State v. Rojas, COA24-690, ___ N.C. App. ___ (Mar. 5, 2025)

In this Gaston County case, defendant appealed his aggravated sentence for second-degree murder, arguing that the sentencing judge erred in failing to find the statutory mitigating factor that he was suffering from a mental or physical condition that significantly reduced his culpability. The Court of Appeals found no error.

This matter previously reached the Court of Appeals in the unpublished State v. Rojas, No. COA20-810. Defendant murdered his girlfriend in May 2016 by stabbing her over 100 times and leaving her to bleed to death in their bathtub. He was initially found incompetent to stand trial due to psychotic disorders but later deemed competent after psychiatric care. At the resentencing hearing (the original sentence having been vacated in the previous appeal), defendant presented testimony from a forensic psychiatrist who diagnosed him with schizophrenia. However, the psychiatrist stated he couldn't testify with reasonable medical certainty whether schizophrenia contributed to the violent behavior at the time of the murder. Defendant also testified, blaming medication and hallucinations for his actions, but he offered no other expert testimony. The trial court found two aggravating factors (especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel; and taking advantage of a position of trust) and three mitigating factors (support system, positive employment history, and good treatment prognosis), but ultimately determined the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors, imposing an aggravated sentence.

On appeal, defendant argued that the sentencing court ignored the credible testimony of the forensic psychologist that he suffered from schizophrenia, and it contributed to his culpability for the crime. The Court of Appeals disagreed, concluding that defendant could not show “substantial, uncontradicted, and manifestly credible evidence” of the mitigating factor as his “only expert witness could not, and did not, testify with reasonable medical certainty that defendant’s schizophrenia contributed to the murder or otherwise significantly reduced defendant’s culpability for the offense.” Slip Op. at 12. Therefore, the court held that the sentencing judge did not err in declining to find the mitigating factor.