State v. Beck

614 S.E.2d 274 (2005)

359 N.C. 611

STATE of North Carolina

v.

Melvin Wayne BECK.

No. 191PA04.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

July 1, 2005.

Roy Cooper, Attorney General, by Tiare B. Smiley, Special Deputy Attorney General and, Robert Montgomery, Assistant Attorney General for the State-appellant.

Daniel Shatz, Durham, for defendant-appellee.

NEWBY, Justice.

The North Carolina Structured Sentencing Act provides that the "same item of evidence" cannot be used to prove more than one aggravating factor. N.C.G.S. § 15A-1340.16(d) (2003). The question presented by this case is whether the phrase "same item…