Watauga County Double Murder Verdict Upheld By NC Supreme Court

RALEIGH — The North Carolina Supreme Court upheld two life sentences without parole for a man who killed his parents in Watauga County when he was a teen. 

Tristan Borlase was found guilty of first-degree murder in March 2022 for killing his parents when he was one month shy of his 18th birthday in April 2019. He was tried as an adult in court, but he was a minor at the time of the crime, meaning the maximum sentence was life without parole.

The Court determined that North Carolina’s statutory framework satisfied constitutional requirements by mandating consideration of youth-specific mitigating factors while preserving judicial discretion in sentencing. The opinion clarifies that while previous cases Miller v. Alabama, and Montgomery v. Louisiana, require individualized sentencing for juveniles, another case — Jones v. Mississippi — eliminated any presumption against life without parole or requirement for explicit “permanent incorrigibility” findings.

On April 10, 2019, the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office responded to 1174 Orchard Road in Deep Gap for a 911 call related to the disappearance of three family members. Jeffery David Borlase, 43, and Tanya Maye Borlase, 44, were subsequently found dead outside of the home. The following day, Tristan Borlase — then 17 years old — was located in Tennessee and arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

The trial lasted nine days and detailed Borlase’s actions after he killed his parents, including trying to conceal the act.

According to the North Carolina Department Of Adult Correction Offender Public Information, Borlase was imprisoned in Central Prison in Raleigh on March 3, 2022, and has had one infraction for disobeying an order.

Story: wataugademocrat.com