State v. Wilkes, 367 N.C. 116 (Oct. 4, 2013)

The court per curiam affirmed the decision below, State v. Wilkes, 225 N.C. App. 233 (Jan. 15, 2013), in which the court of appeals had held, over a dissent, that the State presented substantial evidence supporting two separate assaults. The defendant attacked his wife with his hands. When his child intervened with a baseball bat to protect his mother, the defendant turned to the child, grabbed the bat and then began beating his wife with the bat. The court concluded that the assaults were the result of separate thought processes, were distinct in time, and the victim sustained injuries on different parts of her body as a result of each assault.