State v. Perry

MITCHELL, Justice.

The defendant, Randy Dale Perry, was indicted for murder and tried noncapitally at the 7 September 1993 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Union County. The jury returned a verdict on 9 September 1993 finding the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree. The trial court imposed a mandatory life sentence. The- defendant appealed to this Court as a matter of right.

The evidence admitted at trial tended to show, inter alia, that on 5 July 1992, the victim, Merced Xaltipa Vergara, visited relatives and friends at an apartment on Kerr Street in Monroe, North Carolina.…