Attorney General Michael F. Easley, by Assistant Attorney General Douglas W. Hanna, for the State. Michael J. Reece for defendant-appellant. Defendant was tried at the 24 May 1999 Criminal Session of Johnston County Superior Court on the charge of first-degree burglary. The jury returned a verdict of guilty on 26 May 1999. After the jury later also found him guilty of being an habitual felon, defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Defendant now appeals.
Defendant first contends the trial court erroneously submitted for the jury's consideration an offense that does not exist in North Carolina. First-degree burglary involves breaking and entering at night into an occupied dwelling with the intent to commit a felony therein. The trial judge submitted second-degree murder as the intended felony here. We must therefore award defendant a new trial. In Coble , our Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether the offense of attempted second-degree murder existed in North Carolina.