Court Opinion

ID: 9619933
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:35:33.45298+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:45.814299
License: Public Domain

Justice Frye
dissenting.
I am troubled by the difficulties the State has encountered in seeking to secure the death penalty for this defendant for this terrible crime. The General Assembly has provided that when a jury cannot, within a reasonable time, unanimously agree to a sentencing recommendation, the judge shall impose a sentence of life imprisonment. N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(b) (1997). It seems abundantly clear that, at the time the court declared a mistrial, the jury could not unanimously agree to a sentencing recommendation. The appropriate action was for the judge to either impose a sentence of life imprisonment or encourage the jurors to continue deliberating to see if they could unanimously agree to a sentencing recommendation. “[A] trial court in a capital case has no authority to discharge the jury without the *602defendant’s consent and hold the defendant for a second trial, absent a showing of ‘manifest necessity’ for a mistrial.” State v Lachat, 317 N.C. 73, 82-83, 343 S.E.2d 872, 877 (1986). In this capital sentencing proceeding, defendant objected to a mistrial. No manifest necessity justified discharging this third capital sentencing jury and convening yet another jury to recommend life or death. Because the jury was unable to reach a unanimous agreement as to the sentencing recommendation, our statute requires the imposition of a sentence of life imprisonment. N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(b).
Justice WEBB joins in this dissenting opinion.