State v. Yarborough, 198 N.C. App. 22 (Jul. 7, 2009)

The trial court did not err by failing to instruct on accident. The defense is unavailable when the defendant was engaged in misconduct at the time of the killing. Here, the defendant was engaged in misconduct—he broke into a home with the intent to commit robbery and the killing occurred during a struggle over the defendant’s gun. The court also rejected the defendant’s argument that because he abandoned his plan to commit the robbery, his right to the defense of accident was “restored.” Even assuming that the defendant abandoned his plan, that fact would not break the sequence of events giving rise to the shooting.