Court Opinion

ID: 9826566
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 16:08:50.048795+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:02:00.082174
License: Public Domain

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NORTH CAROLINA

                                     No. 334A21

                               Filed 1 September 2023

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

               v.
SINDY LINA ABBITT and DANIEL ALBARRAN

        Appeal pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-30(2) from the decision of a divided panel of

the Court of Appeals, 278 N.C. App. 692 (2021), finding no prejudicial error in

defendants’ trial, resulting in judgments entered on 13 March 2019 by Judge Lori I.

Hamilton in Superior Court, Rowan County. Heard in the Supreme Court on 27 April

2023.

        Joshua H. Stein, Attorney General, by Laura H. McHenry, Special Deputy
        Attorney General, for the State.

        Anne Bleyman for defendant-appellant Sindy Lina Abbitt.

        M. Gordon Widenhouse, Jr. for defendant-appellant Daniel Albarran.

        MORGAN, Justice.

        This appeal concerns the admissibility of defendants’ proffered evidence which

they asserted would tend to show that two other individuals—not defendants—had

committed the crimes for which defendants were being tried and that defendants

themselves were not involved. We agree with the trial court’s determination that the

evidence in question did not meet the pertinent relevancy requirements for the
                                       STATE V. ABBITT

                                       Opinion of the Court

admissibility of such evidence. Accordingly, we affirm the portion of the decision of

the Court of Appeals at issue before us which upheld the trial court’s ruling that

defendants’ evidence which speculatively imputed blame for the charged offenses to

other potential suspects could not be presented to the jury.

                                  I.      Background

   A. Factual and trial history

      In 2016, defendants were charged with first-degree murder, attempted robbery

with a dangerous weapon, and assault with a deadly weapon. The two were tried

jointly in a non-capital proceeding. The charges brought against defendants arose

from crimes that were committed in Salisbury on the night of 24 May 2016. The

evidence at trial tended to show the following: Mary Gregory was in the living room

of her apartment with her three-year-old grandson Meaco when Lacynda Feimster—

Gregory’s daughter and Meaco’s mother—returned from work. When Feimster

entered the apartment, she was accompanied by a Black woman and followed by a

Hispanic1 man. The woman was carrying a black gun with a brown handle. At trial,

Gregory testified that neither of the persons with Feimster was known to her. After

telling Gregory, “I got this,” Feimster entered her bedroom with the woman and

closed the door. After Meaco began to cry, Feimster and the woman opened the

bedroom door and allowed Meaco to go into the room to join his mother.

      1 This is the term utilized by the parties and witnesses at trial to describe the racial

background of the male perpetrator.

                                               -2-
                                   STATE V. ABBITT

                                  Opinion of the Court

      As the man sat in the living room with Gregory, he refused to tell Gregory his

name or where he lived when she attempted to engage him in conversation. The man

took Gregory’s cellular telephone away from her when Gregory attempted to call

Feimster’s teenage daughter to come take Meaco away from the apartment. Gregory

described the man as tall, with wavy black hair that was combed or slicked back. She

did not mention any facial hair or visible tattoos on the man. Gregory also stated that

the man was wearing a long-sleeved jacket, a white T-shirt, and white low-top tennis

shoes. He also had on “dirty looking” latex gloves.

      Gregory testified at trial that during the time that the criminal perpetrators

were in her home, the man opened the front door of the apartment several times,

looking outside; he also made several telephone calls, including one in which Gregory

heard the man say to an unknown person, “She wants to know how far you are. Where

are you? How far away are you?” After the call, the man went to the bedroom in which

his female accomplice, Feimster, and Meaco were located. The woman told Gregory

to enter the bedroom. Feimster and Meaco were seated on Feimster’s bed. The woman

briefly left the bedroom. Upon her return, she struck Gregory in the face with the

gun, knocking Gregory to the floor and ordering Gregory to “stay down.” Gregory

described the woman as short, stocky, and dark-skinned, having shoulder-length hair

and wearing red tennis shoes. Gregory testified that the woman seemed to be in

charge, continually telling the man what to do. The woman told the man to search

the bedroom, but upon doing so, the man apparently did not discover the item or items

                                          -3-
                                    STATE V. ABBITT

                                   Opinion of the Court

being sought. The man then left the bedroom. Feimster then stated to the woman, “If

I had it, I would give it to you. I don’t have any money.” Gregory also informed the

woman that Feimster did not have any money. The woman forced Feimster to the

floor. Feimster curled around Meaco “in a fetal position” with the female perpetrator

using her knee and her hand to keep Feimster on the floor. The woman said to

Feimster, “Bitch, you should have gave [sic] me the mother fucking money,” shot

Feimster in the head, and ran out of the apartment. Gregory used a telephone to call

the emergency telephone number 911 for help, but Feimster died as a result of the

gunshot wound. An autopsy showed that Feimster had also suffered blunt force

trauma to the head before her death. Gregory received eight stitches to her face and

suffered a broken nose. Meaco escaped the incident without sustaining physical

injury.

      Defendants were identified as suspects in the crimes, including Feimster’s

killing.2 Approximately three days after the commission of the offenses, Gregory

identified both defendants as the perpetrators with one hundred percent certainty

through the usage of photographic lineups. Gregory identified defendants again

during the investigation by law enforcement as well as at trial. On cross-examination

of Gregory at trial, counsel for defendant Abbitt asked Gregory if Gregory’s

      2  Given the limited focus of the issue before the Court, we omit a detailed
recapitulation of evidence produced at trial regarding the investigation and the charged
crimes, as such material pertains to matters outside of the issue presented by defendants’
proffered evidence.

                                           -4-
                                      STATE V. ABBITT

                                      Opinion of the Court

granddaughter JaQuela Green had shown Gregory a picture of a woman named

Ashley Phillips. Gregory responded that neither JaQuela nor anyone else had shown

Gregory such a picture.

