State v. Wiggins, 707 S.E.2d 664

Defendant Wiggins was convicted of first-degree murder for the death of James Walls and multiple related offenses arising from three shootings in Kinston, NC between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. on 4 September 2006.
Victims included Shannon Hinton, Ray-Shawna Waters, and James Walls; shell casings at each scene were linked to two firearms.
Special Agent testimony linked the 9mm shells from Walls and Hinton to one firearm and the .380 shells from Walls and Waters to another.
Defendant was convicted of one count of first-degree murder, two assaults with deadly weapons inflicting serious injury, and three counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon (PFBCF), with all sentences consecutive.
The trial court sentenced Defendant to life without parole for murder, plus multi-year terms for the PFBCF and assaults, all to be served consecutively.
On appeal, the NC Court of Appeals held that only one PFBCF conviction could stand for the simultaneous possession of firearms used in multiple offenses, reversing two PFBCF convictions and remanding for new judgments.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether multiple PFBCF convictions were proper	Wiggins argues multiple PFBCF convictions were supported by possessing more than one firearm.	State argues each firearm possession supports separate convictions.	Only one PFBCF conviction remained; others reversed.
Plain error in failing to instruct on second-degree murder	Evidence could support second-degree murder verdict for Walls.	Trial court should have instructed on lesser offense.	No plain error; no error in not instructing on second-degree murder.

State v. Garris, 191 N.C.App. 276, 663 S.E.2d 340 (2008) (simultaneous possession limits multiple PFBCF convictions)
State v. Whitaker, Unknown official reporter citation provided in opinion (2010) (reversal of multiple PFBCF convictions where firearms possessed simultaneously)
State v. Johnson, 23 N.C.App. 52, 208 S.E.2d 206 (1974) (armed robbery rationale for multiple offenses using firearm)
State v. Odom, 307 N.C. 655, 300 S.E.2d 375 (1983) (plain error standard and review)
State v. Locklear, 363 N.C. 438, 681 S.E.2d 293 (2009) (premeditation/deliberation standard; lesser-included offense analysis)
State v. Conner, 335 N.C. 618, 440 S.E.2d 826 (1994) (premeditation and deliberation definitions)
State v. Leazer, 353 N.C. 234, 539 S.E.2d 922 (2000) (premeditation and deliberation inference factors)
State v. Coble, 351 N.C. 448, 527 S.E.2d 45 (2000) (definition of first-degree murder elements)