Court Opinion

ID: 9594356
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:29:20.985194+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:58:03.915167
License: Public Domain

Justice EXUM
dissenting.
Believing that fundamental, or “plain,” error occurred in the jury instructions as this concept was defined in State v. Odom, 307 N.C. 655, 300 S.E. 2d 375 (1983), I respectfully dissent.
The first error in the instructions flows from a variance between the factual basis of defendant’s guilt specified in the indictments and the instructions.
In the instant case all six indictments specify that defendant committed “a sexual act with . . . Pruitt by force and against that victim’s will, aided and abetted by one or more other persons, in violation of the following law: G.S. 14-27.4.” (Emphasis supplied.) Thus, the prosecutor specified in the indictments the particular factual basis by which he planned to prove the offenses. Further, *453the prosecutor informed the trial court at the close of the state’s evidence that the acts forming the bases of the charges against defendant were as follows:
Case No. 82CRS27312: Act of anal intercourse by defendant
Case No. 82CRS27313: Act of oral sex by defendant
Case No. 82CRS15754: Aiding and abetting Jerry Moore in act of anal intercourse
Case No. 82CRS15755: Aiding and abetting Jerry Moore in act of anal intercourse
Case No. 82CRS15756: Aiding and abetting Jerry Moore in act of oral sex
Case No. 82CRS15757: Aiding and abetting Sammy Buchanan in act of anal intercourse.
By reading the indictments together with the prosecutor’s list of the facts sought to be proved under each charge, the ultimate facts alleged and sought to be proved by the state are as follows: In one case defendant, aided and abetted by. others, engaged in anal intercourse with Pruitt by force and against Pruitt’s will. In the second case defendant, aided and abetted by others, made Pruitt perform oral sex on him by force and against his will. These two offenses were first degree offenses because defendant was “aided and abetted by one or more other persons.” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-27.4(a)(2)c. In four of the cases defendant was not the principal in the first degree; rather he was an aider and abettor, or a principal in the second degree. As such his guilt was equal to that of the person actually committing the sexual act.1 *454Jerry Moore forced Pruitt to engage in two acts of anal intercourse and to perform one act of oral sex. Sammy Buchanan forced Pruitt to engage in one act of anal intercourse. Because Jerry Moore and Buchanan were aided and abetted by others, including defendant, when they committed the sexual acts, they are guilty of first degree sex offenses in all four cases. Thus, defendant is guilty of four counts of first degree sex offense because he aided and abetted Buchanan and Jerry Moore in their commission of these first degree sex offenses. See State v. Polk, 309 N.C. 559, 567-70, 308 S.E. 2d 296, 300-02 (1983).
By alleging in the indictments the factual basis by which the state would seek to prove the first degree sex offenses, ie., their commission was aided and abetted by others, the prosecutor limited the state to that factual basis at trial, even if the evidence might have supported other theories of guilt. State v. Taylor, 301 N.C. 164, 270 S.E. 2d 409 (1980); State v. Dammons, 293 N.C. 263, 237 S.E. 2d 834 (1977). Yet in this case the trial court instructed the jury that it could return verdicts of guilty as charged in all the cases if, among other things, it found that defendant used a deadly weapon or inflicted serious personal injury on Pruitt or was aided and abetted by other persons. This instruction was erroneous even if such theories might have been supported by the evidence.
In Taylor we held that instructions to the jury on a kidnapping charge were erroneous because they “allowed the jury to convict on grounds other than those charged in the indictment.” The instructions in Taylor presented several possible theories of conviction which were not charged in the bill of indictment. “The State’s theory, under the bill of indictment, was that defendant had unlawfully removed [the victim] from one place to another for the express purpose of facilitating his flight from the commission of the felony of rape.” Id. at 171, 270 S.E. 2d at 414. The Court *455held it was prejudicial error for the trial court to instruct that the jury should convict if it found “the defendant confined or restrained [the victim] for the purpose of facilitating his flight from apprehension for another crime, or to obtain the use of her vehicle,” id. at 170-71, 270 S.E. 2d at 412-13 (emphasis omitted), even though there was evidence to support the instruction.
