Case Title: State v. Williams

Citation: 333 N.C. 719, 430 S.E.2d 888

Docket Number: 137A92

State: north-carolina

Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Date: 1993-06-04T00:00:00Z

Document:
430 S.E.2d 888 (1993)
333 N.C. 719
STATE of North Carolina
v.
Carl Lynn WILLIAMS.
No. 137A92.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.
June 4, 1993.
*889 Lacy H. Thornburg, Atty. Gen. by Ellen B. Scouten, Asst. Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for the State.
James R. Parish, Fayetteville, for defendant-appellant.
WHICHARD, Justice.
A jury found defendant guilty of murder in the first degree on the basis of premeditation and deliberation in the deaths of William Fowler and Mitchell McNeill. From our review of the record and of defendant's assignments of error, we conclude that defendant received a fair trial free from prejudicial error.
The evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the State, tended to show that defendant and his friend David Beal went to a pool hall Saturday evening, 19 May 1990. There they met defendant's cousin Lee Carver and a man named William Fowler, whom Beal agreed to drive home in exchange for ten or fifteen dollars. Beal, accompanied by defendant, Fowler, and Mattie Robeson, who was with Fowler, drove to Fowler's sister's house. Carver followed in his own car. Around fifteen minutes after their arrival, Mitchell McNeill arrived.
Shortly afterwards an altercation arose between a neighbor and Fowler and McNeill. When calm was restored, everyone except the neighbor went back inside and talked. Beal asked McNeill to get Fowler to pay for his ride, but Fowler had gone to sleep. McNeill said he would give Beal the money when he got paid. Defendant and Beal then left the house.
Outside, Beal stated he had not been paid, and defendant responded, "Well, they ain't paid you your money, looks like we will have to put a cap in them." To "cap" someone, Beal explained, meant to shoot him.
Mattie Robeson testified that McNeill went to the back bedroom to use the telephone, and Fowler went into another bedroom. Fowler went to answer the door, and defendant entered with Carver and Beal. Mattie went into the den to watch television. A few minutes later Fowler came to the den door and asked Mattie if she was getting sleepy. She said she was, and Fowler said Beal, Carver, and defendant were getting ready to leave "in a few minutes." As soon as Fowler was out of the doorway, Mattie heard two gunshots. She shut the den door and hid in the closet. She then heard McNeill say twice, "Man, I didn't have nothing to do with it," and the sound of two more shots. When she stuck her head out the door she saw Beal, defendant, and Carver walking out the door. Defendant was carrying a little gun, and Carver was carrying a shotgun. When she heard cars driving away, she went to a neighbor's house and called the police.
An autopsy of Mitchell McNeill revealed that he died from a shot to the aorta. A second bullet grazed his hand and lodged in his abdomen. The forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy opined that the second shot was fired while McNeill was in a crouched or defensive position or that he was shot while falling. Fowler had also been shot twicein the heart and in the back of the head. The bullets were recovered from the bodies and examined by an S.B.I. agent. The agent's written report, to which defendant and the State stipulated, stated that all four bullets had been fired from the same .32 caliber revolver. Officers found the revolver in a sofa at *890 defendant's trailer two days after the murders.
The police questioned defendant on 21 May 1990. He gave a statement and responded to police questioning, first denying he was present when the victims were shot, then admitting he had been with Carver but stating that he had not fired any shots. Although Beal testified it was defendant who said he was going to "cap" the victims because Beal had not been paid, defendant attributed these remarks, like the killing itself, to Carver. Defendant admitted he had put the gun under the seat of Beal's car earlier in the evening and that he had told Carver its location.
Defendant's first four assignments of error concern the admissibility of a hearsay statement to which David Beal testified. Beal stated that Carver and defendant came to his home the day after the shooting. After voir dire Beal was permitted to restate Carver's remarks about the shooting made in defendant's presence. The testimony was as follows:
On cross-examination of Beal, defense counsel referred to one of Beal's pre-trial interviews in which Beal stated that defendant had told him he left before the shooting started, that he did not want any part of it, and that he walked away down the road. At defense counsel's request the trial court held a second voir dire examination of Beal to determine the proximity of these self-exculpatory statements to Carver's admission that "both men had shot one, and one shot the other." In the absence of the jury Beal testified that defendant's remarks occurred five to ten minutes after Carver's admission. The subject of the conversation had shifted away from the shooting, and Carver was talking about getting ready to leave. Defendant's explanation that he had had nothing to do with the shooting occurred "out of the clear blue," just before he and Carver left.
