State v. Gibbons

BRANCH, Chief Justice.

By his first assignment of error, defendant contends that the trial court erred by admitting into evidence an excessive number of gory pictures, the sole purpose of which was to inflame the jury. The State, on the other hand, contends that the photographs were properly admitted under the rule in State v. Atkinson, 275 N.C. 288, 167 S.E. 2d 241 (1969), death sentence vacated, 403 U.S. 948, 29 L.Ed. 2d 859, 91 S.Ct. 2283 (1971).

In Atkinson this Court stated:

The fact that a photograph depicts a horrible, gruesome, or revolting scene, indicating a vicious, calculated act of…