The Court in Dammons dealt with another kidnapping case in which the defendant was indicted for “unlawfully, wilfully, and feloniously kidnap[ping the victim] ... by unlawfully removing her from one place to another, for the purpose of facilitating the commission of a felony, to wit: Assault With a Deadly Weapon, With Intent to Kill, Inflicting Serious Injury, for the purpose of doing serious bodily injury to her, and for the purpose of terrorizing her.” Id. at 269, 237 S.E. 2d at 838-39. The trial court, however, instructed the jury it could find defendant guilty of “aggravated kidnapping” if it found he “unlawfully confined or restrained or removed [the victim] and that when he did so, that he did it for the purpose of committing an assault, a felonious assault, that he did so for the purpose of either assaulting her sexually or assaulting her with a shotgun . . . .” Id. at 271, 237 S.E. 2d at 840 (emphases in original). When the jury asked for further instructions, the trial court charged that the state must prove “that this defendant did confine or restrain in some manner or remove from one place to another [the victim] and the defendant did this unlawfully, and . . . that he did this for the purpose of holding this girl as a hostage . . . .” Id. at 272, 237 S.E. 2d at 840 (emphases in original).
The Court in Taylor and Dammons applied the rule that it is generally reversible error for the trial court to permit the jury to convict a defendant on an abstract legal theory not supported by the indictment. See also State v. Thorpe, 274 N.C. 457, 164 S.E. 2d 171 (1968); State v. Davis, 253 N.C. 86, 116 S.E. 2d 365 (1960); State v. Jones, 227 N.C. 94, 40 S.E. 2d 700 (1946). But see State v. Moore, 284 N.C. 485, 202 S.E. 2d 169 (1974).
In Moore the indictment charged that defendant “unlawfully, willfully, feloniously and of his malice aforethought did kill and murder William J. Casey with premeditation and deliberation. . . .” This indictment was joined for trial with another indictment charging defendant with the armed robbery of William J. Casey. *456Both crimes were alleged to have been committed on 1 January 1973. The Court held under these circumstances that it was not error for the trial court to instruct the jury that it could convict defendant of first degree murder on theories of both felony murder and premeditation. The Court treated the language “with premeditation and deliberation” in the murder indictment as mere surplusage since the indictment also alleged the murder was committed “with malice aforethought” and this allegation would support a verdict of first degree murder under either or both theories. Before Moore the Court in Davis had said: “By specifically alleging the offense [first degree murder] was committed in the perpetration of rape the State confines itself to that allegation in order to show murder in the first degree. Without a specific allegation, the state may show murder by any of the means embraced in the statute.” 253 N.C. at 99, 116 S.E. 2d at 373. In Moore the Court distinguished Davis on the ground that the Davis indictment did not contain the words “with malice aforethought.”
In the instant case defendant had noticed by way of the indictments only that the factual basis for the first degree sexual offenses was that they were aided and abetted by others. In Moore defendant had notice by way of the indictments that he was charged not only with murdering William J. Casey but also with having robbed Casey with a firearm. Further, the allegation in the Moore murder indictment, “with malice aforethought,” permitted conviction on both theories of premeditation and felony murder. There is no comparable allegation in the instant case. This case, therefore, is governed by Taylor, Dammons, Thorpe, Davis, and Jones and not by Moore.
It is not necessary to determine whether this error, standing alone, was of such a fundamental nature as to constitute the “plain error” necessary to overcome defendant’s procedural default in failing to object at trial. The instructions on crucial aspects of the case are confusing to the extent that the jury’s verdict could not have resulted from an application of appropriate legal theories to the facts.
“The chief purpose of the charge is to give a clear instruction which applies the law to the evidence in such manner as to assist the jury in understanding the case and in reaching a correct ver*457diet. State v. Biggs, 224 N.C. 722, 32 S.E. 2d 353 . . . .” State v. Williams, 280 N.C. 132, 136, 184 S.E. 2d 875, 877 (1971). Stated differently, “[t]he chief object contemplated in the charge is to explain the law of the case, to point out the essentials to be proved on the one side and on the other, and to bring into view the relation of the particular evidence adduced to the particular issue involved.” State v. Friddle, 223 N.C. 258, 261, 25 S.E. 2d 751, 753 (1943), quoted in State v. Ardrey, 232 N.C. 721, 723, 62 S.E. 2d 53, 55 (1950).
In the instant case, the able trial judge fairly conducted a lengthy trial. He attempted to impress upon the jury that it must consider each charge against defendant separately from the others in determining his guilt or innocence. He even provided each juror with a list of the charges, giving the possible verdicts in each case and specifying in which cases the state sought to prove defendant acted as a principal and in which as an aider and abettor.
