Bullets As Evidence In North Carolina

In State v. Wilson, 345 N.C. 119, 124, 478 S.E.2d 507, 510 (1996), "the evidence tended to show that two bullets were recovered from the scene and five bullets were recovered from the victims' bodies." Id. at 124, 478 S.E.2d at 511. The Court reasoned that "even taken in the light most favorable to the State, while there was evidence that defendant was present, armed, participated in the robbery, and may have been involved in the shooting, this evidence merely raises a suspicion that defendant fired the shots that killed the two victims." Id. In Wilson, the Court stated: Even taken in the light most favorable to the State, while there was evidence that defendant was present, armed, participated in the robbery, and may have been involved in the shooting, this evidence merely raises a suspicion that defendant fired the shots that killed the two victims. A suspicion, even a strong suspicion, is insufficient to support a guilty verdict. Considering the number of bullets recovered, the location of those bullets, the number of bullets found in the guns recovered from defendant's possession, and the short length of the encounter, a conclusion that defendant himself fired the fatal shots during this robbery could only be based on suspicion and conjecture. Wilson, 345 N.C. at 125, 478 S.E.2d at 511.