State v. Wallace

MITCHELL, Justice.

The defendant contends that the trial court erred in not striking testimony that referred to “bloodstains.” We hold that such a characterization was admissible. The defendant also assigns as error the failure of the trial court to instruct the jury as to the possible verdict of guilty of involuntary manslaughter. We agree that the charge should have been given and order a new trial.

The evidence for the State tended to show that the defendant lived in South Carolina. On the afternoon of 24 April 1982, he rode with four other people to Hamlet, North Carolina to visit his…