Before the jury was called in to hear the resumption of Beal's testimony, the trial court denied defendant's motion for a mistrial on the grounds that Carver's statement was the only evidence identifying defendant as a shooter. Beal then testified before the jury essentially as he had on voir dire. Following his testimony the trial court instructed the jury:
Defendant contends that the trial court erred, first, in permitting Beal to testify as to Carver's statement that both Carver and defendant shot the victims; second, in denying defendant's motion for mistrial on the grounds that there was no legal basis to admit the hearsay statement; third, in refusing to instruct the jury that it should disregard Beal's reiteration of Carver's statement; and fourth, in instructing the jury as it did when neither the facts nor the law supported a continuing conspiracy between Carver and defendant or defendant's admission by silence.
Carver's statement that "both men had shot one, and one shot the other" was offered in evidence through Beal's testimony "to prove the truth of the matter asserted." As such, it was hearsay. N.C.G.S. § 8C-1, Rule 801(c) (1992). Rule 801(d)(B) permits an exception to the hearsay rule for admissions of a party, which include "a *892 statement of which he has manifested his adoption or belief in its truth."
State v. Spaulding, 288 N.C. 397, 406, 219 S.E.2d 178, 183 (1975), vacated in part, 428 U.S. 904, 96 S. Ct. 3210, 49 L. Ed. 2d 1210 (1976). See also 2 Henry Brandis, Jr., Brandis on North Carolina Evidence § 179, p. 48 (3d ed. 1988).
Defendant contends his subsequent disavowal of any role in the shooting served to rebut or recant his admission by silence. We disagree. The trial court's instructions properly left to the jury the question whether disavowal was a responsive denial or the product of self-serving cogitation. We hold that Carver's statement was properly admitted as an implied admission, and that the jury was properly instructed it could consider the statement on these grounds.[2]
Defendant's contention that the trial court abused its discretion in denying defendant's motion for mistrial because it erroneously admitted Carver's statement also fails: a mistrial must be declared upon defendant's motion if there occurs during the trial an error that results in substantial and irreparable prejudice to the defendant's case. N.C.G.S. § 15A-1061 (1988). No such error occurred here, for the admissibility of Carver's statement was supported by the implied admission exception to the hearsay rule.
For the same reason the trial court did not err in refusing to instruct the jury that it should disregard Beal's reiteration of Carver's statement.
Defendant's four remaining assignments of error concern the trial court's instructions to the jury. Defendant first contends that the trial court failed to instruct on the lesser-included offense of second-degree murder for each homicide. The record plainly reveals that any error in not instructing on the lesser-included offense was invited by defendant, who expressly requested that such an instruction not be given.
At the charge conference, defendant indicated unequivocally to the trial court that he did not wish for the jury to be instructed on second-degree murder:
A defendant is not prejudiced by error resulting from his own conduct. N.C.G.S. § 15A-1443(c) (1988). Here defendant foreclosed any inclination of the trial court to instruct on the lesser-included offense of second-degree murder. He is not entitled to any relief and will not be heard to complain on appeal. State v. Patterson, 332 N.C. 409, 415, 420 S.E.2d 98, 101 (1992).
Second, defendant contends the trial court's instructions to the jury should not have included an instruction on acting in concert because the evidence presented no common plan or scheme. Defendant argues Beal's hearsay statement, rephrased on cross-examination, that "one shot one and one shot the other," shows independent, not concerted action, and he relies on his own statement that he entered the house behind Carver, who immediately began shooting.
The trial court instructed the jury as follows:
These instructions accurately mirror aspects of the acting in concert instruction this Court has approved in State v. Westbrook, 279 N.C. 18, 41-42, 181 S.E.2d 572, 586 (1971), death sentence vacated, 408 U.S. 939, 92 S. Ct. 2873, 33 L. Ed. 2d 761 (1972).
Evidence in the record, particularly defendant's own statement, supports these instructions. In his statement defendant said he knew when he arrived at Fowler's house with Carver and Beal that Carver had a revolver. He heard Beal say if he was not paid his ten dollars he was going to "cap his ass," meaning, defendant said, "shoot him." Defendant said Beal left and he was with Carver when Carver shot both victims. In his statement defendant said he tried to dissuade Carver from shooting Fowler and McNeill, saying, "Come on, Lee, man, don't be doing no stupid junk like that." Yet Carver responded, "Going to cap this mawfucker.... Going to cap his ass," and shot "the big guy" in the hall. Defendant then said Carver told him he was going in the room to shoot "the little [guy]," and defendant heard two shots as he was walking out the door. Defendant then asked Carver why he did not shoot Mattie Robeson, saying, "You still got one left." Defendant asserted in his statement that the pistol had belonged to Carver, but defendant himself had put it under the seat of Beal's car to protect Carver from being cited for carrying a concealed weapon if they were stopped. Defendant said after all three men had exited Fowler's house, Carver, "disgusted" that Beal had not been paid for the ride, said, "I'm [going to] bust a cap in him" and asked for the gun. Defendant then told Carver the gun was under the seat.
