State v. Leonard, ___ N.C. App. ___, 811 S.E.2d 658 (Feb. 20, 2018)

In this voluntary manslaughter case, the trial court did not abuse its discretion by failing to find extraordinary mitigation. Although the court found numerous mitigating factors, it found no extraordinary mitigation in the defendant’s case; the trial court sentenced the defendant to the lowest possible sentence in the mitigated range. The court rejected the defendant’s argument that the trial court misunderstood the applicable law, finding that the transcript of the sentencing hearing reveals that the trial court understood the extraordinary mitigation statute and exercised proper discretion.