State v. Williams

LAKE, Justice.

The defendant was indicted on 31 May 1994 for the first-degree murder of Kenneth L. Freeman. The defendant was tried noncapitally, and the jury found the defendant guilty of first-degree murder on the theory of premeditation and deliberation. By judgment and commitment dated 13 December 1994, Judge Brown sentenced defendant to a term of life imprisonment.

The State’s evidence tended to show that in April 1994, the defendant lived in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, with his mother, his two brothers and his sister. One of defendant’s brothers was in the hospital because he had been…