STATE v. JONES (2019)

Defendant appeals from the trial court's judgment entered upon her plea of no contest to the charge of felony possession of cocaine. We affirm.

On 22 August 2016, a grand jury indicted defendant on charges of felony possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia. On 25 April 2018, defendant entered a no contest plea, pursuant to a plea agreement, to felony possession of cocaine, and the State dismissed the possession of drug paraphernalia charge. In accordance with the plea agreement, the trial court sentenced defendant to a suspended term of 6 to 17 months of imprisonment and placed her on supervised probation for 18 months. Defendant filed timely notice of appeal.

Counsel appointed to represent defendant on appeal has been unable to identify any issue with sufficient merit to support a meaningful argument for relief on appeal and asks that this Court conduct its own review of the record for possible prejudicial error. Counsel shows to the satisfaction of this Court that counsel has complied with the requirements of Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 18 L.Ed. 2d 493 (1967), and State v. Kinch, 314 N.C. 99, 331 S.E.2d 665 (1985), by advising defendant of her right to file written arguments with this Court and providing her with the documents necessary to do so. Defendant has not filed any documents on her own behalf with this Court, and a reasonable time for her to do so has expired.

In accordance with Anders, we have fully examined the record to determine whether there are any issues of arguable merit. Because defendant entered a no contest plea and neither filed a motion to suppress nor moved to withdraw her plea, her right of appeal is limited to the sentencing issues set forth in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1444(a1) and (a2) (2017). Here, defendant stipulated, through trial counsel, to her prior convictions and her prior record level. Defendant's sentence falls within the presumptive range for a prior record level III offender convicted of a Class I felony. See N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1340.17(c), (d) (2017). Accordingly, we find no prejudicial error and affirm the trial court's judgment.

AFFIRMED.

Report per Rule 30(e).

STROUD, Judge.

Judges ZACHARY and BERGER concur.