Opinion ID: 1245749
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Pretrial Concerns

Text: Defendant Carraway filed a pretrial pro se motion requesting an internal investigation into the conduct of Sergeant C.E. Boltinhouse, a detective with the Goldsboro Police Department. Her motion alleges that Sergeant Boltinhouse caused Jeffrey Dekeyser to fabricate his account of the 21 September Elm Street murder. Defendant Carraway's first assignment of error contends that the trial court erred in failing to order the requested investigation. This assignment of error, and others raised by both defendants, are based on the conflicting statements given to the police and defendants by Jeffrey Dekeyser, the only eyewitness to the murder. According to the State, Dekeyser informed the police only hours after the 21 September shooting that defendants were involved in the murder of Charles Hall at 611 Elm Street. However, on 13 November 1983, Dekeyser, who was taken by Carraway to her attorney's office, said that he did not know defendant Rogers and did not see the 611 Elm Street shooting. At trial, Dekeyser admitted he had lied to Carraway and her attorney. We hold the trial court correctly refrained from authorizing an investigation of Sergeant Boltinhouse's conduct. Besides the allegations contained in the motion, defendant Carraway failed to bring forward any evidence that tended to show that Sergeant Boltinhouse had improperly influenced Dekeyser's recollection of the events on the night of the shooting. Furthermore, we note that Sergeant Boltinhouse testified at trial and was subjected to fruitless cross-examination concerning his alleged inappropriate behavior. This assignment of error is overruled. Defendant Carraway next assigns as error the denial of her motion to suppress the statements she made to FBI agents when apprehended in Maryland. The defendant contends that she did not waive her rights and that her statements were involuntarily made because she was sleepy and tired when arrested. After a voir dire hearing, the trial court found that defendant Carraway was advised of her Miranda rights when taken into custody. At that time, she did not request an attorney and voluntarily answered the agent's biographical questions. During the ten-minute ride to their FBI office, defendant Carraway closed her eyes, but appeared to the agents to be at all times in full command of her physical and mental faculties. Upon their arrival, Carraway told the agents that she had been traveling with defendant Rogers for the past few months, that she owned a .44 caliber weapon, and that she did not know Charles Hall. At that point, she exercised her right to an attorney and the interview stopped. Initially, we note that defendant failed to except to any of the findings of fact. When no such exceptions are taken, the findings are presumed to be supported by competent evidence. State v. Perry, 316 N.C. 87, 340 S.E.2d 450 (1986). Further, our examination of the evidence on voir dire discloses plenary competent evidence to support the findings. These findings in turn support the trial court's conclusions of law and ruling denying the motion to suppress. State v. Thompson, 287 N.C. 303, 214 S.E.2d 742 (1975), death penalty vacated, 428 U.S. 908, 96 S.Ct. 3215, 49 L.Ed.2d 1213 (1976). Finally, we have previously held unpersuasive Carraway's remaining contention that a defendant's refusal to sign the Miranda rights waiver form is a bar to finding that an oral waiver has occurred. See State v. Connley, 297 N.C. 584, 256 S.E.2d 234, cert. denied, 444 U.S. 954, 100 S.Ct. 433, 62 L.Ed.2d 327 (1979).