       At a hearing conducted on 7 March 2019, outside of the presence of the jury,

the State announced that it “had filed a motion in limine to [ex]clude the mention of

possible guilt[ ] of another”3 in light of defendants’ opening statements and some of

the questions posed to Gregory upon cross-examination by defense counsel. The

State’s motion in limine was premised upon the State’s position that for any evidence

to be relevant and admissible with regard to the suggestion or insinuated culpability

of someone other than defendants of criminal wrongdoing, the evidence of the guilt of

another must both “point directly to the guilt of the other party and be inconsistent

with the guilt of the defendant[s].” The State contended in its motion that defendants’

proffered evidence did not satisfy the second prong of this relevancy test.

       In divulging their proffered evidence to the trial court in response to the State’s

motion in limine, trial counsel for defendants explained that, in defendants’ view, the

police had failed to conduct a thorough investigation of two other people who should

be considered as the perpetrators of the crimes at issue. Through their counsel,

defendants represented that, during the investigation by the Salisbury Police

       3 The trial transcript indicates that the State sought to “include mention of possible

guilt [ ] of another,” (emphases added), but the context of the parties’ arguments and the trial
court’s ruling makes clear that either the prosecutor misspoke or the court reporter misheard
these remarks.

                                              -5-
                                      STATE V. ABBITT

                                      Opinion of the Court

Department (SPD) of Feimster’s murder, a Black woman named Ashley Phillips was

identified by a member of Feimster’s family as a potential suspect. In appearing for

her interview by officers at the police station, Phillips arrived in a car which matched

the description provided by a confidential informant of a vehicle that was present at

the apartment complex where Gregory resided on the day of Feimster’s killing.4 In

the car in which Phillips rode to her police station interview, officers discovered a .25

caliber gun—“the same caliber of gun that the shell casing at the scene came from”—

and white latex gloves similar to the type of latex gloves that Gregory testified that

the male perpetrator was wearing.5 Although police did not conduct a photographic

lineup with Gregory that included a picture of Phillips, when Gregory ultimately was

shown a photograph of Phillips, Gregory said, “Well, she does look like her,” referring

to the woman who had shot Feimster. Defense counsel reasoned that Gregory’s

identification of defendants could be called into question. Finally, trial counsel for

defendant Albarran asserted that under the State’s theory of the case, “if one

[defendant] is guilty[,] the other [defendant] is guilty. . . . without one, there’s not the

other,” such that “Albarran’s defense . . . dovetails on [ ] Abbitt’s defense.”

       4 Counsel for defendant Abbitt represented that the confidential informant reported

that the source saw a Black female arrive at the apartment complex “before the time of the
murder” in “a tan Honda . . . . Accord.”
        5 The record does not reflect the context for the law enforcement officers’ discovery of

these items; e.g., whether Phillips consented to a search of her vehicle or whether officers
obtained a warrant. According to the State, however, Phillips and some of her friends knew
through social media outlets that they might be suspects in the crimes and voluntarily went
to the police station in order to clear their names.

                                              -6-
                                  STATE V. ABBITT

                                  Opinion of the Court

      Defendants further theorized that the man who accompanied Phillips as the

second individual who committed the criminal acts at issue was known as Tim Tim

McCain. McCain and Phillips were commonly associated with one another according

to defendants, and although the confidential informant did not place Phillips in the

area where the crimes occurred at the same time that they were committed,

nonetheless McCain could have been the male perpetrator because he was observed

in the vicinity of Gregory’s apartment with a woman who resembled Phillips near the

time of the perpetration of the crimes. Hence, defendants argued that the woman and

the man who performed the criminal acts at issue were not the two of them, but

instead were the duo of Phillips and McCain.

      In addition to its interpretation of the cited legal principles which govern this

area of the law, the State relied upon its perceived certainty and consistency of

Gregory’s identification of defendants as the wrongdoers, contending that “Gregory

is very clear about the two individuals she saw inside of her home when this incident

occurred.”

      After listening to the arguments of the parties, reviewing the State’s motion,

and consulting the case citations on relevancy provided by defendants, the trial court

cited State v. Cotton, 318 N.C. 663, 667 (1987) for the legal concept that evidence of

the guilt of others must be relevant under Rule of Evidence 401 and “must tend both

to implicate another and be inconsistent with the guilt of the defendant.” “[T]aking

the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, at this point,” the trial court

                                          -7-
                                   STATE V. ABBITT

                                  Opinion of the Court

ruled that the proffered evidence “failed to meet that second prong” because it was

not “inconsistent with the defendant[s’] guilt” and thus granted the State’s motion in

limine.

      After the trial court’s ruling in open court on the State’s motion in limine but

before the trial court orally announced its findings of fact, defense counsel queried

the trial court as to whether, in accord with the allowance of the State’s motion in

limine, the defense could elicit testimony about items being seized from a car that did

not belong to either defendant and about whether the items were tested as part of the

investigation of the crimes. This inquiry was harmonious with defendants’ position

that the SPD conducted a questionable and incomplete investigation into Feimster’s

murder and related crimes. Specifically, defense counsel for Abbitt asked:

                    So without mentioning the other person, are we
             allowed to elicit testimony such as a car arrived at the
             police station, and that car had a .25 caliber firearm and
             latex gloves, and that [ ] Abbitt was not in that vehicle, and
             that there was DNA swabs taken from that firearm, the
             firearm was retrieved, it was returned. Are we allowed to
             ask all of those things because it’s part of the investigation
             as long as we don’t bring up [ ] Phillips or ?6

      The trial court responded that such information would be irrelevant and hence

inadmissible with regard to the issue of other potential suspects, based upon the cited

application of the second prong of relevancy. Counsel for defendant Abbitt then noted

that Officer Young of the SPD had been asked by defendant Albarran’s counsel on

      6 No second name was stated by counsel.

                                          -8-
                                    STATE V. ABBITT

                                   Opinion of the Court

cross-examination during the previous day’s proceedings “about the latex gloves, the

holster and the firearm that was seized from that vehicle, so I would ask to at least

be able to question about those since the State didn’t object at the time.”

