State v. Gregory, 23A24, ___ N.C. ___ (Mar. 21, 2025)

In this Wake County case, the Supreme Court affirmed per curiam the Court of Appeals decision State v. Gregory, 291 N.C. App. 617 (2023), where the majority held that limitation on cross-examination for the State’s expert in forensic psychiatry about the purpose of her testimony at a hearing held under Sell v. United States, 539 U.S. 166 (2003), i.e., to involuntarily medicate defendant so that he would be competent to stand trial, was not error.

Justice Riggs, joined by Justice Earls, dissented and would have held that the limitation of cross-examination regarding the purpose of the expert’s testimony at the Sell hearing represented a violation of defendant’s Confrontation Clause rights.