Opinion ID: 1422450
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: arguments of defendant barnes

Text: Defendant Barnes contends in an individual assignment of error that the trial court erred in not limiting its instruction on the doctrine of possession of recently stolen property to the burglary and robbery charges. The trial court instructed the jury with respect to this doctrine that the State seeks to establish the defendants' guilt in part by the doctrine of recent possession. For this doctrine to apply, the State must prove three things beyond a reasonable doubt. First, that property was stolen; second, that the defendant had possession of this same property. Now, a person possesses property when he is aware of [its] presence and has, either by himself or together with others, both the power and intent to control its disposition or use. [Third], that the defendant had possession of this property so soon after it was stolen and under such circumstances as to make it unlikely that he obtained possession honestly. Now, if you find these things from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, you may consider them together with all other facts and circumstances in deciding whether or not the defendant is guilty of the crimes charged. In State v. Joyner, 301 N.C. 18, 269 S.E.2d 125 (1980), we held that the trial court properly instructed the jury that it could consider as a relevant circumstance defendant's recent possession of stolen property in the determination whether defendant was guilty of all the crimes charged against him, where, as here, all of the crimes ... occurred as a part of the same criminal enterprise. Id. at 29, 269 S.E.2d at 132. We have used the same criminal enterprise test in several different contexts, including a felony murder in which the underlying felony was armed robbery. See State v. Wilson, 313 N.C. 516, 537, 330 S.E.2d 450, 463-64 (1985). Furthermore, in State v. Mlo, 335 N.C. 353, 377, 440 S.E.2d 98, 110, cert. denied, 512 U.S. 1224, 114 S.Ct. 2716, 129 L.Ed.2d 841 (1994), we noted that [t]estimony concerning defendant's sudden and unprecedented possession of the victim's personal property immediately after the victim's murder is relevant to the issue of whether defendant was involved in the killing. Barnes argues on appeal that the instructions allowed the jury to infer premeditation and deliberation from the fact that he had stolen goods in his possession shortly after the time of the murders. We do not agree. As we stated in Joyner, possession of stolen property recently after the theft, and under circumstances excluding the intervening agency of others[,] affords presumptive evidence that the person in possession is himself the thief, and the evidence is stronger or weaker[ ] as the possession is nearer to or more distant from the time of the commission. State v. Patterson, 78 N.C. 470, 472-473 (1878). While the fact of recent possession has been said to raise a presumption, it is more accurately deemed to raise a permissible inference that the possessor is the thief. State v. Frazier, 268 N.C. 249, 150 S.E.2d 431 (1966). The presumption, or inference as it is more properly called, is one of fact and not of law. The inference derived from recent possession `is to be considered by the jury merely as an evidentiary fact along with other evidence in the case, in determining whether the State has carried the burden of satisfying the jury beyond a reasonable doubt of the defendant's guilt.' State v. Fair, 291 N.C. 171, 173, 229 S.E.2d 189, 190 (1976) [(quoting State v. Baker, 213 N.C. 524, 526, 196 S.E. 829, 830 (1938)) ]. The inference which arises, however, is that the possessor is the thief. Id. Joyner, 301 N.C. at 28-29, 269 S.E.2d at 132. Therefore, the instruction informed the jurors that they were permitted, but not required, under the doctrine of recent possession to make the inference that Barnes stole the property in their determination whether Barnes committed the other crimes at issue. They were allowed, however, to use any such inference only to the extent appropriate according to the other instructions of the trial court in determining the guilt or innocence of the defendant with respect to the other crimes charged. For example, the trial court's instructions on the doctrine of recent possession in no way imply that the inference that a defendant stole property can be substituted for the jury's specific and independent findings as to whether Barnes premeditated and deliberated the killings. This assignment of error is therefore without merit. In another assignment of error, defendant Barnes contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the charges of first-degree murder as to him. Barnes argues that there was insufficient evidence to show premeditation and deliberation. When ruling on a motion to dismiss, the trial court is to determine only whether there is substantial evidence of each essential element of the offense charged and of the defendant being the perpetrator of the offense. State v. Olson, 330 N.C. 557, 564, 411 S.E.2d 592, 595 (1992). If substantial evidence of each element is presented, the motion to dismiss is properly denied. State v. Quick, 323 N.C. 675, 682, 375 S.E.2d 156, 160 (1989). Substantial evidence is relevant evidence that a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion. Olson, 330 N.C. at 564, 411 S.E.2d at 595. The evidence must be considered in the light most favorable to the State, and the State is entitled to every reasonable inference to be drawn from the evidence. State v. Powell, 299 N.C. 95, 99, 261 S.E.2d 114, 117 (1980). Contradictions and discrepancies are for the jury to resolve and do not warrant dismissal. Id. First-degree murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice, premeditation, and deliberation. State v. Skipper, 337 N.C. 1, 26, 446 S.E.2d 252, 265 (1994), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 115 S.Ct. 953, 130 L.Ed.2d 895 (1995). Premeditation means that the act was thought out beforehand for some length of time, however short, but no particular amount of time is necessary for the mental process of premeditation. State v. Conner, 335 N.C. 618, 635, 440 S.E.2d 826, 835-36 (1994). Deliberation means an intent to kill, carried out in a cool state of blood, in furtherance of a fixed design for revenge or to accomplish an unlawful purpose and not under the influence of a violent passion, suddenly aroused by lawful or just cause or legal provocation. Id. at 635, 440 S.E.2d at 836. Taken in the light most favorable to the State, the gunshot residue evidence tended to show that Barnes shot the Tutterows. The evidence revealed that Barnes had fired a handgun or had handled a handgun soon after it was fired within a period close to the time of the killings. Furthermore, the fact that Barnes disposed of one of the murder weapons permits a reasonable inference that he had fired the weapon. The State's evidence also tended to show that Barnes demonstrated a willingness to kill someone at different times on the day of the murders. Barnes told Maurice Alexander that he would do anything he had to do to make a living and asked him if he had any enemies that he wanted Barnes to take out. Barnes threatened to shoot Robert Beatty and described a pistol in his possession as the one he had used to shoot Gil Gillespie a couple of weeks earlier. Based on this evidence, the jury could reasonably find that Barnes killed the victims after premeditation and deliberation. This assignment of error is therefore overruled.