Court Opinion

ID: 9581651
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:17:08.61191+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:37:09.458902
License: Public Domain

Justice WEBB
dissenting.
I dissent because I believe inadmissible hearsay testimony was admitted which was prejudicial to the defendant.
Carl Sydney Amos testified that when he asked Mary Sue Whitaker how she had acquired a cut under her nostril, she told him the defendant had pushed her into a door. Bonnie Whitaker testified to the same effect. Carl Amos also testified that Mary Sue Whitaker told him the defendant had hit her on one occasion and grabbed and choked her on another, causing bruises on her arms and small marks on her face. Clyde W. Billings testified Mary Sue Whitaker told him the defendant had grabbed her and kicked her.
*542I believe these statements were introduced for the purpose of proving the defendant had assaulted Mary Sue Whitaker on several previous occasions. This was hearsay testimony and should have been excluded.
The majority says this testimony was admissible under N.C.G.S. § 8C-1, Rule 803 which provides in part:
The following are not excluded by the hearsay rule, even though the declarant is available as a witness:
(3) Then Existing Mental, Emotional, or Physical Condition. — A statement of the declarant’s then existing state of mind . . . (such as intent, plan, motive, design . . .), but not including a statement of memory or belief to prove the fact remembered or believed.....
I do not believe this section should have any application to this case. The majority says the disputed testimony can prove the state of mind of the deceased. I do not see how it could do so. The hearsay statements of the deceased do not say what state of mind she was in as a result of the assaults by the defendant. Apparently, we are supposed to infer her state of mind from the fact that she was assaulted.
We could infer from the fact that the deceased was assaulted by the defendant that she was afraid of the defendant. We could just as easily infer that she was outraged by the assaults, or that she hated the defendant and waá determined to seek revenge. There are other possibilities. I do not believe we can say what inference can be drawn as to the deceased’s state of mind at the time of each assault.
If we can conclude that the state of mind of the deceased can be inferred from her statements, the statements should have been excluded because her state of mind at the time of the assaults is irrelevant to the matters that the State had to prove in this case. Whatever the feelings of the deceased at the time she was assaulted, it did not keep her from going into a motel room with the defendant. What she felt some time before did not bear on what the defendant or the deceased did in the motel room. On the other hand, it was highly prejudicial to the defendant to allow testimony that he had on several occasions assaulted the deceased.
*543The majority relies on several cases. State v. Holder, 331 N.C. 462, 418 S.E.2d 197 (1992); State v. Stager, 329 N.C. 278, 406 S.E.2d 876 (1991); State v. Meekins, 326 N.C. 689, 392 S.E.2d 346 (1990); State v. Cummings, 326 N.C. 298, 389 S.E.2d 66 (1990). I must admit that in these cases this Court has been liberal in admitting testimony in regard to statements of deceased persons under the state of mind exception to the hearsay rule. I do not believe in any of those cases we have gone as far as the majority does today.
In Holder, we held it was not error to admit testimony that the deceased had told persons that she had seen a gun in the defendant’s pocket, that defendant had threatened her with harm and that she was scared, and that the defendant refused to leave her alone after she had tried to end the relationship. I concurred in the result in that case, saying that although these hearsay statements should have been excluded it was harmless error because of the strong evidence against the defendant. I believe the strength of the evidence in Holder distinguishes that case from this one.
In Stager, we held that a tape recording made by the decedent a few days before his death in which he expressed a fear that his wife would try to kill him was admissible. The widow of the deceased contended there had been a loving relationship between her and her husband and we said the tape recording was relevant to show the state of mind of the decedent, which showed there was not a loving relationship. There is no such consideration in this case. All the evidence is that the deceased and the defendant had a stormy relationship.
In Meekins, we held that testimony by a witness that the deceased had told her she was afraid of the defendant is admissible to rebut testimony by the defendant that the deceased had always been a sweet lady to him who would lend him money. There is no such evidence to rebut in this case.
In Cummings, we held that testimony was admissible that the deceased had said the defendant had beaten her and threatened to kill her, that she had to go to a doctor because of a place on her chest caused by the defendant’s hitting her with a gun, and that she had consulted an attorney and had a warrant issued for the defendant for nonsupport of his children. The defendant contended in that case that the deceased had left their children with him. We held that the state of mind of the deceased was *544relevant to show she would not have abandoned her children. There is no such contention to rebut in this case.
The contention of the State in this case is that the defendant shot and killed Mary Sue Whitaker in a motel room. The contention of the defendant is that Mary Sue Whitaker shot herself. I do not believe the state of mind of Mary Sue Whitaker, whatever it may have been, several weeks before the incident is relevant to this issue. Hearsay testimony was allowed to prove several instances of bad acts by the defendant. I do not believe this testimony is admissible under N.C.G.S. § 8C-1, Rule 803(3). I believe it is excluded by N.C.G.S. § 8C-1, Rule 404(b).
The evidence against the defendant was not strong. I believe the erroneous admission of hearsay testimony of bad acts by the defendant creates a reasonable possibility that a different result would have been reached if the error had not been made. N.C.G.S. § 15A-1443(a) (1988); State v. Milby, 302 N.C. 137, 273 S.E.2d 716 (1981).
I vote for a new trial.
Chief Justice Exum and Justice Frye join in this dissenting opinion.