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State v. Golphin8/25/2000
N.C. at 492, 434 S.E.2d at 854; Huff, 325 N.C. at 59, 381 S.E.2d at 669. The evidence presented by Kevin's mental health expert was not so manifestly credible that we are able to conclude that the jury was required to find it convincing. Furthermore, the fact that a juror accepted the expert's testimony to support the non-statutory mitigating circumstance that "Kevin Golphin lacked parental involvement or support in treatment for psychological problems," is not determinative of the sufficiency of the evidence in support of the (f)(2) statutory mitigating circumstance. The two mitigating circumstances emphasize different times and different events. The non-statutory circumstance relates to parental support at the time Kevin sought psychological treatment, before these crimes were committed. The statutory circumstance involves Kevin's mental or emotional state at the time the crimes were committed. Thus, it cannot be said that the same evidence necessarily supports both mitigating circumstances. Accordingly, this assignment of error is overruled.
PRESERVATION ISSUES
Defendants have raised seven additional issues which they concede have been decided previously by this Court contrary to their respective positions: (1) the trial court's instruction regarding the burden of proof applicable to mitigating circumstances was unconstitutionally vague and imposed too high a burden of proof by utilizing the term "satisfy"; (2) the jury instructions for Issues Three and Four on the sentencing recommendations forms which provided that jurors "may" rather than "must" consider mitigating circumstances were erroneous; (3) the jury instructions for Issues Three and Four which provided that each juror could consider only mitigating circumstances that juror had found in Issue Two were erroneous; (4) the jury instructions for Issues One, Three, and Four were unconstitutionally vague and ambiguous, resulting in an arbitrary verdict and requiring the jury to unanimously reject a death sentence to impose a life sentence; (5) the jury instruction defining mitigation was unconstitutionally narrow; (6) the trial court erred by "death qualifying" the jury, which resulted in an unconstitutionally biased jury in favor of the death penalty, and by failing to require separate juries for determinations of guilt and sentence; and (7) the North Carolina death penalty statute and the death sentences imposed are unconstitutional.
Defendants make these arguments for the purposes of permitting this Court to re-examine its prior holdings and to preserve these arguments for any possible further judicial review in these cases. We have thoroughly considered defendants' arguments on these issues and find no compelling reason to depart from our prior holdings. Accordingly, these assignments of error are overruled.
PROPORTIONALITY REVIEW
Having concluded that defendants' trial and capital sentencing proceeding were free from prejudicial error, it is our duty, pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(d)(2), to make the following determinations with regard to each sentence of death: (1) whether the evidence supports the jury's findings of the aggravating circumstances upon which the sentence of death was based; (2) whether the sentence of death was imposed under the influence of passion, prejudice, or any other arbitrary factor; and (3) whether the sentence of death is excessive or disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases, considering both the crime and the defendant. See N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(d)(2).
In relation to Kevin's conviction for the murder of Trooper Lowry, the jury found the following five aggravating circumstances to exist: (1) the capital felony was committed for the purpos
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