Complex sentence: The death penalty was the automatic sentence by North Carolina law at the time, if two requisites in the case were satisfied: the defendant had to have pleaded not guilty, and the jury did not instead recommend a life sentence.
Split into simpler sentences: The death penalty was the automatic sentence by North Carolina law at the time, if two requisites in the case were satisfied. The defendant had to have pleaded not guilty, and the jury did not instead recommend a life sentence.