Opinion
No. 535A83
Filed 3 April 1984
APPEAL of right by the State, pursuant to G.S. 7A-30(2), from a decision of a divided panel of the Court of Appeals, 64 N.C. App. 324, 307 S.E.2d 440 (1983), which reversed the judgment entered by the Honorable Napoleon B. Barefoot, Judge Presiding, at the 19 July 1982 Criminal Session of Superior Court, NEW HANOVER County. Judgment was entered on 22 July 1982. Heard in the Supreme Court 15 February 1984.
Rufus L. Edmisten, Attorney General, by John R. B. Matthis, Special Deputy Attorney General, and Philip A. Telfer, Assistant Attorney General, for the State-appellant.
William Norton Mason for defendant-appellee.
The facts of this case are adequately stated in the majority opinion of the Court of Appeals. The first degree burglary charge was submitted to the jury on the theory that the defendant entered the house with the intent to commit rape or larceny. The jury returned a general verdict of guilty of first degree burglary. The Court of Appeals reversed defendant's conviction of first degree burglary and remanded the case for sentencing on the lesser-included offense of wrongful breaking or entry, a misdemeanor under G.S. 14-54(b), holding that there was insufficient evidence to submit to the jury the question of whether the defendant intended to commit rape or larceny when he entered the house.
After carefully examining the record, briefs and oral arguments presented in this case, we have concluded that the result reached by the Court of Appeals is correct based upon the peculiar facts of this case. In reaching this conclusion we do not affect the validity of the holdings of this Court in State v. Smith, 211 N.C. 93, 189 S.E. 175 (1937) and State v. Simpson, 303 N.C. 439, 279 S.E.2d 542 (1981).
The decision of the Court of Appeals is
Affirmed.