Facts of the Crime:
On February 23, 1987, defendant Rowland Andrew Hedgepeth was indicted for the first-degree murder of Richard Casey and for assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury on Beverly Hedgepeth, defendant's estranged wife. In October of 1987, defendant was tried capitally to a jury and found guilty. After a capital sentencing proceeding, the jury recommended a sentence of death for the first-degree murder conviction, and the trial judge entered judgment accordingly.
On appeal, we affirmed the murder conviction but found reversible error in the sentencing proceeding under McKoy v. North Carolina, 494 U.S. 433, 108 L. Ed. 2d 369 (1990). Accordingly, we vacated the sentence of death and remanded for a new capital sentencing proceeding. State v. Hedgepeth, 330 N.C. 38, 409 S.E.2d 309 (1991).
The new capital sentencing proceeding was held at the May 19, 1997 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Halifax County. The jury found the aggravating circumstance that the murder was part of a course of conduct in which defendant engaged, including defendant's commission of other crimes of violence against another person or persons. N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(e)(11) (1997). The jury also found the statutory mitigating circumstance that the murder was committed while defendant was under the influence of mental or emotional disturbance, N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(f)(2), and seven nonstatutory mitigating circumstances. After determining that the aggravating circumstance found outweighed the mitigating circumstances found and that it was sufficiently substantial to call for imposition of the death penalty, the jury recommended a sentence of death for the first-degree murder conviction, and the trial judge entered judgment accordingly.
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