Court of Appeals upholds convictions in 2 Brunswick Co. deaths

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — The North Carolina Court of Appeals has upheld convictions in a pair of Brunswick County homicide cases.

Appeals court judges ruled there were no errors in the April 2014 trial of Richard Hugh Grissett, who was convicted of first-degree murder and other crimes after strangling his 86-year-old aunt Linnie Mae Ward while trying to steal money to buy crack. The Appeals Court conducted its own review of the case after Grissett’s attorney was unable to find any prejudicial errors in the case. Jurors took less than an hour to convict Grissett, who confessed to the crime.

Judges ruled a lower court was not wrong in allowing jurors to consider voluntary manslaughter in the February 2014 second-degree murder trial for Julie Ann English. The panel also found that there was enough evidence to convict English of voluntary manslaughter for hitting an killing Michael Pate with a car in May 2012. A judge sentenced English to 4-6 years in prison.