## Facts

- Boon was indicted and convicted in a North Carolina superior court for willfully and maliciously killing an enslaved person.
- The prosecution proceeded under a 1791 statute providing that a person convicted of willfully and maliciously killing an enslaved person would be adjudged guilty of murder and punished as if the victim were free.
- After the guilty verdict and before sentencing, the trial court reserved questions of law for the North Carolina Court of Conference concerning whether a death sentence could be imposed under the 1791 statute and whether the killing was otherwise punishable as a felony at common law.

## Issues

1. Whether the 1791 statute concerning the willful and malicious killing of an enslaved person was sufficiently definite to authorize a capital sentence.
2. Whether, absent statutory authority, the willful killing of an enslaved person by a free person was a felony at common law equivalent to murder.

## Decision

- The Court of Conference held the 1791 statute was too uncertain to warrant imposition of the death penalty on a defendant convicted under it.
- The court rejected the State’s alternative argument that the willful killing of an enslaved person was a common-law felony permitting punishment as for murder.
- As a result, the court refused to allow a capital sentence to be pronounced on Boon based on the conviction under the 1791 statute.

## Legal Principles

- A penal statute, especially one authorizing capital punishment, must be sufficiently clear and definite before a court may impose a death sentence.
- Courts will not extend criminal liability and punishment in capital cases through uncertain statutory interpretation.
- Absent clear statutory authorization, courts will not treat the killing of an enslaved person as a common-law felony equivalent to murder for purposes of imposing capital punishment.

## Conclusion

The Court of Conference refused to authorize a death sentence because the statute relied upon was too uncertain, and it also declined to recognize a common-law murder offense for the willful killing of an enslaved person without explicit legislative authorization.


State v. Boon, 1 N.C. (Taylor) 191 (N.C. Conf. 1801)