State v. McLaughlin

MITCHELL, Justice.

The defendant brings forward assignments of error in which he contends that the trial court erred in admitting an accomplice’s confession under the North Carolina Rules of Evidence, N.C.G.S. § 8C-1, Rule 804(b)(5) (Cum. Supp. 1985), and that the trial court erred in refusing to give the defendant’s requested special instruction regarding the accomplice’s confession. We conclude that the trial court erred in admitting the accomplice’s confession under Rule 804(b)(5), thereby entitling the defendant to a new trial.

The State presented evidence which tended to show that on 21…