State v. Sparrow

MooRE, J.(3) Each defendant received a greater sentence in the Superior Court than had been imposed by the district court. Appellants contend that this increase in sentence denied them due process of law and violated rights secured to them by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. “Until recently, it was the general rule that a trial de novo meant a sentence de novo.” State v. Stafford, 274 N.C. 519, 531, 164 S.E. 2d 371, 379. Defendants insist that the rule stated in Stafford, and supported by voluminous authority, was overruled by the decision in North Carolina v. Pearce,…