      Defendant Albarran’s counsel thereupon stressed the importance of the

defense’s ability to cross-examine the State’s witnesses about items seized during the

investigation of Feimster’s murder, with particular emphasis on whether such items

were tested or analyzed and the reasons for those decisions. Such a presentation was

deemed to constitute an essential ingredient of the efforts by defense counsel in

showing that the SPD did not conduct a thorough and appropriate search for the

actual perpetrators of the crimes and in “impeaching the quality of the investigation.”

The trial court then ruled:

                    I think you can question about the thoroughness of
             the investigation. I’ll allow you to do that, but we’re not
             going to go into whose car was that found in? “Who did it
             belong to? Why—you know, you—you can always ask: Why
             didn’t you test it? Did you test it? If you didn’t, why didn’t
             you test it?” But we’re not going to go any further down that
             road.

      The parties and the trial court next discussed whether the results of any

testing of the items could be explored with witnesses for the State and whether the

defense could present its own evidence on this point. Consistent with its ongoing

analysis, the trial court observed that a test result of the gun seized from the Phillips

vehicle still would not absolve defendants in light of the second prong of the relevancy

rule that the evidence “must tend both to implicate another and be inconsistent with

                                           -9-
                                   STATE V. ABBITT

                                   Opinion of the Court

the guilt of the defendant.” (Emphasis added.) Counsel for defendant Abbitt posited

that the confidential informant’s report of a Black female in a tan Honda Accord at

the apartment complex before the murder, coupled with statements from witnesses

in the neighborhood who heard “tires squeal, car doors shut,” along with the absence

of the tan Honda Accord once SPD officers responded to Gregory’s emergency call to

the telephone number 911, suggested that there was only one Black woman connected

to Feimster’s murder, with all of these circumstances fitting Phillips’s conceivable

criminal involvement. The prosecutor countered that questions regarding testing of

the items taken from Phillips’s car were the beginning of a “slippery slope” leading

toward the issue of alternative suspects. The trial court again set parameters for

defendants, instructing defense counsel: “I’m going to let you ask questions about,

‘Did you take swabs from the firearm? Did you send them off? Were they tested?’ I’ll

let you ask questions about that, but we’re not going to go any further down that

road.”

         A written report from an SPD detective was submitted by defendant Abbitt’s

counsel as an item of the defense’s proffered evidence during the hearing which was

conducted on the State’s motion in limine. In addressing the matter, the trial court

stated the following:

                      The informant says that Tim Tim saw they, I
               assume the informant and somebody else that was with the
               informant, looking at him, Tim Tim, and recognized him,
               and he kept walking. But there was an older styled Honda
               that is very loud and parked up near the mailboxes with a
               black female inside.

                                          -10-
                                    STATE V. ABBITT

                                   Opinion of the Court

                   The informant says they didn’t get a good look at the
             female, but they thought she had shortcut hair, had some
             weight on them and appeared to be possibly light-skinned.
             The informant says that the female killed the victim at the
             request of Tim Tim; that Tim Tim couldn’t do it because he
             had been seen by the informant and whoever was with the
             informant.

                    The officer asked the informant if several
             individuals had anything to do with the murder. The
             informant said he never saw two of the individuals, that he
             only saw Tim Tim McCain. And he didn’t know anything
             about the—Ashley Phillips, who was one of the persons
             Detective Sides mentioned. And then he goes on to say that
             there were people that were beefing including the victim[’]s
             own sister, who was beefing with the victim and had told
             her sister—I’m not sure who that is.

                    So I don’t know which sister she’s—he’s referring to,
             that she wished, apparently, the victim was dead. So this
             informant is, kind of all over the place. His description of
             the black female in the vehicle does not seem to match the
             description of the black female that [ ] Gregory gave. And I
             don’t see that this confidential informant provides any
             information that would make me reconsider my ruling.

      During the evidentiary phase of the trial, the State introduced into evidence

cellular telephone data for defendants’ devices. Federal Bureau of Investigation

Special Agent Michael Sutton, an expert in the field of historical cell site analysis and

cellular technology, performed an examination of the data to determine the general

location of both of defendants’ cellular telephones at various given time periods, along

with the number and extent of the contacts between the two cellular telephone

numbers of defendants. This technology also enables a cellular telephone’s physical

location to be approximated based upon the information gathered and stored by

                                          -11-
                                  STATE V. ABBITT

                                  Opinion of the Court

cellular towers which provide service to a cellular telephone when such a device is in

the particular tower’s area and the cellular telephone registers an incoming or

outgoing call or text. Sutton testified that on 24 May 2016, defendants’ cellular

telephones were both detected by a cellular tower providing service to defendant

Abbitt’s residence on Adolphus Road from at least 6:09 p.m. to 7:12 p.m. By 7:32 p.m.,

defendant Albarran’s cellular telephone had moved from the Adolphus Road cellular

tower service area to the service area of a cellular tower serving the O’Charley’s

restaurant where Feimster worked. By 10:41 p.m., defendant Abbitt’s cellular

telephone had moved from the Adolphus Road cellular tower service area to a cellular

tower service area that included the Food Lion grocery store where Feimster stopped

to make purchases. At 11:02 p.m. and 11:07 p.m., defendant Albarran’s cellular

telephone was detected by cellular towers which provided service to the O’Charley’s

and Food Lion sites, as well as Gregory’s apartment. By 11:58 p.m., both of

defendants’ cellular telephones were once again using a cellular tower which provided

service to defendant Abbitt’s residence. On the following morning of 25 May 2016,

both of defendants’ cellular telephones were detected by neighboring cellular towers

south of Winston-Salem at 10:46 a.m. By 11:07 a.m., both of defendants’ cellular

telephones were recognized by the same cellular tower south of Lexington. Even

though defendants denied knowing one another, there were approximately twelve

contacts between defendants Abbitt’s and Albarran’s cellular telephones from 23 May

2016 through 26 May 2016, albeit none on the 24 May 2016 date of the murder.

