State v. Sierra

MEYER, Justice.

On 29 June 1992, defendant, Jaime Duarte Sierra, was indicted for the first-degree murder of Refugio “Cuco” Maldonado. Defendant was tried noncapitally in the Superior Court, Lee County, in October 1992 and was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Refugio Maldonado. The trial court thereafter imposed the mandatory life sentence.

The evidence presented by the State at trial tended to show the following. The victim and his father were Mexican natives who had come to the United States seeking work in 1988. When the victim and his father first came to North Carolina, they…