State v. Smith

HUSKINS, Justice.

Defendant first contends the trial court committed prejudicial error in allowing the State to challenge peremptorily ten prospective jurors in violation of G.S. 9-21 (b) which provides that “[i]n all capital cases the State may challenge peremptorily without cause nine jurors for each defendant and no more.” The record reveals that the court clerk was keeping the record of peremptories exercised by both the State and the defendant and, due to an erroneous count, informed the prosecution that the State had used five peremptory challenges when in fact it had used six. The State…