US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

SUBCHAPTER III. OFFENSES AGAINST THE PERSON.

Article 6.

Homicide.

§ 14‑17.  Murder in the first and second degree defined; punishment.

A murder which shall be perpetrated by means of a nuclear, biological, or chemical weapon of mass destruction as defined in G.S. 14‑288.21, poison, lying in wait, imprisonment, starving, torture, or by any other kind of willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing, or which shall be committed in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of any arson, rape or a sex offense, robbery, kidnapping, burglary, or other felony committed or attempted with the use of a deadly weapon shall be deemed to be murder in the first degree, a Class A felony, and any person who commits such murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment in the State's prison for life without parole as the court shall determine pursuant to G.S. 15A‑2000, except that any such person who was under 17 years of age at the time of the murder shall be punished with imprisonment in the State's prison for life without parole. Provided, however, any person under the age of 17 who commits murder in the first degree while serving a prison sentence imposed for a prior murder or while on escape from a prison sentence imposed for a prior murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment in the State's prison for life without parole as the court shall determine pursuant to G.S. 15A‑2000. All other kinds of murder, including that which shall be proximately caused by the unlawful distribution of opium or any synthetic or natural salt, compound, derivative, or preparation of opium, or cocaine or other substance described in G.S. 90‑90(1)d., or methamphetamine, when the ingestion of such substance causes the death of the user, shall be deemed murder in the second degree, and any person who commits such murder shall be punished as a Class B2 felon. (1893, cc. 85, 281; Rev., s. 3631; C.S., s. 4200; 1949, c. 299, s. 1; 1973, c. 1201, s. 1; 1977, c. 406, s. 1; 1979, c. 682, s. 6; 1979, c. 760, s. 5; 1979, 2nd Sess., c. 1251, ss. 1, 2; c. 1316, s. 47; 1981, c. 63, s. 1; c. 179, s. 14; c. 662, s. 1; 1987, c. 693; 1989, c. 694; 1993, c. 539, s. 112; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 21, s. 1; c. 22, s. 4; c. 24, s. 14(c); 2001‑470, s. 2; 2004‑178, s. 1.)

§ 14‑17.1.  Crime of suicide abolished.

The common‑law crime of suicide is hereby abolished as an offense. (1973, c. 1205.)

§ 14‑18.  Punishment for manslaughter.

Voluntary manslaughter shall be punishable as a Class D felony, and involuntary manslaughter shall be punishable as a Class F felony. (4 Hen. VII, s. 13; 1816, c. 918, P.R.; R.C., c. 34, s. 24; 1879, c. 255; Code, s. 1055; Rev., s. 3632; C.S., s. 4201; 1933, c. 249; 1979, c. 760, s. 5; 1979, 2nd Sess., c. 1316, s. 47; 1981, c. 63, s. 1; c. 179, s. 14; 1993, c. 539, s. 112; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c); 1997‑443, s. 19.25(q).)

§ 14‑18.1:  Repealed by Session Laws 1994, Extra Session, c. 14, s. 73.

§ 14‑18.2.  Injury to pregnant woman.

(a)       Definitions. – The following definitions shall apply in this section:

(1)       Miscarriage. – The interruption of the normal development of the fetus, other than by a live birth, and which is not an induced abortion permitted under G.S. 14‑45.1, resulting in the complete expulsion or extraction from a pregnant woman of the fetus.

(2)       Stillbirth. – The death of a fetus prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from a woman irrespective of the duration of pregnancy and which is not an induced abortion permitted under G.S. 14‑45.1.

(b)       A person who in the commission of a felony causes injury to a woman, knowing the woman to be pregnant, which injury results in a miscarriage or stillbirth by the woman is guilty of a felony that is one class higher than the felony committed.

(c)       A person who in the commission of a misdemeanor that is an act of domestic violence as defined in Chapter 50B of the General Statutes causes injury to a woman, knowing the woman to be pregnant, which results in miscarriage or stillbirth by the woman is guilty of a misdemeanor that is one class higher than the misdemeanor committed. If the offense was a Class A1 misdemeanor, the defendant is guilty of a Class I felony.

(d)       This section shall not apply to acts committed by a pregnant woman which result in a miscarriage or stillbirth by the woman. (1998‑212, s. 17.16(b).)

§ 14‑19.  Repealed by Session Laws 1979, c. 760, s. 5, effective July 1, 1981.

§ 14‑20:  Repealed by Session Laws 1993 (Reg.  Sess., 1994), c. 767, s. 29(1).

§§ 14‑21 through 14‑23.  Repealed by Session Laws 1979, c. 682, s. 7, effective January 1, 1980.