State v. Green
| Decision Date | 14 August 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 385A84,385A84 |
| Citation | 329 N.C. 686,406 S.E.2d 852 |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. Harvey Lee GREEN, Jr. |
Lacy H. Thornburg, Atty. Gen. by James J. Coman, Sr. Deputy Atty. Gen., Joan H. Byers, Sp. Deputy Atty. Gen., William N. Farrell, Jr., Sp. Deputy Atty. Gen., and Barry S. McNeill, Asst. Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for the State.
Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr., Appellate Defender by David W. Dorey, Asst. Appellate Defender and Louis D. Bilionis, Asst. Appellate Defender, Raleigh, for defendant-appellant.
E. Ann Christian and Robert E. Zaytoun, Raleigh, for North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, amicus curiae.
John A. Dusenbury, Jr., Asheville, for North Carolina Ass'n of Black Lawyers, amicus curiae.
The defendant has made 23 assignments of error. The subjects most of these assignments of error cover should not recur at a new sentencing hearing and we shall not discuss them. We shall discuss two separate assignments of error under each of which the defendant contends the bills of indictment against him should be quashed on constitutional grounds.
The defendant first says that there was racial discrimination in the selection of the foreman of the grand jury which returned the bills against him. He contends this violates the rule of State v. Cofield, 320 N.C. 297, 357 S.E.2d 622 (1987) and the Constitution of North Carolina. With certain exceptions not applicable to this case a defendant who pleads guilty waives his right to challenge the plea on constitutional grounds. State v. Reynolds, 298 N.C. 380, 259 S.E.2d 843 (1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 941, 100 S.Ct. 2164, 64 L.Ed.2d 795 (1980). The defendant, by pleading guilty, waived any right he had under Cofield. This assignment of error is overruled.
The defendant also contends that the manner in which our death penalty statute, N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000 (1988), is enforced violates the equal protection clauses of U.S. Const. amend. XIV and N.C. Const. art. I, § 19. He also contends it violates the U.S. Const. amend. VIII, which amendment proscribes cruel and unusual punishment. The defendant bases this argument on two statistical studies of the imposition of the death penalty. One of these studies was conducted by Professors Samuel Gross and Robert Mauro and is published as Gross and Mauro, Patterns of Death: An Analysis of Racial Disparities in Capital Sentencing and Homicide Victimization, 37 Stan.L.Rev. 27 (1984). The other study was made by Professors Barry Nakell and K. Hardy, The Arbitrariness of the Death Penalty (1987). The studies show that a person is more likely to be executed if the murder victim is white and the chance is more likely yet if the defendant is black.
Although the defendant has pled guilty he still faces a trial in which he may receive the death penalty. We shall consider this assignment of error which is directed at the way the death penalty is imposed.
The United States Supreme Court held in McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279, 107 S.Ct. 1756, 95 L.Ed.2d 262 (1987), that general statistical studies...
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State v. Robinson, 586A87
...591 (1991); State v. Lloyd, 329 N.C. 662, 407 S.E.2d 218 (1991); State v. Artis, 329 N.C. 679, 406 S.E.2d 827 (1991); State v. Green, 329 N.C. 686, 406 S.E.2d 852 (1991); State v. Smith, 328 N.C. 99, 400 S.E.2d 712 (1991); State v. Quesinberry, 328 N.C. 288, 401 S.E.2d 632 (1991) (Meyer, J.......
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Green v. French
...Carolina Supreme Court's determination that Green did not establish a prima facie case of racial discrimination. See State v. Green, 329 N.C. 686, 406 S.E.2d 852 (1991). Guided by McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279, 107 S.Ct. 1756, 95 L.Ed.2d 262 (1987) (setting prima facie test above mere gen......
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Green v. French, 97-25
...to habeas relief based upon his McCleskey claim. The North Carolina Supreme Court properly rejected this claim in State v. Green, 329 N.C. 686, 689, 406 S.E.2d 852 (1991) 15; see also J.A. at 269 (state post-conviction review), and the forthcoming statistical study upon which Green wishes t......
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State v. Green
...sentencing proceeding. This Court ordered the case remanded to the Superior Court, Pitt County, for that purpose. State v. Green, 329 N.C. 686, 406 S.E.2d 852 (1991). A new capital sentencing proceeding was held. As to both murders the jury found the statutory aggravating circumstances (1) ......