State v. Artis

BILLINGS, Justice.

The State’s evidence tended to show that on 10 May 1984 the seventeen-year-old defendant forced his way into the home of victim A, a young, married woman who was almost eight months pregnant and lived near Stantonsburg, North Carolina. She recognized the defendant as the son of a woman who worked on her father-in-law’s farm and lived within sight of her home. The defendant attacked victim A with a butcher knife and began trying to pull her pants off. During the struggle, victim A’s hands were cut several times by the defendant’s knife. Her sister, who was visiting at the…