Title: State v. Shuler
Citation: 235 S.E.2d 226, 293 N.C. 34
Docket Number: 107
State: north-carolina
Issuer: north-carolina Supreme Court
Date: June 13, 1977

235 S.E.2d 226 (1977) 293 N.C. 34 STATE of North Carolina v. Curtis Donnie SHULER. No. 107. Supreme Court of North Carolina. June 13, 1977. *228 Atty. Gen. Rufus L. Edmisten, by Asst. Atty. Gen. George J. Oliver, Raleigh, for the State. Harold D. Downing, Fayetteville, for defendant. BRANCH, Justice. Defendant assigns as error the denial of his motion for judgment as of nonsuit. Pertinent portions of our often stated rule concerning a trial judge's consideration of a motion for judgment as of nonsuit are as follows: The question presented by a motion for judgment as of nonsuit is whether upon consideration of admitted evidence, both competent and incompetent, in the light most favorable to the State, there is substantial evidence to support a jury finding that the offense charged in the bill of indictment has been committed and that the defendant is the person who committed it. State v. Cutler, 271 N.C. 379, 156 S.E.2d 679; State v. Rowland, 263 N.C. 353, 139 S.E.2d 661. The credibility of the witnesses is for the jury even when their character is questionable. 2 N.C.Index 2d, Criminal Law § 106. Here the deceased's body was found on the shoulder of a road with a fatal wound in the chest and three other bullet wounds in the head. His pocketbook and automobile were missing. Several persons saw defendant in possession of deceased's automobile *229 shortly after the crime was committed. On the morning following decedent's death, defendant told an acquaintance that on the night before he had shot a man while attempting to rob him and had taken his money and automobile. Deceased's death was caused by bullets from a .25 caliber pistol and there was evidence that defendant had a .25 caliber pistol in his possession on the morning after the deceased met his death. We hold that the State offered ample evidence to support reasonable inferences that the deceased met his death as the result of a homicide committed during an armed robbery and that defendant was the person who committed the crime. This assignment of error is overruled. Defendant next contends that the trial court erred by permitting the witness Terry Blackwelder to testify, over objection, as to defendant's prior criminal acts. Defendant testified that he had never had a .25 caliber pistol in his possession. He further stated that he knew "a white female by the name of Terry," but denied that he had ever had a .25 automatic pistol in her presence. The State, in rebuttal, offered Terry Blackwelder who testified that during the month of November 1975 defendant possessed a gun. She stated: The general rule is that in a prosecution for a particular crime the State cannot offer evidence tending to show that the defendant has committed another distinct, independent or separate offense. State v. Hunter, 290 N.C. 556, 227 S.E.2d 535. The landmark case of State v. McClain, 240 N.C. 171, 81 S.E.2d 364, contains this language: The testimony of the witness Blackwelder tended to prove that less than a month before Lilly met his death by wounds inflicted by a .25 caliber pistol, defendant had a similar weapon in his possession. The challenged evidence was therefore admissible as substantive evidence to prove a material fact at issue. We recently considered a similar question in State v. Stanfield, 292 N.C. 357, 233 S.E.2d 574. There defendants were charged with first-degree murder. The State's evidence disclosed that the deceased was killed by a shotgun owned by defendant Ham. The State offered evidence that less than a month before the charged crime occurred, defendant Ham's furniture was being removed from a rented mobile home by his landlord's son and Ham, by the use of a shotgun, forced the boy to return his possessions to the mobile home. We there held that this evidence was relevant and properly admitted to show possession of a shotgun by defendant Ham shortly before the charged crime took place. The evidence here challenged was also admissible to contradict defendant's testimony. In State v. Lewis, 177 N.C. 555, 98 S.C. 309, the defendant was charged with the crime of rape. He offered testimony tending to show that he was sick and in bed during the week before and the week after the date that the alleged crime occurred. In rebuttal the State offered evidence that defendant had chased a Mrs. Loftin and tried to grab her and that three nights thereafter he was seen peeping in her home. Finding no error in the admission of this evidence, this Court, speaking through Justice Walker, stated: *230 We further note that defense counsel elicited testimony similar to that challenged during his cross-examination of the witness Blackwelder. The admission of testimony over objection is ordinarily harmless when defendant elicits similar testimony on cross-examination. State v. Brown, 272 N.C. 512, 158 S.E.2d 354; State v. Humbles, 241 N.C. 47, 84 S.E.2d 264. For the reasons stated, this assignment of error is overruled. Finally, defendant argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion for dismissal on grounds of former jeopardy. Defendant was originally put on trial for first-degree murder before Judge James H. Pou Bailey at the 11 May 1976 Session of Cumberland Superior Court. On the third day of that trial, after the presentation of the State's case in chief, Judge Bailey allowed the State's motion to reopen its case for the purpose of introducing the testimony of Thomas Bernard Richardson, who was to be flown in from Texas. The trial judge allowed the State until 2:00 p. m. to produce this witness and recessed court at about 10:00 a. m. During this time Judge Bailey was informed by an attorney not appearing in the case that an unidentified woman had been observed talking loudly outside the courthouse in the presence of persons wearing juror badges. She had stated that it would be a shame to put anyone to death on the evidence in the case. Upon reconvening court at 2:00 p. m., Judge Bailey inquired of the jury whether anyone had overheard any comment regarding the possible penalties involved in this trial. Receiving no affirmative response, he again recessed court until the arrival of the State's additional witness, Thomas Bernard Richardson. The witness Richardson arrived at 2:58 p. m. and the trial was resumed. After Richardson had testified, the following colloquy occurred: Deputy Sheriff Charles Musselwhite, who