State v. Martin

BRITT, Justice.

Phase I — Guilt Determination

Although defendant has assigned no error to this phase of his trial, due to the seriousness of the offense and the severity of the punishment, we have carefully reviewed the record of the pretrial, as well as the trial, proceedings. 1

Murder in the first-degree is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice and with premeditation and deliberation. G.S. § 14-17 (Cum. Supp. 1979); e.g., State v. Fleming, 296 N.C. 559, 251 S.E. 2d 430 (1979). Apropos to this case is the following statement by Justice (later Chief Justice) Sharp in State v. Moore,…