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State v. Cole6/13/1996
333 N.C. 350, 428 S.E.2d 118, cert. denied, --U.S. , 126 L. Ed. 2d 341 (1993); State v. Huffstetler, 312 N.C. 92, 322 S.E.2d 110 (1984), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1009, 85 L. Ed. 2d 169, 105 S. Ct. 1877 (1985). Likewise, the aggravating circumstance was found in the instant case. As we stated in Walls, "while this fact is certainly not dispositive, it does serve as an indication that the sentence of death . . . is not disproportionate." Walls, 342 N.C. at 72, 463 S.E.2d at 777.
After comparing this case to other similar cases as to the crime and the defendant, we conclude that this case has the characteristics of first-degree murders for which we have previously upheld the death penalty as proportionate. See, e.g., State v. Goode, 341 N.C. 513, 461 S.E.2d 631 (1995); State v. Gregory, 340 N.C. 365, 459 S.E.2d 638 (1995), cert. denied, --U.S. , 134 L. Ed. 2d 478 (1996); State v. Ingle, 336 N.C. 617, 445 S.E.2d 880 (1994), cert. denied, U.S. , 131 L. Ed. 2d 222 (1995). All of these cases involved double murders where the jury found the aggravating circumstances that the murders were part of a course of conduct in which the defendant engaged and which included the commission of other crimes of violence against another person and that, as to at least one of the murders, it was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, and where this Court found the sentence of death proportionate. Accordingly, we cannot conclude that the death sentence in this case is excessive or disproportionate. Therefore, the judgments of the trial court must be and are left undisturbed.
NO ERROR.
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