In State v. Hennis, 323 N.C. 279, 372 S.E.2d 523 (1988), the defendant was convicted of three counts of first degree murder. The trial court admitted thirty-five autopsy and crime scene photographs and the duplicate slides were projected onto a screen just above the defendant's head. Hennis, 323 N.C. at 282, 372 S.E.2d at 525. Defendant stipulated to the victims' cause of death. Id. at 283, 372 S.E.2d at 526. The thirty-five 8x10 photographs were distributed to the jury, one at a time, and were unaccompanied without further testimony. Id Many slides with repetitive content were admitted. Id. at 286, 372 S.E.2d at 527. Our Supreme Court held that the trial court prejudicially erred in admitting the photographs and slides. Id. at 287, 372 S.E.2d at 528. In State v. Hennis 323 N.C. 279, 283-85, 372 S.E.2d 523, 526-27 (1988), the Supreme Court stated: Photographs are usually competent to explain or illustrate anything that is competent for a witness to describe in words and properly authenticated photographs of a homicide victim may be introduced into evidence under the trial court's instructions that their use is to be limited to illustrating the witness's testimony. Thus, photographs of the victim's body may be used to illustrate testimony as to the cause of death. Photographs may also be introduced in a murder trial to illustrate testimony regarding the manner of killing so as to prove circumstantially the elements of murder . . . and for this reason such evidence is not precluded by a defendant's stipulation as to the cause of death. Photographs of a homicide victim may be introduced even if they are gory, gruesome, horrible or revolting, so long as they are used for illustrative purposes and so long as their excessive or repetitious use is not aimed solely at arousing the passions of the jury. In general, the exclusion of evidence under the balancing test of Rule 403 of the North Carolina Rules of Evidence is within the trial court's sound discretion. Whether the use of photographic evidence is more probative than prejudicial and what constitutes an excessive number of photographs in the light of the illustrative value of each likewise lies within the discretion of the trial court. Abuse of discretion results where the court's ruling is manifestly unsupported by reason or is so arbitrary that it could not have been the result of a reasoned decision. The test for excess is not formulaic: there is no bright line indicating at what point the number of crime scene or autopsy photographs becomes too great. The trial court's task is rather to examine both the content and the manner in which photographic evidence is used and to scrutinize the totality of circumstances composing that presentation. What a photograph depicts, its level of detail and scale, whether it is color or black and white, a slide or a print, where and how it is projected or presented, the scope and clarity of the testimony it accompanies -- these are all factors the trial court must examine in determining the illustrative value of photographic evidence and in weighing its use by the state against its tendency to prejudice the jury.