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280 N.C. 154

184 S.E.2d 866

State v. Price

Supreme Court of North Carolina

Decided December 15, 1971

Supreme Court of North Carolina · decided 1971-12-15

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“accompanies the actual perpetrator to the vicinity of the offense and, with the knowledge of the actual perpetrator, remains in that vicinity for the purpose of aiding and abetting in the offense and sufficiently close to the scene of the offense to render aid in its commission, if needed, or to provide a means by which the actual perpetrator may get away from the scene upon the completion of the offense.”

quoted by 11 later decisions, including 19 N.C. App. 401 - State v. Grant, State v. Beach

“In order to constitute an attempt, it is essential that the defendant, with the intent of committing the particular crime, should have done some overt act adapted to, approximating, and which in the ordinary and likely course of things would result in the commission thereof. Therefore, the act must reach far enough towards the accomplishment of the desired result to amount to the commencement of the consummation. It must not be merely preparatory. In other words, while it need not be the last proximate act to the consummation of the offense attempted to be perpetrated, it must approach sufficiently near to it to stand either as the first or some subsequent step in a direct movement towards the commission of the offense after the preparations are made.”

quoted by 6 later decisions, including United States v. Hernandez-Galvan, State v. Miller

Relies on State v. Cutler · State v. Overman · State v. Bell

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1971-12-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 129 later decisions — most recently April 2019 · most notably State v. Odom (1983), State v. Irwin (1981)

4 federal appellate · 125 state decisions

59019711980199020002010decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

LAKE, Justice.

¶1 In considering a trial court’s denial of a motion for judgment of nonsuit, the evidence for the State, considered in the light most favorable to it, is deemed to be true and inconsistencies or contradictions therein are disregarded. State v. Vincent, 278 N.C. 63, 178 S.E. 2d 608; State v. Overman, 269 N.C. 453, 153 S.E. 2d 44. Evidence of the defendant which is favorable to the State is considered, but his evidence in conflict with that of the State is not considered upon such motion. State v. Greene, 278 N.C. 649, 180 S.E. 2d 789; State v. Vincent, supra. The question for the court is whether, when the evidence is so considered, there is reasonable basis upon which the jury might find that an offense charged in the indictment has been committed and the defendant is the perpetrator, or one of the perpetrators, of it. State v. Cutler, 271 N.C. 379, 156 S.E. 2d 679.

¶2 By the terms of G.S. 14-87 an attempt to rob another of personal property, made with the use of a dangerous weapon, whereby the life of a person is endangered or threatened, is, itself, a completed crime and is punishable to the same extent as if the property had been taken as intended. State v. Spratt, 265 N.C. 524, 144 S.E. 2d 569. Such attempt occurs when the defendant, with the requisite intent to rob, does some overt act *158 calculated and designed to bring about the robbery, thereby endangering or threatening the life of a person. State v. Spratt, supra. “ ‘In order to constitute an attempt, it is essential that the defendant, with the intent of committing the particular crime, should have done some overt act adapted to, approximating, and which in the ordinary and likely course of things would result in the commission thereof. Therefore, the act must reach far enough towards the accomplishment of the desired result to amount to the commencement of the consummation. It must not be merely preparatory. In other words, while it need not be the last proximate act to the consummation of the offense attempted to be perpetrated, it must approach sufficiently near to it to stand either as the first or some subsequent step in a direct movement towards the commission of the offense after the preparations are made.’ 8 R.C.L., 279.” State v. Parker, 224 N.C. 524, 31 S.E. 2d 531.

¶3 Considered in accordance with the above stated principles, the evidence in the record is amply sufficient to justify a jury in finding that Walker entered the store with the intent to rob Lowery, struck him in the head with a blackjack, a dangerous weapon, for the purpose of accomplishing the intended robbery and thereby endangered his life. Thus, the evidence of the State is sufficient to show that the offense charged in the indictment was committed.

¶4 The remaining question is whether the evidence is sufficient to show that the defendant was a perpetrator of it. One who procures or commands another to commit a felony, accompanies the actual perpetrator to the vicinity of the offense and, with the knowledge of the actual perpetrator, remains in that vicinity for the purpose of aiding and abetting in the offense and sufficiently close to the scene of the offense to render aid in its commission, if needed, or to provide a means by which the actual perpetrator may get away from the scene upon the completion of the offense, is a principal in the second degree and equally liable with the actual perpetrator. State v. Bell, 270 N.C. 25, 153 S.E. 2d 741; State v. Sellers, 266 N.C. 734, 147 S.E. 2d 225. By its express terms G.S. 14-87 extends to one who aids and abets in an attempt to commit armed robbery. The State’s evidence, considered as above stated, is ample to support a finding by a jury that the defendant so participated in *159 the attempt to rob Lowery. The present case is not distinguishable from State v. Sellers, supra.

¶5 The motion for judgment of nonsuit was, therefore, properly denied.

¶6 No error.

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