State v. Kirkwood, 229 N.C. App. 656 (Sept. 17, 2013)

No violation of double jeopardy occurred when the trial court sentenced the defendant for three counts of discharging a firearm into occupied property. Although the three gunshots were fired in quick succession, the bullet holes were in different locations around the house’s front door area. The evidence also showed that at least one shot was fired from a revolver, which, in single action mode, must be manually cocked between firings and, in double action mode, can still only fire a single bullet at a time. The other gun that may have been used was semiautomatic but it did not always function properly and many times, when the trigger was pulled, would not fire. Neither gun was a fully automatic weapon such as a machine gun. There was sufficient evidence to show that each shot was "distinct in time, and each bullet hit the [house] in a different place.” In reaching this holding, the court declined to apply assault cases that require a distinct interruption in the original assault for the evidence to support a second conviction.