State v. McElrath

MEYER, Justice.

Defendant was convicted of the first-degree murder of his son-in-law, Steven Wade Boyer. The State having stipulated before trial to the absence of any statutory aggravating factors under N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000, the case was tried as a noncapital case, and defendant was accordingly sentenced to the mandatory life term. In his appeal to this Court, defendant brings forward numerous assignments of error relative to the guilt-innocence phase of his trial. We have reviewed the entire record, and because we find that the trial court committed prejudicial error in refusing to admit…