Court Opinion

ID: 9590584
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:56:15.104111+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:35:44.771026
License: Public Domain

Justice Frye
concurring in part, dissenting in part.
I concur in the Court’s decision finding no prejudicial error in defendant’s trial and conviction of first-degree murder. I dissent only as to the capital sentencing proceeding.
I disagree with the majority’s treatment of the issue relating to the submission of the statutory mitigating circumstance that defendant had no significant history of prior criminal activity, N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(f)(1). In this case, defendant objected to the submission of this mitigating circumstance, arguing that the evidence available to the State was such that no reasonable juror could find defendant’s criminal history insignificant. The trial court denied defendant’s request for a voir dire on the evidence available to the State, concluding that the matter presented a jury question. Defendant argues, *634correctly I think, that no reasonable juror could have found it insignificant that he, a twenty-year-old youth, illegally possessed marijuana the day of the shooting, concealed the murder weapon on his person on a number of occasions in the days prior to the shooting, stole money from his girlfriend’s mother days before the shooting, broke into a church and stole at least $900 worth of items weeks before the shooting, was convicted of two counts of larceny seven months prior to the shooting, and was convicted of fifteen counts of injury to property and an alcoholic beverage violation less than two years prior to the shooting.
Furthermore, I disagree with the majority’s reliance on State v. Walker, where the majority of this Court held that absent extraordinary facts, the erroneous submission of a mitigating circumstance is harmless. State v. Rowsey, 343 N.C. 603, 620, 472 S.E.2d 903, 912 (1996). See State v. Walker, 343 N.C. 216, 228, 469 S.E.2d 919, 926 (1996) (Frye, J. concurring). Here, it appears that the decision of the trial court to submit the (f)(1) mitigating circumstance led to the State’s introduction of “rebuttal” evidence at the capital sentencing proceeding that would not otherwise have been presented to the jury. The State was then free to argue to the jury that defendant did have a significant history of criminal activity despite the alleged contention to the contrary, thus belittling defendant’s argument as to any mitigating circumstances. Since I am not convinced that without the rebuttal evidence the jury would nevertheless have recommended a sentence of death, I find the submission of the (f)(1) mitigating circumstance prejudicial error entitling defendant to a new capital sentencing proceeding.