                                         -12-
                                   STATE V. ABBITT

                                  Opinion of the Court

      Defendants did not present any evidence at trial.

      The jury returned guilty verdicts against defendant Abbitt for: (1) first-degree

murder on the bases of malice, premeditation, deliberation, and felony murder; (2)

attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon; and (3) assault with a deadly weapon.

Defendant Albarran was convicted by the jury of (1) first-degree felony murder, (2)

attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon, and (3) assault with a deadly weapon.

Each defendant appealed.

   B. In the Court of Appeals

      On appeal to the Court of Appeals, defendants presented arguments on a total

of six issues: Each defendant appealed the trial court’s refusal to allow the admission

of evidence to implicate third parties. Additionally, defendant Albarran asserted that

(1) the photographic lineup including his photograph was impermissibly suggestive;

(2) the trial court erred by overruling his objections to the State’s argument that he

had failed to present evidence; and (3) his counsel’s closing argument was flawed.

Defendant Abbitt additionally challenged (1) the admission into evidence of her out-

of-court denials that she saw the victim Feimster on the day of the murder and (2)

the sufficiency of the indictment to support the charge of first-degree murder. The

majority of the panel of the Court of Appeals concluded that no prejudicial error was

committed by the trial court with regard to any of the arguments advanced by

defendants. State v. Abbitt, 278 N.C. App. 692, 694 (2021).

      In addressing the only issue in defendants’ appeal which has been raised for

                                         -13-
                                   STATE V. ABBITT

                                  Opinion of the Court

this Court’s review—the refusal of the trial court to allow defendants to introduce

evidence which defendants contend would tend to show that two other people

committed the crimes for which defendants were being tried and that defendants

were not involved—the Court of Appeals observed that the admissibility of this type

of evidence turns on the relevancy of the evidence. Id. at 699. “ ‘Relevant evidence’

means evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of

consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than

it would be without the evidence.” N.C.G.S. § 8C-1, Rule 401 (2021). “Evidence that

another committed the crime for which the defendant is charged generally is relevant

and admissible as long as it does more than create an inference or conjecture in this

regard. . . . The evidence must simultaneously implicate another and exculpate the

defendant.” State v. Miles, 222 N.C. App. 593, 607 (2012) (citations and internal

quotation marks omitted), aff’d per curiam, 366 N.C. 503 (2013). Applying this

statutory law and appellate precedent, the majority of the Court of Appeals panel

opined:

                    Neither [d]efendant proffered evidence tending to
             both implicate another person(s) and exculpate either
             [d]efendant. Miles, 222 N.C. App. at 607 . . . (emphasis
             supplied). The proffered evidence merely inferred another
             person may have been involved in, or assisted in
             committing the crimes.

                   Such inferences, if true, were not inconsistent with
             direct and eyewitness evidence of either Albarran or
             Abbitt’s guilt. Id. Albarran failed to show the trial court’s
             exclusion of the proffered evidence, as not relevant and not
             admissible, was prejudicial or reversible error.

                                         -14-
                                     STATE V. ABBITT

                                     Opinion of the Court

Abbitt, 278 N.C. App. at 700.

       One member of the three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals, however,

dissented from this portion of the decision of the lower appellate court. As to the

admission of evidence regarding other potential perpetrators, the dissenting judge

agreed with the majority’s identification of the applicable test for the relevancy and

admissibility of evidence concerning the prospect that another person may have

committed the crime(s) for which a defendant is being tried, but reached a different

conclusion about the interpretation of the applicable test when adapted to the case at

bar:

                       Evidence implicating others is relevant and
                admissible when it simultaneously implicates another and
                exculpates a defendant. Defendants sought to provide such
                evidence that implicated another person and exculpated
                themselves. The proffered evidence “constitute[d] a
                possible alternative explanation for the victim’s
                unfortunate demise and thereby cast[ ] crucial doubt upon
                the State’s theory of the case.” State v. McElrath, 322 N.C.
                1, 13-14 . . . (1988). The trial court erred in precluding
                [d]efendants from introducing evidence implicating other
                suspects.

                       Further, a “reasonable possibility [exists] that, had
                the error in question not been committed, a different result
                would have been reached.” State v. Miles, 222 N.C. App.
                [at] 607 . . . (2012) . . . .

Id. at 707–08 (Murphy, J., dissenting in part and concurring in part) (first alteration

in original).

       On 7 September 2021, defendants filed their notices of appeal pursuant to

                                            -15-
                                    STATE V. ABBITT

                                   Opinion of the Court

N.C.G.S. § 7A-30(2) (2021). On the same date, defendant Abbitt also filed a petition

pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-31(c) (2021) asking this Court to grant discretionary

review of additional issues. The petition for discretionary review was denied on 4 May

2022 by order of the Court. Thus, the only issue presented to this Court for resolution

concerns the matter raised in the dissenting opinion of the Court of Appeals with

regard to whether the trial court properly excluded proffered evidence that persons

other than defendants committed the crimes at issue here.

                                   II.   Analysis

      The issue to be determined by this Court on the basis of the dissent in the lower

appellate court is whether the trial court erred in declining to admit into evidence

defendants’ proffered evidence which they contend would implicate two alternative

people as the perpetrators of the charged offenses and would exculpate defendants as

the two individuals who committed the crimes for which defendants were being tried.

We conclude that while the excluded evidence demonstrated the possibility of the

involvement of other perpetrators, nonetheless it did not serve to also exculpate

defendants as this Court has required for such evidence to be deemed as both relevant

and admissible. Accordingly, we affirm the portion of the Court of Appeals decision

before us, finding no error in this aspect of defendants’ trial.

