State v. Newton

Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction in which he was convicted of 26 crimes arising from multiple incidents. He raises seven assignments of error. We write to address only defendant’s fifth assignment of error and reject without discussion the remaining six.

Defendant argues that the trial court committed plain error when it entered separate convictions for Count 2— fourth-degree assault — and Count 3 — felony fourth-degree assault. Prior to sentencing, the state acknowledged that the guilty verdicts in those counts should merge because Count 2 was a lesser-included offense of Count 3,…