If any person shall in a secret manner maliciously commit an assault and battery with any deadly weapon upon another by waylaying or otherwise, with intent to kill such other person, notwithstanding the person so assaulted may have been conscious of the presence of his adversary, he shall be punished as a Class E felon.
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-31
Maliciously assaulting in a secret manner
Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case 446 F. Supp. 252 - United States v. Narciso (1977)
Most recently applied in United States v. Lee Smith (January 2016)
1887, c. 32; Rev., s. 3621; 1919, c. 25; C.S., s. 4213; 1969, c. 602, s. 1; 1979, c. 760, s. 5; 1979, 2nd Sess., c. 1316, s. 47; 1981, c. 63, s. 1, c. 179, s. 14; 1993, c. 539, …
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: North Carolina General Assembly. Reproduced from public-domain North Carolina statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.