Frendlich v. Vaughans Foods of Henderson Inc‪.‬

At the 30 April 1984 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Wake County, the defendant was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder for the murders of Deborah Jean Fore and Elizabeth Faye Stallings. The jury found the defendant guilty of each first-degree murder, both upon the theory of premeditation and deliberation and under the felony murder rule. Upon the jurys recommendations after a separate capital sentencing proceeding, the trial court sentenced the defendant to death for each murder. On the defendants direct appeal, this Court -- in an opinion written by Justice Whichard, with Chief Justice Exum concurring in a separate opinion and Justice Frye dissenting as to sentence -- found no error and upheld the convictions and death sentences. State v. McNeil, 324 N.C. 33, 375 S.E.2d 909 (1989). Thereafter, the Supreme Court of the United States granted the defendants petition for a writ of certiorari and remanded the case for our further consideration in light of that Courts recent decision in McKoy v. North Carolina, 494 U.S., 108 L. Ed. 2d 369 (1990). McNeil v. North Carolina, 494 U.S., 108 L. Ed. 2d 756 (1990).