*894 Defendant's admission that, at the very least, he knew Carver intended to shoot Fowler and that he directed Carver to the location of the pistol is ample evidence of active encouragement and assistance to the perpetrator, as was his questioning Carver's decision not to kill Mattie Robeson, too. Mattie Robeson's testimony that she saw defendant holding a small handgun as he and Carver left the house after the shootings corroborates evidence of defendant's presence and active participation in the shootings.
We conclude the evidence was sufficient to support the trial court's instructions on acting in concert.
Third, defendant argues the trial court erred in failing to give the jury the following requested instruction:
In State v. Thompson, 328 N.C. 477, 402 S.E.2d 386 (1991), this Court held the trial court did not err in refusing to give the second sentence of this proposed instruction because the language, extracted from State v. Zuniga, 320 N.C. 233, 258, 357 S.E.2d 898, 914, cert. denied, 484 U.S. 959, 108 S. Ct. 359, 98 L. Ed. 2d 384 (1987), was inappropriate for a jury instruction: "It is confusing and not helpful to instruct a jury in terms of what an appellate court will consider sufficient to sustain a jury finding." Thompson, 328 N.C. at 490-91, 402 S.E.2d  at 393.
The substance of these instructions, absent reference to "sufficiency" of facts and inferences to sustain proof of premeditation and deliberation, was given more clearly by the trial court in instructions that kept inferences from the use of a deadly weapon separate from instructions regarding premeditation and deliberation. With regard to inferences that may be drawn from the intentional use of a deadly weapon the trial court instructed:
The trial court instructed on the definition of premeditation and deliberation separately:
We hold that the trial court complied in substance with defendant's request, properly separating the issue of inferences to be drawn from the use of a deadly weapon from a potentially confusing link to proof of premeditation and deliberation. The trial court is not required to give requested instructions verbatim, even when they correctly state the law. State v. Groves, 324 N.C. 360, 373, 378 S.E.2d 763, 771 (1989). When the trial court gives substantially the same instructions as those requested, particularly, as here, where they are purged of irrelevant and confusing features, the court does not err in refusing to give defendant's instructions exactly as proposed. See State v. Monk, 291 N.C. 37, 54, 229 S.E.2d 163 (1976).
Finally, defendant complains that the trial court erred in refusing to give the following *895 instruction on the credibility of law enforcement officers:
Defendant cites Bush v. United States, 375 F.2d 602 (D.C.Cir.1967) as authority for the correctness and appropriateness of this requested instruction. To the contrary, in Bush the D.C. Circuit refused to adopt a rule requiring a jury instruction "that the uncorroborated testimony of police narcotics officers must be viewed with suspicion and acted upon with caution." Id. at 603. To this suggestion the court responded:
Id. at 604 (footnotes omitted).
We concur with this reasoning, and hold that the trial court properly instructed the jury about witness credibility in general, focusing neither on law enforcement officers nor on any other class of witnesses. To have singled out any one class of witnesses might well have prompted the jury to be more critical of its credibility than that of other witnesses. Indeed, this was the trial court's intention in giving special instructions regarding the testimony of David Beal, which the court cautioned was pursuant to a plea agreement. The trial court also gave special instructions regarding Mattie Robeson's testimony, charging the jury to be particularly attentive to her capacity and her opportunity for observation, and her emotional and physical condition at the time of the observation. Special instructions concerning potentially interested witnesses are proper, e.g., State v. Vance, 277 N.C. 345, 346, 177 S.E.2d 389, 390 (1970), but they are inappropriate when, as here, there is nothing in the record to cast doubt upon the truthfulness and objectivity of the witness.
We conclude that defendant's assignments of error are meritless, and that he received a fair trial, free from prejudicial error.
NO ERROR.
PARKER, J., did not participate in the consideration or decision of this case.
[1]  Beal varied this statement somewhat on cross-examination, reiterating phrasing from a prior statement to police officers that "one shot one and one shot the other."
[2]  Although the trial court also supported its ruling with grounds other than the instruction on adoption or ratification by silence, it is not necessary to consider the propriety of those supplementary grounds here, as the instructions articulate a proper basis for the admissibility of Carver's statement. "The question for review is whether the ruling of the trial court was correct and not whether the reason given therefor is sound or tenable." State v. Austin, 320 N.C. 276, 290, 357 S.E.2d 641, 650, cert. denied, 484 U.S. 916, 108 S. Ct. 267, 98 L. Ed. 2d 224 (1987).