Lawsuit: typo of “house” instead of “hours” was basis of appeal
A former Mebane resident will remain in state prison after the state’s second-highest court concluded that a typographical error in his bill of indictment had no bearing on the outcome of his case.
John Maurice Robinson, Jr., 31, black, male, was convicted of felony speeding to elude arrest on August 3, 2023 at the conclusion of his trial in Alamance County superior court.
Robinson received a prison sentence ranging between a minimum of 11 months and a maximum term of 1 year and 11 months, plus an additional sentence of 60 days for failing to heed the lights or siren activated by an Alamance County sheriff’s deputy who unsuccessfully tried to pull him over as he raced down North N.C. Highway 62 in early September 2021, according to the Alamance County court file.
Then a resident of 5268 Burton Chapel Road in Mebane, Robinson was ultimately charged with nine offenses that included: fleeing to elude arrest; failing to heed a flashing light/siren; reckless driving to endanger; speeding in excess of 15 miles per hour along North N.C. Highway 62; displaying a canceled/fictitious tag; operating a vehicle with no insurance; operating a motor vehicle without a license; failing to maintain lane control; failing to stop at a stop sign, according to the three arrest warrants filed at the time by Alamance County sheriff’s deputy Eric Jordan.
Jordan initially observed the Dodge Challenger driven by Robinson because its windows were tinted darker than the legal limit and tried to stop him but failed.
“The driver of the Challenger increased its speed to over 80 miles per hour in a 45 mile per hour zone [and]…reached speeds of 130 miles per hour and drove through multiple intersections without stopping at duly-erected stop signs,” the case background states. Jordan ultimately gave up the chase after another officer lost control of his vehicle and crashed but was able to identify Robinson from his DMV picture, which matched the appearance of the driver of the Challenger. Robinson was arrested three days later, on September 9, 2021.
Robinson was subsequently indicted in April 2022 for: felony fleeing to elude arrest with a motor vehicle; failing to heed a light or siren; reckless driving; speeding; having a canceled tag; failing to stop at a stop sign; and operating a motor vehicle without a license and without insurance. He pleaded not guilty to all of the charges when his trial began on July 31, 2023.
Over the course of Robinson’s four-day trial in Alamance County superior court, Alamance County senior resident superior court judge Tom Lambeth, Jr. ultimately agreed to dismiss three of the charges: driving a vehicle with a canceled tag; driving without a license; and driving a vehicle with no insurance, according to the court file.
At the conclusion of his trial in August 2023, Robinson was sentenced to about a year for the felony speeding charge but also had a suspended sentence activated for two earlier convictions, felony second degree kidnapping and felony assault inflicting serious bodily injury, both stemming from an arrest on July 5, 2020, according to the state Department of Adult Corrections.
For his appeal, Robinson unsuccessfully argued that Lambeth had erred by allowing the prosecutor to amend the bill of indictment, which had stated “speeding in excess of 15 miles per house over the legal limit,” to read “speeding in excess of 15 miles per hour,” which the defendant claimed had fundamentally changed the meaning of the sentence.
A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals disagreed, stating in its opinion issued Tuesday, “A typographical error of this sort in the bill of indictment does not substantially alter the charge in any way.”
“The state’s obvious typographical error falls squarely into the category of non-jurisdictional deficiencies our Supreme Court held as inconsequential,” judge John Tyson wrote in his opinion for the Court of Appeals.
The Appeals Court concluded that Robinson failed to show any error “was probably committed” to support a writ and also failed to give proper notice of appeal, according to Tyson’s opinion. Robinson gave oral notice of appeal of his conviction of felony fleeing to elude arrest 18 days after his trial in Alamance County ended on August 3, 2023 but gave no written notice, Tyson noted.
Robinson had also filed a petition for a review of his case (i.e., a writ of certiorari) on August 21, 2023, which has also been rejected.
Judges Valerie Zachary and Toby Hampson concurred with Tyson’s opinion for the Court of Appeals.
With his sentence for his July 2020 charges activated, Robinson has been sentenced to serve between one and three years in state prison. He is currently incarcerated at the Granville Correctional Institution in Butner and is projected to be released in December 2025, according to the state prison system.
