Opinion ID: 1228203
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: appeal of the defendant burden

Text: The defendant Burden, like his codefendant Braxton, in his statement of the case on appeal, assigned three errors as follows: (1) The admission of evidence over objection, this being based upon 20 exceptions; (2) the denial of 14 motions made by Burden; and (3) the signing and entry of the judgment. For the reasons stated in connection with the appeal of the defendant Braxton, Assignment No. 3 is without merit. Burden, like Braxton, did not bring forward into his brief any of the 20 exceptions upon which his Assignment of Error No. 1 is based. This assignment and the exceptions upon which it is based, are, therefore, deemed abandoned. We have, however, examined each of these exceptions and the portions of the record pertinent thereto and find no merit in any of them. It would serve no useful purpose to discuss these seriatim. We have previously discussed, in connection with the appeal of Braxton, the matter of the admissibility of the in-court identification of Burden by the prosecutrix. No further discussion of Burden's exception thereto is necessary. While the defendant Burden's Assignment of Error No. 2 is based upon 14 exceptions to the denial of various motions made by him, he has brought forward into his brief on appeal only the matter of the denial of his motion for a separate trial and the denial of his motion to suppress evidence of a statement made by him to one of the investigating officers. The other exceptions upon which this assignment of error was based are, therefore, deemed abandoned. Rule 28 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure, supra. We have, nevertheless, considered these abandoned exceptions and the motions to which they relate and find no merit therein. Nothing would be gained by a detailed discussion of these. With reference to Burden's contention that it was error to consolidate the cases for trial, he asserts in his brief that the prosecuting witness was not able to identify him, or any of the other defendants, at the probable cause hearing. As above noted on our discussion of the appeal of Braxton, the record does not substantiate this assertion. Burden contends that the prosecuting witness identified him in court as one of her assailants solely because the cases were consolidated for trial and consequently, he and his three codefendants were present in the courtroom as the defendants charged with the offenses. For this reason, he says, the consolidation was prejudicial to him. Burden does not contend that he was prejudiced by the admission in evidence of the carefully edited statements made by McIver and Howell to the investigating officers, or that the admission of those statements violated either G.S. 15A-927(c) or the rule of Bruton v. United States, supra. The in-court identification of Burden by the prosecuting witness as one of her assailants was clear and unequivocal. According to her testimony, it was he who first knocked upon the window of her car in the lighted parking lot and, with a pistol pointed at her head, ordered her to roll down the window and then to get out of the car. It was he and Braxton who dragged her from her car, forced her to enter the one driven by McIver and then sat in the back seat of the car with her as they drove from the place of her abduction to the abandoned house where the multiple rapes occurred. On this long ride they traversed the well lighted streets of Fayetteville, went through a smaller town in which there were street lights and lighted filling stations and rode otherwise through bright moonlight. Enroute to the abandoned house, Burden was pointing the pistol at the head of the prosecutrix until she seized it from him, whereupon they struggled for it as she was firing it. Under these circumstances, it is too great a strain upon credulity to accept his contention that the only basis for in-court identification of him is the fact that he sat at the defendant's counsel table along with the three codefendants. Furthermore, the prosecuting witness testified that, as she struggled in the car with the defendant Burden for the possession of the pistol, it fired several times and the defendant Burden exclaimed that she had shot him in the finger. Officer Lovette, who interviewed Burden and obtained a statement from him the following day, testified that one of Burden's fingers had a wound on it. Finally, Burden's own statement to Officer Lovette fully corroborates the woman's testimony as to Burden's part in her abduction from the parking lot in Fayetteville, her transportation to the abandoned house in Robeson County, his being wounded when the woman seized the pistol and fired it, and his having had sexual intercourse with her. Clearly, the identification of Burden as one of the woman's assailants was not brought about by the consolidation of these cases for trial. Burden next contends that the court erred in denying his motion to suppress the above statement made by him to Officer Lovette. Before this statement was introduced in evidence, the court conducted a voir dire examination in the absence of the jury. Upon it, Officer Lovette and the defendant Burden testified. Burden testified that, at about noon on the day following the alleged rapes, he voluntarily went to the courthouse because he had heard the police were looking for him and there met Officers Lovette and Thompson. He testified that he did not make a statement to Lovette but did make one to Thompson. His mother, father and some friends were with him at the time. He told Officer Thompson that he did not want a lawyer present but did want to make a statement. When shown the statement which the State proposed to offer in evidence and, after the above mentioned editing, did put in evidence, Burden testified that he did not make that statement. He acknowledged that the officers read to him a statement of his rights and that the signature upon the statement in question looked like his. His testimony was that Officer Lovette and Officer Thompson both read the statement of his rights to him and then Officer Lovette left the room. Officer Lovette testified on this voir dire that he interviewed Burden and advised him of his constitutional rights pursuant to the Miranda formula, whereupon Burden indicated that he understood his rights and wished to make a statement. Officer Lovette testified that he promised Burden nothing and did not threaten him or use any form of coercion to secure a statement from him. He further testified that while the statement was being made by Burden, Officer Thompson and Burden's parents were present. He further testified that Burden made an oral statement of which Officer Lovette made notes and then reduced the statement to writing during the afternoon. He further testified that Burden made another statement to Officer Thompson in the absence of Officer Lovette. This second statement was then reduced to writing and Burden, in the presence of Officer Lovette, acknowledged it as his statement, whereupon Officer Lovette signed the statement as a witness thereto. At the conclusion of this voir dire, the court made full findings of fact, including a finding that the defendant was advised of his constitutional rights pursuant to the Miranda formula, and that the statement made by Burden to Officer Lovette was made knowingly, understandingly and of his own free will without any promise or threat or coercion being used. Thereupon, the court concluded that such statement made by the defendant to Officer Lovette was admissible in evidence. In his brief, the defendant Burden does not contend that he was not fully advised of his constitutional rights. His contention is that while Officer Lovette prepared the writing signed by Burden as his statement, such writing was not the complete statements of the defendant but a story put together by the police officer and, therefore, not admissible as the defendant Burden's own statement. In this contention there is no merit. The written statement, which Officer Lovette testified he compiled from notes made by him of Burden's oral statements, was shown to Burden and, according to the testimony of the officers, signed by Burden. Under these circumstances, it is immaterial that the written statement was not, word for word, identical with the oral statement. No discrepancies were pointed out by Burden in his testimony on the voir dire. We find no error in the admission in evidence of the statement. Neither Burden's brief nor our own careful examination of the entire record discloses any error prejudicial to him. His conviction and sentence are, therefore, affirmed.