Opinion ID: 1227665
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: strickland issue

Text: Defendants contend that the North Carolina capital murder statutory scheme is unconstitutional under Roberts v. Louisiana, 428 U.S. 325, 96 S.Ct. 3001, 49 L.Ed.2d 974 (1976); and Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972), in that it permits subjective discretion and discrimination in imposing the death penalty. Under this assignment of error, defendants challenge the requirement for the automatic submission of the lesser included offense of second degree murder whenever a defendant is tried for first degree murder on the theory of premeditation and deliberation. See State v. Harris, 290 N.C. 718, 228 S.E.2d 424 (1976). The defendants in this case were charged and convicted of first degree murder under the felony murder theory, thus the Harris rule, which we recently overruled in State v. Strickland, 307 N.C. 274, 298 S.E.2d 645 (1983), was not applicable to their cases. Furthermore, this issue is not properly before this Court as it was not raised at the guilt determination phase of the trial, in the original appeal, or during either sentencing hearing.