State v. DeCastro

PARKER, Justice.

Defendant Eugene Tyrone DeCastro was tried capitally on indictments charging him with the murders of Leon and Margaret Batten and the robbery with a dangerous weapon of Leon Batten. The jury returned verdicts finding defendant guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of robbery with a dangerous weapon. After a sentencing hearing conducted pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000, the jury recommended á sentence of death for each murder conviction. The trial court imposed the death sentences as recommended and imposed an additional consecutive sentence of forty years’…