State v. Burke

FRYE, Justice.

In a capital trial, defendant, Rayford Lewis Burke, was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder. In a capital sentencing proceeding conducted pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000, the jury recommended and the trial court imposed a sentence of death. For the reasons discussed herein, we conclude that defendant’s trial and capital sentencing proceeding were free of prejudicial error and that the death sentence is not disproportionate. Accordingly, we uphold defendant’s conviction of first-degree murder and sentence of death.

The State’s evidence presented at trial tended to show the…