State v. Boyd7/31/1996
te v. Wise, 326 N.C. 421, 433, 390 S.E.2d 142, 149-50 (same), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 853, 112 L. Ed. 2d 113 (1990). This assignment of error is without merit and is overruled.
In another assignment of error, defendant argues that his death sentence must be vacated because the trial court erred by submitting as an aggravating circumstance that the murders for which he was convicted were part of a course of conduct by defendant which included the commission by him of other crimes of violence against another person. N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(e)(11). Defendant contends that the (e)(11) aggravating circumstance is unconstitutionally vague, overbroad, and indefinite. Alternatively, defendant argues that it was not supported by the evidence in the case sub judice. We disagree with defendant and conclude the trial court properly submitted this aggravating circumstance to the jury.
The (e)(11) aggravating circumstance itself does not violate due process by reason of unconstitutional vagueness. State v. Williams, 305 N.C. 656, 685, 292 S.E.2d 243, 261, cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1056, 74 L. Ed. 2d 622 (1982). Further, we conclude that the evidence in the present case was sufficient to support its submission to the jury.
The State presented substantial evidence tending to show that after defendant fatally shot Dillard Curry, he fired his weapon at Julie Boyd, intending to kill her. The jury, by returning guilty verdicts of first-degree murder for each killing, found beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant had committed the two murders. We have previously held under similar circumstances that the submission of one killing as an aggravating circumstance for another murder under the (e)(11) aggravating circumstance is correct and does not violate due process of law or double jeopardy. State v. Pinch, 306 N.C. 1, 30-31, 292 S.E.2d 203, 225, cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1056, 74 L. Ed. 2d 622 (1982), overruled on other grounds by State v. Robinson, 336 N.C. 78, 443 S.E.2d 306 (1994), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 130 L. Ed. 2d 650 (1995), and by State v. Benson, 323 N.C. 318, 372 S.E.2d 517 (1988). Thus, the trial court correctly allowed the jury to consider the murder of Dillard Curry as the crime of violence to support the (e)(11) aggravating circumstance in sentencing defendant for the murder of Julie Boyd. Likewise, the trial court was correct to allow the jury to consider the murder of Julie Boyd as the crime of violence that supported the (e)(11) aggravator in sentencing defendant for the murder of Dillard Curry. In summary, therefore, the trial court properly submitted the aggravating circumstance that each of the murders for which defendant stood convicted was part of a course of conduct in which he engaged and which included the commission of other crimes of violence against another person. Id.; see also State v. Chapman, 342 N.C. 330, 345, 464 S.E.2d 661, 669-70 (1995); State v. Cummings, 332 N.C. 487, 507-12, 422 S.E.2d 692, 703-06 (1992); State v. Brown, 306 N.C. 151, 183, 293 S.E.2d 569, 589, cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1080, 74 L. Ed. 2d 642 (1982).
Defendant argues, however, that the trial court did not rely solely on the separate killings for which defendant was found guilty as the other crime of violence. He contends that the trial court improperly instructed the jury that it also could consider an alleged and uncharged assault on Craig Curry as that other crime. Defendant argues that relying on this alleged assault was error in that a prerequisite to the submission of the course of conduct circumstance is that defendant be charged with the other crime of violence. We disagree.
N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(e)(11) does not require that defendant be charged or convicted of the "other crim
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 North Carolina DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|