          A. Arguments of defendants

      In their arguments before this Court, defendants assert error by the trial court,

under both the Rules of Evidence with regard to the admissibility of relevant evidence

                                          -16-
                                   STATE V. ABBITT

                                   Opinion of the Court

in criminal trials and under the United States and North Carolina Constitutions in

the context of a criminal defendant’s right to present a defense under each

instrument’s Due Process Clause. Defendants’ contentions largely mirror the

positions which defendants took in the trial court as well as the Court of Appeals:

that the State’s evidence suggested that two people—a Black woman and a Hispanic

man—committed the crimes which included the murder of Feimster; that Phillips, a

Black woman, was identified early in the investigation of Feimster’s murder as a

potential suspect; that evidence from a confidential informant placed a car like

Phillips’s vehicle, with a Black woman inside of it, at the scene of the crimes near the

time of their commission; that a gun of the same caliber that apparently was used in

the murder of Feimster was found in Phillips’s car, along with latex gloves; that the

Hispanic male perpetrator wore dingy latex gloves while in Gregory’s apartment; that

the confidential informant reported that Tim Tim McCain was near Gregory’s

apartment and armed with a gun just before Feimster’s murder; and that McCain

was dressed in a manner similar to the male perpetrator. Defendants assert that this

proffered evidence was relevant because it suggested that another male-female pair

of wrongdoers had committed the crimes for which defendants were being tried.

Defendant Abbitt specifically argues that any “evidence of third-party guilt would

have thrown light upon the alleged offenses” and may have “constituted a possible

alternative explanation and cast a reasonable doubt on the identity of the

perpetrator.” Defendants also contend that the trial court applied the wrong standard

                                          -17-
                                    STATE V. ABBITT

                                   Opinion of the Court

in making its relevancy ruling, erroneously viewing the evidence in the light most

favorable to the State rather than properly viewing it in the light most favorable to

defendants.

      Ultimately, defendants urge this Court to determine, not only that the trial

court erred, but that the error also entitles them to new trials.

          B. Statutory and caselaw

      In criminal cases, “the Due Process Clause protects the accused against

conviction except upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt of every fact necessary to

constitute the crime with which he is charged.” In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 364

(1970); see U.S. Const. Amend. VI; N.C. Const. art. I, §§ 18, 23. Plainly, “the identity

of the perpetrator of the crime charged is always a material fact.” State v. Jeter, 326

N.C. 457, 458 (1990) (citing State v. Johnson, 317 N.C. 417, 425 (1986)).

                     While the [federal] Constitution . . . prohibits the
              exclusion of defense evidence under rules that serve no
              legitimate purpose or that are disproportionate to the ends
              that they are asserted to promote, well-established rules of
              evidence permit trial judges to exclude evidence if its
              probative value is outweighed by certain other factors such
              as unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or potential to
              mislead the jury.

Holmes v. South Carolina, 547 U.S. 319, 326 (2006) (citations omitted). In North

Carolina, the governing rules of evidence in this legal arena are Rules 401 and 402.

We reiterate the significance of these evidentiary rules as we noted earlier in the

Court of Appeals’ analysis of this case, including the lower appellate court’s

recognition that relevant evidence is construed to be the type of evidence “having any

                                          -18-
                                    STATE V. ABBITT

                                   Opinion of the Court

tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination

of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence,”

N.C.G.S. § 8C-1, Rule 401, and hence it is generally admissible. Id., Rule 402 (2021).

      Questions of law concerning a trial court’s alleged nonconformance with

statutory provisions like the codified Rules of Evidence and concerning any alleged

violation of a defendant’s constitutional rights are reviewed de novo. State v. Flow,

384 N.C. 528, 546 (2023). Under de novo review, the reviewing court considers the

matter anew and freely substitutes its own judgment for that of the lower court. See,

e.g., Cmty. Success Initiative v. Moore, 384 N.C. 194, 210 (2023). Appellate courts

nonetheless accord great deference to a trial court’s ruling on the relevancy of

proffered evidence. See, e.g., State v. Lane, 365 N.C. 7, 27, cert. denied, 565 U.S. 1081

(2011).

      Where evidence “is proffered to show that someone other than the defendant

committed the crime charged, admission of the evidence must do more than create

mere conjecture of another’s guilt in order to be relevant.” State v. McNeill, 326 N.C.

712, 721 (1990). Rather, the proffered evidence “must (1) point directly to the guilt of

some specific person, and (2) be inconsistent with the defendant’s guilt.” Id. (first

citing State v. Brewer, 325 N.C. 550 (1989), cert. denied, 495 U.S. 951 (1990); and then

citing State v. Cotton, 318 N.C. 663, 667 (1987)). This is so because

                    [e]vidence casting doubt on the guilt of the accused
             and insinuating the guilt of another must be relevant in
             order to be considered by the jury. Because the relevancy
             standard in criminal cases is relatively lax, any evidence

                                          -19-
                                    STATE V. ABBITT

                                    Opinion of the Court

             calculated to throw light upon the crime charged should be
             admitted by the trial court. However, the general rule
             remains that the trial court has great discretion on the
             admission of evidence. Evidence that another committed
             the crime for which the defendant is charged generally is
             relevant and admissible as long as it does more than create
             an inference or conjecture in this regard. Rather, it must
             point directly to the guilt of the other party. The evidence
             must simultaneously implicate another and exculpate the
             defendant.

Miles, 222 N.C. App. at 607 (extraneity omitted) (emphasis added). Thus, “[e]vidence

which tends to show nothing more than that someone other than the accused had an

opportunity to commit the offense, without tending to show that such person actually

did commit the offense and that therefore the defendant did not do so, is too remote to

be relevant and should be excluded.” Brewer, 325 N.C. at 564 (emphasis added)

(quoting State v. Britt, 42 N.C. App. 637, 641 . . . (1979)).

          C. Application of law to the facts of this case

      Defendants’ proffered evidence regarding Phillips and McCain as alternative

suspects in Feimster’s murder and related crimes was not “mere conjecture” and, as

both the trial court and the State agreed with the defense at trial, appeared to “point

directly to the guilt of some specific person.” McNeill, 326 N.C. at 721. Due to this

lack of dispute concerning defendants’ satisfaction of the first prong of the relevancy

test for the admissibility of their proffered evidence, we focus on the test’s second

prong in assessing the propriety of the trial court’s ruling regarding whether the

evidence at issue was “inconsistent with the defendant’s guilt.” Id.

