State v. Bunch

*842BRADY, Justice.

In Neder v. United States, 527 U.S. 1 (1999), the Supreme Court of the United States applied harmless error analysis to the trial court’s instructional omission of elements of a crime. We apply the harmless error standard from Neder to defendant’s challenge under Article I, Section 24 of the North Carolina Constitution and conclude that the trial court’s instructional error in the present case was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. We therefore affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals.

The State’s evidence at trial tended to show that on the afternoon of 1 March 2004,…