But the trial court erred when in its final mandate it attempted to submit the ultimate question of defendant’s guilt in all six offenses simultaneously. Although all six offenses were sexual ones involving the same victim, different acts and different actors were involved in each case. Each witness for the state gave a slightly different version of the events. For example, the reports differed on exactly how many sexual acts occurred and whether an ink pen was employed in given offenses. By submitting the question of defendant’s guilt in all six cases simultaneously, the trial court created the possibility that the jury would consider evidence going to one offense in its deliberations on another.
This was especially prone to yield confusion in the instant case because of the particular legal theory involved. The only element on which the jury could properly be charged, for the reasons set forth above, which distinguishes first degree sex offense from second degree, is that the perpetrator was “aided and abetted by one or more other persons.” This was complicated by the fact that proof of defendant’s guilt in four of the cases was predicated on the theory that he was an aider and abettor of the person actually engaging in the sexual act. Clearly explaining the two different meanings of the words “aided and abetted” to a lay jury is a difficult undertaking; doing so when the cases in which *458defendant acted as an aider and abettor are lumped with the cases in which he acted as a principal in the first degree appears to be impossible.
That the jury was confused is beyond question. After deliberating for an unspecified length of time the jury requested additional instructions. The following exchange is illustrative:
The FOREMAN: If we may have a redefinition between first and second aiding and abetting.
The COURT: There is no first and second aiding and abetting. There is aiding and abetting for either the first degree or for the second degree. It’s the same definition. Aiding and abetting is the same definition whichever possible verdict you consider it.
The Foreman: So it’s the principal?
The COURT: The first two cases are the principal cases.
The FOREMAN: But the aiding and abetting where the Defendant is not the principal, it hinges on whether or not it’s first degree or second degree—
The Court: That’s correct.
The FOREMAN: —for the person who is the principal?
The Court: Right.
The Foreman: So aiding and abetting is aiding and abetting-
The COURT: Either first degree if you consider that, and second degree if you reached that possible verdict.
Let me tell you this. There is no such crime in North Carolina as aiding and abetting. The fact that you may be participating by reason of aiding and abetting applies to whatever crime you are considering. If I have instructed you that you will consider aiding and abetting you consider it for all possible guilty verdicts in this case, first degree or second degree.
Does that help you? I’m afraid that’s about as simple as I can get.
*459This Court held in State v. Parrish, 275 N.C. 69, 76-77, 165 S.E. 2d 230, 235-36 (1969), that where several defendants are joined for trial and “the evidence against each ... is not identical, the trial court should submit the question of guilt or innocence of each separately.” Similarly as in the instant case where several indictments are joined for trial against a single defendant and the evidence supporting each charge, as it usually will be, is different, the trial court should submit the question of defendant’s guilt on each indictment separately.
Defendant failed to object at trial to either of the errors discussed above. But these two errors resulted in instructions on essential elements of the various offenses which were not authorized under our case law and which failed properly to clarify for the jury the nature of the aiding and abetting theories relied on by the state. Although under Rule 10(b)(2) of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure defendant bears the burden of objecting to the instructions, an objection in this case to any single part of the charge or to a particular omission would not have corrected the overall confused thrust of the instructions.
Under the test set forth in Odom, an error is “plain error” if “fundamental” or where it “seriously affect[s] the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings” or where “the instructional mistake had a probable impact on the jury’s finding that the defendant was guilty.” 307 N.C. at 660, 300 S.E. 2d at 378 (quoting United States v. McCaskill, 676 F. 2d at 1002). When instructions not only lack essential clarity but also permit guilt to be predicated on theories not permitted under the indictments, they abrogate their very purpose. The purpose of jury instructions is to enable the jury to decide certain disputed facts, and then to apply governing principles of law to those facts. When the jury has no clearly explained legal principles for guidance, the integrity of the entire proceeding has been seriously compromised. Thus, the errors in the instant case considered together are “plain,” and defendant should be given a new trial on all charges.

. This Court has explained the relationship between a principal in the first degree and an aider and abettor as follows: “A principal is one who is present at and participates in the commission of the crime charged. He who actually perpetrates the crime either by his own hand or through an innocent agent, or who *454acts in concert with the principal perpetrator, is a principal in the first degree. Any other person who is actually or constructively present at the place and time of the crime and who aids, abets, assists, or advises in its commission, is a principal in the second degree. Principals in the first degree and those in the second degree are equally guilty of the offense committed and may be punished with equal vigor.” State v. Small, 301 N.C. 407, 412-13, 272 S.E. 2d 128, 132 (1980) (footnote omitted). See also State v. Benton, 276 N.C. 641, 174 S.E. 2d 793 (1970); State v. Powell, 168 N.C. 134, 83 S.E. 310 (1914).