Opinion ID: 1234215
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Robbery as an Aggravating Circumstance.

Text: The three judge panel found as an aggravating circumstance that the murder was committed while defendants were engaged in the commission of a robbery with the use of deadly weapons. Appellants contend that, since the state was proceeding on the theory of felony-murder, it was error to include robbery as an aggravating circumstance. In support of their position, appellants rely on State v. Cherry, 298 N.C. 86, 257 S.E.2d 551 (N.C.1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 941, 100 S.Ct. 2165, 64 L.Ed.2d 796 (1980). There, the accused was found guilty of felony-murder. During the penalty phase, the trial court submitted the underlying felony, a robbery, to the jury as an aggravating circumstance. The North Carolina Supreme Court reversed, holding that the underlying felony should not be submitted to the jury as an aggravating circumstance when it has been used to obtain a conviction of first degree murder. The infirmity in appellants' argument and in their reliance on Cherry is that appellants pleaded guilty to first degree murder upon the theories of premeditation and deliberation, as well as robbery and kidnapping. [7] Under these circumstances, other courts, including the court in Cherry, have held that it is permissible to use the felony as an aggravating circumstance. See also State v. Goodman, 298 N.C. 1, 257 S.E.2d 569 (N.C. 1979); cf. State v. Pritchett, 621 S.W.2d 127 (Tenn.1981) (underlying felony can be used as an aggravating circumstance under any set of circumstances). In Cherry, the court specifically noted that the defendant was convicted under the felony-murder rule and the judge never mentioned premeditation and deliberation. The court continued by stating: Nothing we have said herein should be construed to foreclose consideration of the aggravating circumstances ... when a murder occurred during the commission of one of the enumerated felonies but where the defendant was convicted of first degree murder on the basis of his premeditation and deliberation. In such case, the jury should properly consider the aggravating circumstances in determining sentence. Cherry, 257 S.E.2d at 568. In Goodman, supra, the North Carolina Court once again explained the limitation created in the Cherry decision. The court reiterated that under the rule set forth in Cherry the underlying felony can be presented as an aggravating circumstance only when the defendant is convicted of first degree murder upon the theory of premeditation and deliberation. The Goodman court went on to hold that the defendant was found guilty upon the theory of premeditation and deliberation as well as by virtue of the felony-murder rule; therefore, the lower court did not err in submitting to the jury the aggravating circumstances of burglary and robbery. Accordingly, we conclude that the three judge panel properly found the robbery as an aggravating circumstance because appellants were convicted of first degree murder based upon the theories of premeditation and deliberation as well as the felony-murder rule.