL by defendant from McLean, Judge, 17 April 1972 Schedule C Criminal Session of Superior Court held in MECKLENBURG County.
Attorney General Robert Morgan by Assistant Attorneys General Claude W. Harris and James E. Magner for the State.
T. O. Stennett for defendant appellant.
Defendant was tried on his plea of not guilty to a bill of indictment charging him with uttering a forged check drawn on the account of Acrow Carolina, Inc., payable to defendant in the amount of $152.30. The State offered evidence to show that shortly after defendant visited the office of Acrow Carolina, Inc., on or about 15 December 1970 it was discovered that ten printed blank checks were missing, that the check described in the indictment was one of these, that the purported signature of the company official thereon was forged, and that on 16 December 1970 defendant endorsed and cashed the check at a convenience store. Defendant took the stand, admitted he had endorsed and cashed the check, but testified that it had been given him by a passenger who had ridden in defendant's taxicab and who represented to defendant that he was authorized to sign checks on the company's account. The jury found defendant guilty as charged in the bill of indictment, and from judgment imposing a sentence upon the verdict, defendant appealed.
The judgment appealed from was dated 19 April 1972. The record on appeal was docketed in this Court on 7 September 1972, which was more than ninety days after the date of the judgment appealed from. No order of the trial tribunal extending the time for docketing appears in the record. For failure of appellant to docket the record on appeal within the time allowed by the rules of this Court, this appeal is subject to dismissal. Rule 5, Rules of Practice in the Court of Appeals. State v. Simpson, 14 N.C. App. 456, 188 S.E.2d 535; State v. Cook, 11 N.C. App. 439, 181 S.E.2d 172.
Nevertheless, we have carefully reviewed the record and prejudicial error sufficient to warrant a new trial is not shown. The only assignment of error noted in the record, that the trial court erred in allowing the solicitor too great latitude in cross-examining defendant as to his prior criminal record, we find without merit. State v. Weaver, 3 N.C. App. 439, 165 S.E.2d 15, cert. denied, 275 N.C. 263.
Appeal dismissed.
Judges CAMPBELL and MORRIS concur.