State v. Garcell, 363 N.C. 10 (Mar. 20, 2009)

The defendant was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. The defendant was eighteen years and five months old when he committed the murder. The court rejected the defendant’s argument that Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005) (Eighth Amendment prohibits execution of one who commits murder before eighteenth birthday), required it to conclude that the defendant’s age had mitigating value as a matter of under the G.S. 15A-2000(f)(7) (defendant’s age when murder committed) mitigating circumstance.