had transported defendant to the courtroom that day, admitted that he had commented on the sufficiency of the State's evidence directly to the juror Powell. Although not in uniform at the time, he was wearing an identification badge on his shirt collar. Following his conference with juror Powell and counsel, Judge Bailey entered the following findings and order: At the second trial of this case, Judge Clark conducted a hearing on defendant's motion to dismiss. After making findings and conclusions similar to those contained in Judge Bailey's order, Judge Clark entered an order denying defendant's motion. It is a fundamental principle of the common law, guaranteed by our Federal and State Constitutions, that no person may be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb for the same offense. U.S.Const. Amend. V; N.C.Const. Art. I, § 19; State v. Cutshall, 278 N.C. 334, 180 S.E.2d 745. Jeopardy attaches when a defendant in a criminal prosecution is placed on trial: (1) on a valid indictment or information, (2) before a court of competent jurisdiction, (3) after arraignment, (4) after plea, and (5) when a competent jury has been empaneled and sworn. State v. Birckhead, 256 N.C. 494, 124 S.E.2d 838. Nevertheless, a subsequent trial of a defendant, following the termination of earlier proceedings upon an order of mistrial, is not precluded by a plea of former jeopardy where the mistrial was granted, over defendant's objections, due to "[a] physical necessity [or] the necessity of doing justice." State v. Beal, 199 N.C. 278, 154 S.E. 604. The United States Supreme Court, speaking through Justice Story in the landmark *232 case of United States v. Perez (a capital case), 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 579, 6 L. Ed. 165, fashioned the test to be applied upon a plea of former jeopardy: This rule of "necessity" has consistently been adhered to in subsequent decisions of that Court. United States v. Dinitz, 424 U.S. 600, 96 S. Ct. 1075, 47 L. Ed. 2d 267; Illinois v. Somerville, 410 U.S. 458, 93 S. Ct. 1066, 35 L. Ed. 2d 425; United States v. Jorn, 400 U.S. 470, 91 S. Ct. 547, 27 L. Ed. 2d 543; Downum v. United States, 372 U.S. 734, 83 S. Ct. 1033, 10 L. Ed. 2d 100; Gori v. United States, 367 U.S. 364, 81 S. Ct. 1523, 6 L. Ed. 2d 901; Wade v. Hunter, 336 U.S. 684, 69 S. Ct. 834, 93 L. Ed. 974; Simmons v. United States, 142 U.S. 148, 12 S. Ct. 171, 35 L. Ed. 968. In Somerville the respondent was brought to trial on a defective indictment which could not have been cured by amendment under existing Illinois law. The trial judge declared a mistrial over defendant's objection. After being reindicted, tried, and convicted, the defendant petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus alleging double jeopardy. This petition was granted by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The United States Supreme Court allowed certiorari to review that decision and reversed. The plurality opinion quoted the Perez standard with approval and emphasized the breadth of the trial judge's discretion with these quotes: Similarly, in Gori v. United States, 367 U.S. 364, 81 S. Ct. 1523, 6 L. Ed. 2d 901 (1961), the Court again underscored the breadth of a trial judge's discretion, and the reasons therefor, to declare a mistrial. Id., at 368, 81 S.Ct., at 1526. Our Court has characterized the types of necessity which will justify a reprosecution following a declaration of mistrial. In *233 State v. Crocker, 239 N.C. 446, 80 S.E.2d 243, Justice Bobbitt (later Chief Justice) summarized: Accord: State v. Cutshall, supra; State v. Birckhead, supra. Obviously in instant case we must narrow our consideration to the question of whether Judge Bailey's declaration of a mistrial, sua sponte, was born of "the necessity of doing justice." Such a decision would be well within the trial judge's discretion when faced with "the occurrence of some incident of a nature that would render impossible a fair and impartial trial under the law." State v. Crocker, supra. In capital cases the trial court must make findings of fact and place them in the record so that the court's action may be reviewed on appeal. State v. Cutshall, supra; State v. Tyson, 138 N.C. 627, 50 S.E. 456. Here, had the law enforcement officer expressed an opinion that the jury would find defendant guilty upon the then-existing evidence, there would, in all probability, be a unanimity of opinion that the trial judge acted correctly. We find no authority which holds that the test of "necessity of doing justice" exists solely for the benefit of a defendant. It is fundamental in our system of jurisprudence that each party to an action is entitled to a fair and impartial trial. In Simmons v. United States, supra, the Court recognized this fundamental principle when it stated: Our own Court in considering exceptions to an order of mistrial in State v. Cain, 175 N.C. 825, 95 S.E. 930, also recognized that principle of evenhanded justice with this succinct statement: "The object of a trial is to acquit the innocent and to convict the guilty." The recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court seem to emphasize that the double jeopardy clause protects a defendant from prosecutory actions which tend to provoke mistrial requests and from bad faith conduct by the judge or the prosecutor which subjects the defendant to multiple trials for the purpose of affording the State a more favorable opportunity to convict. United States v. Dinitz, supra; Illinois v. Somerville, supra. In the case sub judice there is nothing to indicate that the prosecutor did anything to provoke a mistrial or that the trial judge acted in bad faith so as to give the State a more favorable position or to lessen defendant's opportunity for an acquittal. *234 It is unchallenged that an expression of opinion by a law enforcement officer as to the weakness of the State's case had reached the jury box. The juror's statement that he would not be prejudiced by this remark would not, standing alone, prevent the trial judge from exercising his discretion and declaring a mistrial. In Whitfield v. Warden of Maryland House of Correction, 486 F.2d 1118, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals aptly stated: Under the circumstances disclosed by his findings, we cannot say that Judge Bailey's declaration of a mistrial was not required by the "necessity of doing justice." Therefore, defendant's subsequent plea of former jeopardy was properly denied by Judge Clark. NO ERROR.