                                           -20-
                                      STATE V. ABBITT

                                      Opinion of the Court

       The trial court noted that “the jury has received evidence that there were—

there’s communication going on on the night while this is all going down with other

people that clearly tends to—to indicate there—there are other people involved with

these two that are—are in the apartment. It doesn’t exclude the defendant’s [sic] guilt

. . . .” In reviewing the statement of the confidential informant, the trial court

observed that the report of the confidential informant indicated that the informant

saw McCain near Gregory’s apartment with a gun just before the time of the crimes;

that McCain had not committed the murder himself; that a light-skinned Black

female with short hair was seen in a Honda near the apartment; that the confidential

informant never saw McCain with a Black woman at the apartment complex on the

date of the crimes; that the confidential informant did not know anything about

Ashley Phillips; that Feimster “was beefing” with her own sister; and that Feimster’s

sister wished Feimster were dead.

       At the time when defendants’ proffer of evidence was made, the evidence which

had been presented to the jury for consideration tended to show that while only two

people—a Black woman who possessed a small firearm7 and a tall Hispanic man with

wavy hair—were inside the apartment with the three family members during the

commission of the crimes, one or more other persons were apparently involved in the

criminal pair’s attempt to obtain either some item which was not discovered in the

       7 The gun used to kill Feimster was described as “very small . . . . small enough to fit

in the palm of the female[ ] suspect[’]s hand.”

                                             -21-
                                  STATE V. ABBITT

                                 Opinion of the Court

apartment by the female perpetrator or some money from Feimster, based upon the

telephonic and in-person exchanges overheard by Gregory while the unknown man

and unknown woman were in the apartment. In addition, Gregory had identified both

defendants with complete certainty through the usage of photographic lineups as the

two people who entered her apartment on the night that Feimster was killed.

Evidence introduced later in the trial tended to indicate that defendants, who denied

knowing one another, had numerous cellular telephone contacts with each other in

the days immediately surrounding the murder of Feimster. Although there was no

evidence adduced at trial that defendants had cellular telephone communication with

one another on the date of Feimster’s murder, nonetheless the State’s evidence tended

to show that defendants were together in Gregory’s apartment—the scene of the

crimes, including Feimster’s murder—on the critical date. Cellular telephone data

further showed that defendants’ cellular telephones were in the same cellular tower

areas which provided service for Feimster’s cellular telephone as the victim traveled

from place to place, including Gregory’s home, where Feimster was fatally shot.

      Meanwhile, the defense’s proffered evidence which was excluded at defendants’

trial was that: (1) McCain, a man whose race and ethnicity were not identified in the

record, was seen outside of Gregory’s apartment with a large gun by a confidential

informant just before the crimes at issue were committed, but McCain did not kill

Feimster because McCain knew that he had been seen by the confidential informant;

(2) an unknown Black woman was seen sitting in a tan Honda Accord at the

                                        -22-
                                       STATE V. ABBITT

                                   Opinion of the Court

apartment complex before the crimes were committed; and (3) after the appearance

of social media posts which cast suspicion on Phillips as the perpetrator of these

criminal offenses, Phillips voluntarily went to the SPD in a car similar to the tan

Honda Accord identified by the confidential informant as being situated at the

apartment complex before the crimes were committed and from which SPD officers

obtained a white latex glove, a Lorcin pistol, and spent .25 caliber shells.

      As determined by the trial court and subsequently by the majority of the Court

of Appeals panel, while defendants’ proffered evidence implicates other suspects

which were suggested by defendants, such evidence does not exculpate defendants.

Taking the proffered evidence in the light most favorable to defendants, even if

Phillips was seated in a car outside of Gregory’s apartment during the commission of

the crimes at issue in this case, and even if McCain was outside of Gregory’s

apartment just before the murder of Feimster, none of this excluded evidence,

although pertinent, was sufficient to both implicate Phillips and McCain as the

criminal perpetrators here and exculpate defendants Abbitt and Albarran as required

by our relevancy standard.

                                III.      Conclusion

      While the evidence proffered by defendants in their response to the State’s

motion in limine to exclude the mention of possible guilt of other individuals was

relevant to the issues presented at trial for the jury’s resolution, nonetheless this

potential evidence for the jury’s consideration was not admissible. Although the

                                            -23-
                                   STATE V. ABBITT

                                  Opinion of the Court

proffered evidence tended to point directly to the guilt of the specific persons Ashley

Phillips and Tim Tim McCain—hence, making the evidence relevant—such evidence

still did not tend to show that Phillips and McCain committed the offenses and that

defendants Sindy Lina Abbitt and Daniel Real Albarran therefore did not commit the

offenses—thus rendering the evidence inadmissible. In order to be both relevant and

admissible, the evidence at issue here must have simultaneously implicated Phillips

and McCain as it exculpated defendants Abbitt and Albarran. This dual requirement

does not exist in the present case. The majority of the Court of Appeals panel which

decided this case correctly applied the pertinent legal principles in discerning that

defendants’ proffered evidence may have insinuated that Phillips and McCain

assisted in, or may have been involved in, the perpetration of these crimes, but such

evidence was not inconsistent with direct and eyewitness evidence of either

defendant’s guilt. Consequently, as determined by the Court of Appeals, the trial

court’s exclusion of defendants’ proffered evidence did not constitute prejudicial or

reversible error. Therefore, as to the issue on direct appeal based on the dissenting

opinion, we affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals.

      AFFIRMED.

                                         -24-
                                   STATE V. ABBITT

                                   Earls, J., dissenting

      Justice EARLS dissenting.

