State v. Thomas

EXUM, Chief Justice.

Defendant was tried on a bill of indictment charging that defendant “unlawfully, willfully and feloniously and of malice aforethought did kill and murder Vickie White Calhoun.” The case was prosecuted as a first degree felony murder on the theory that the murder of Vickie White Calhoun occurred during the perpetration of the felony of discharging a firearm into an occupied structure in violation of N.C.G.S. § 14-34.1. The jury was instructed that it could return verdicts of guilty of first degree felony murder or not guilty. Upon the return of a verdict of guilty the jury…