State to appeal Jason Young case to North Carolina Supreme Court

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Attorney General Roy Cooper's office said Wednesday it plans to ask the North Carolina Supreme Court to review an Appeals Court order granting Jason Young a new trial.

Young was convicted in March, 2012 of beating his pregnant wife Michelle to death in November, 2006 at their Raleigh home. The couple's toddler-aged daughter was at home at the time of the killing, but was not injured.

In its ruling posted Tuesday, the North Carolina Court of Appeals said jurors should not have heard Young did not respond to a civil wrongful death lawsuit that found him responsible for his wife's murder.

Click here to read the opinion

If the Supreme Court does not overturn the decision, it would be the third trial for Young. At his first trial in 2011, a jury couldn't come to a verdict deadlocking 8-to-4 for acquittal. Eight months later, he was tried again and convicted, after prosecutors introduced evidence that wasn't used in the first trial.