      Ms. Abbitt and Mr. Albarran should have been permitted to introduce evidence

that someone else committed the murder, attempted robbery, and assault that they

were accused of committing. “[C]riminal prosecutions must comport with prevailing

notions of fundamental fairness.” California v. Trombetta, 467 U.S. 479, 485 (1984)).

Accordingly, the United States Supreme Court has held that “the Constitution

guarantees criminal defendants ‘a meaningful opportunity to present a complete

defense.’ ” Holmes v. South Carolina, 547 U.S. 319, 324 (2006) (quoting Crane v.

Kentucky, 476 U.S. 683, 690 (1986). This right is rooted in the Due Process Clause of

the Fourteenth Amendment, and in the Compulsory Process and Confrontation

Clauses of the Sixth Amendment. Crane, 476 U.S. at 690 (citing Trombetta, 467 U.S.

at 485). “The right of an accused in a criminal trial to due process is, in essence, the

right to a fair opportunity to defend against the State’s accusations.” Chambers v.

Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284, 294 (1973). But “[t]his right is abridged by evidence rules

that ‘infring[e] upon a weighty interest of the accused.’ ” Holmes, 547 U.S. at 324

(second alteration in original) (quoting United States v. Scheffer, 523 U.S. 303, 308

(1988)). Thus, when the trial court in this case excluded evidence tending to show

that two people other than defendants committed the charged offenses, Abbitt and

Albarran were denied their constitutional right to a fair trial, Chambers, 410 U.S. at

294, and “a meaningful opportunity to present a complete defense,” Holmes, 547 U.S.

                                           -25-
                                   STATE V. ABBITT

                                   Earls, J., dissenting

at 324 (quoting Crane, 476 U.S. at 690).

      While “[s]tate and federal rulemakers have broad latitude under the

Constitution to establish rules excluding evidence from criminal trials,” that

authority is still subject to constitutional limits. Id. (quoting Scheffer, 523 U.S. at

308). Namely, state rules of evidence may not be “ ‘arbitrary’ or ‘disproportionate to

the purposes they are designed to serve.’ ” Id. (quoting Scheffer, 523 U.S. at 308). In

North Carolina “[t]he admissibility of evidence of the guilt of one other than the

defendant” is governed by the Rules of Evidence, specifically the rule of relevancy.

State v. Israel, 353 N.C. 211, 217 (2000) (quoting State v. Cotton, 318 N.C. 663, 667

(1987)). Under North Carolina Rule of Evidence 401, “ ‘[r]elevant evidence’ means

evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence

to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be

without the evidence.” N.C.G.S. § 8C-1, Rule 401 (2021). This standard is “relatively

lax” and “[r]elevant evidence, as a general matter, is considered to be admissible.”

State v. McElrath, 322 N.C. 1, 13 (1988); Israel, 353 N.C. at 219 (stating that the

standard of relevance “in criminal cases is particularly easily satisfied” and “ ‘[a]ny

evidence calculated to throw light upon the crime charged’ should be admitted by the

trial court.”) (quoting McElrath, 322 N.C. at 13)).

      To admit evidence implicating someone other than the defendant, this Court

has stated that, the evidence “must do more than cast doubt over the defendant’s

guilt.” Israel, 353 N.C. at 217. Put another way, the evidence must do “more than

                                           -26-
                                    STATE V. ABBITT

                                   Earls, J., dissenting

create an inference or conjecture” of the other person’s guilt and instead “must tend

both to implicate another and be inconsistent with the guilt of the defendant.” Id.

(quoting Cotton, 318 N.C. at 667). But this standard must be interpreted consistently

with Rule 401 of the North Carolina Rules of Evidence. See McElrath, 322 N.C. at 13;

see also Israel, 353 N.C. at 219. Thus, while the standard to introduce evidence of

third-party guilt is more specific than what is stated in Rule 401, it remains a test of

relevancy and cannot be used as a high bar to exclude almost all evidence that

someone other than the defendant committed the crime. See Cotton, 318 N.C. at 667

(“The admissibility of evidence of the guilt of one other than the defendant is governed

. . . by the general principle of relevancy.”) Properly interpreted, the requirement that

the proffered evidence “must tend both to implicate another and be inconsistent with

the guilt of the defendant,” Israel, 353 N.C. at 217 (quoting Cotton, 318 N.C. at 667),

simply means that the proffered evidence must tend to show the defendant did not

commit the crime because someone other than the defendant was the perpetrator.

      In this case, the trial court misapplied our relevancy standard at the outset of

its analysis. While evidence offered by the defendant is to be “viewed in the light most

favorable to the defendant,” State v. Larrimore, 340 N.C. 119, 144–45 (1995), the trial

court viewed the evidence in the light most favorable to the State. In doing so, the

trial court misinterpreted the relevancy standard as setting a higher bar than what

is required. That is, the trial court refused to draw reasonable inferences in favor of

Abbitt and Albarran, and instead drew those inferences in favor of the State by

                                           -27-
                                      STATE V. ABBITT

                                      Earls, J., dissenting

making the unsupported assumption that Abbitt and Albarran may have acted

together with Ashley Phillips and “Tim Tim” McCain to commit the charged crimes.1

Likewise, the majority’s analysis proceeds to make the same mistake the trial court

did. Specifically, the majority’s analysis effectively draws reasonable inferences in

favor of the State and not the defendants.

