## Facts

- Kenneth D. Wilkerson was prosecuted for homicide offenses arising from the death of his two-year-old son, Kessler Wilkerson.
- Neighbors near the Wilkersons’ mobile home heard loud banging noises, a young child crying, and the defendant shouting at the child to stop crying shortly before emergency responders were called.
- When an ambulance arrived, the defendant gave attendants the child’s limp body and reported the child had choked and stopped breathing; resuscitation failed, and the child was pronounced dead at the hospital.
- An emergency-room physician observed bruises on the child and found no signs consistent with drowning.
- Autopsy findings included extensive external bruising and internal injuries, including bleeding and a deep liver laceration; the cause of death was abdominal hemorrhage from a ruptured liver.
- The State introduced evidence of the defendant’s customary corporal punishment and other instances of harsh discipline.
- The defendant admitted kicking the child into a wall two days earlier but contended the death was accidental.
- Two physicians testified: one opined the bruising pattern was not consistent with ordinary childhood injuries; the pathologist described battered child syndrome and opined the child fit that pattern.
- A jury convicted the defendant of second-degree murder; the trial court also instructed on voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.

## Issues

1. Whether expert medical testimony describing battered child syndrome and opining that the victim fit the syndrome was admissible or improperly invaded the jury’s fact-finding role.
2. Whether the trial court committed reversible error by permitting the State to cross-examine the defendant’s mother about prior misconduct by the defendant.
3. Whether alleged errors in instructions defining second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, and involuntary manslaughter required reversal.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of North Carolina affirmed the conviction.
- The court held the battered-child-syndrome testimony was properly admitted because it assisted the jury in understanding injury patterns beyond common lay knowledge and did not direct a verdict on guilt or intent.
- The court agreed the cross-examination of the defendant’s mother regarding prior misconduct was improper, but held it was not prejudicial in light of the evidence.
- The court held any instructional error was not reversible because it was favorable to the defendant.

## Legal Principles

- Expert testimony is admissible when specialized knowledge will assist the jury in understanding evidence or determining a fact in issue.
- Medical expert testimony on battered child syndrome may be admitted to explain whether a child’s injuries are consistent with repeated abuse rather than accident, when grounded in examination, experience, and medical methodology.
- Expert opinion does not improperly usurp the jury’s function merely because it bears on a contested factual inference; the line is crossed when the testimony effectively determines the defendant’s legal guilt or required mental state.
- Improper cross-examination concerning a defendant’s prior misconduct warrants reversal only if the defendant shows prejudice affecting the verdict.
- An instructional error that benefits the defendant is not a basis for reversal.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed a second-degree murder conviction for a child’s fatal injuries, holding that battered-child-syndrome expert testimony was properly admitted to aid the jury, and that other trial errors were either harmless or favorable to the defendant.


State v. Wilkerson, 295 N.C. 559, 247 S.E.2d 905 (N.C. 1978)