       Abbitt and Albarran were charged with first-degree murder, attempted

robbery with a dangerous weapon, and assault with a deadly weapon. After trial

began, the State filed a Motion in Limine to Preclude Mention of Possible Guilt of

Another. After hearing arguments on the motion, the trial court determined that the

proffered evidence was not inconsistent with the defendant’s guilt and prevented the

defendants from presenting it. Specifically, defendants wanted to introduce evidence

tending to show that Phillips and McCain committed the crimes. The trial court

appears to have concluded that the evidence met the first part of the standard,

specifically that it went beyond “conjecture,” but failed to meet the second part of the

       1 While our precedent in Larrimore, 340 N.C. at 144–45, does not explicitly state that

reviewing the proffered evidence in the light most favorable to defendants requires that
reasonable inferences be drawn in their favor, it stands to reason that drawing reasonable
inferences in the defendants’ favor is part of this analysis. See Keith v. Health-Pro Home Care
Servs., Inc., 381 N.C. 442, 455 (2022) (“[I]n determining the sufficiency of the evidence to
withstand a motion for a directed verdict, all of the evidence which supports the non-movant’s
claim must be taken as true and considered in the light most favorable to the non-movant,
giving the non-movant the benefit of every reasonable inference which may legitimately be
drawn therefrom and resolving contradictions, conflicts, and inconsistencies in the non-
movant’s favor.”) (quoting Turner v. Duke Univ., 325 N.C. 152, 158 (1989)); New Hanover
Cnty. Bd. of Educ. v. Stein, 380 N.C. 94, 106–07 (2022) (In evaluating the party’s complaint,
this Court must “take the allegations in the complaint as true and draw all reasonable
inferences in the plaintiff’s favor.” ).

                                              -28-
                                    STATE V. ABBITT

                                   Earls, J., dissenting

test, namely that even if true, it did not rule out defendants as perpetrators of the

crime. In these circumstances, accepting this analysis would effectively bar any and

all evidence that another individual committed the crime because the court could, in

every case, assume there were multiple perpetrators.

       This evidence implicating Phillips and McCain included that the glove box of

Phillips’s car held a .25 caliber gun, which was consistent with the gun that killed the

victim, and white latex gloves, which were consistent with gloves worn by the male

perpetrator. While DNA swabs were taken from the .25 caliber gun and the latex

gloves, these items were never submitted for testing and no testing was completed on

them. A confidential informant also placed a car consistent with the make and model

of Phillips’s car near the scene of the crime at the time the murder occurred, and

Phillips arrived at the police station for questioning in that same vehicle. Phillips was

also the first person investigated in connection with this case and the first person

identified by the family of the deceased. Indeed, when the victim’s mother, Ms.

Gregory, saw a photograph of Phillips, she stated “Well, she does look like her,”

referring to the woman who came into her apartment and shot her daughter. Despite

this, the police did not include a picture of Phillips in the photographic lineup it

conducted with Gregory.

       A confidential informant also placed McCain at the apartment complex where

the murder occurred “minutes before the murder.” At the time, McCain “was carrying

a pistol and trying to conceal his face.” The informant also noted that when he saw

                                           -29-
                                   STATE V. ABBITT

                                   Earls, J., dissenting

McCain, McCain was with a Black woman, who the confidential informant implied

shot the victim at McCain’s request.

      During the hearing on the State’s motion in limine, the trial court applied the

incorrect standard. Rather than take the above evidence in the light most favorable

to defendants, the court announced “that [it was] taking the evidence in the light

most favorable to the State.” In doing so, the trial court found that the proffered

evidence did not meet the standard articulated in State v. Cotton, 318 N.C. at 667,

because it was not inconsistent with Ms. Abbitt’s and Mr. Albarran’s guilt. But by

viewing the proffered evidence in the light most favorable to the State, the trial court

started off on the wrong foot, and this error affected the entirety of the court’s

analysis.

      Additionally, State v. Israel, is analogous to this case and undermines the

majority’s holding. In Israel, a first-degree murder prosecution, the jury was not

permitted to hear certain evidence tending to show that a different person had the

opportunity and motive to murder an elderly woman in her apartment. 353 N.C. 211

(2000). There was evidence that the victim was afraid of her former boyfriend and

that the man had been seen at the victim’s apartment building the week of the

murder. Id. at 215. This Court explained that the former boyfriend’s violent “history

with the victim [gave him] a possible motive” and that, because he had been seen “on

the surveillance videotape entering and leaving the victim’s apartment” within a day

of the victim’s death, the former boyfriend had the opportunity to kill her. Id. at 219.

                                           -30-
                                   STATE V. ABBITT

                                   Earls, J., dissenting

      Similarly, in this case there was evidence that the woman the informant saw

at the apartment complex on the night of the murder had been “beefing” with the

victim, which points to motive. The fact that on the night of the murder, a confidential

informant saw a woman who may have been Phillips and a man the informant

affirmatively identified as McCain at the apartment complex where the murder took

place also points to opportunity. Furthermore, the evidence of opportunity in the

present case is stronger than that in Israel. In Israel the victim’s estimated time of

death was between 10 and 12 December, and the video surveillance showed the

former boyfriend at the victim’s apartment building on 9 and 11 December. Id. at 214.

Yet the Court determined that the trial court’s exclusion of this evidence was

erroneous there because the evidence “tended both to exonerate defendant and

implicate another perpetrator.” Id. at 216.

      Additionally, in Israel the Court noted that exclusion of this evidence was

prejudicial because it could not be “said the error did not affect the outcome of the

defendant’s trial.” Id. Here a woman resembling Phillips and a car consistent with

the make and model of Phillips’s car, along with McCain, were seen in close proximity

to the scene of the murder at the time of the murder, and the woman at the scene was

said to have been “beefing” with the victim. As seen in Israel, this evidence of motive

and opportunity is relevant as it tends to implicate Phillips and McCain, and when

viewed in the light most favorable to defendants, is inconsistent with their guilt

because it tends to show that someone else committed the crime. Furthermore, this

                                           -31-
                                   STATE V. ABBITT

                                  Earls, J., dissenting

case has two characteristics that Israel lacked: (1) evidence of items pointing to the

modus operandi of the crimes and (2) a positive identification of Phillips by the

victim’s mother. The evidence pointing to the modus operandi here included a .25

caliber gun and white latex gloves found in Phillips’s car, and her car was consistent

with the make and model of the vehicle the confidential informant saw near the scene

of the crimes. This additional evidence, along with Gregory’s initial identification of

Phillips, lends credence to the defense’s theory of the case and tends to show that

someone other than Abbitt and Albarran committed the crimes.

      The trial court incorrectly determined that the evidence “may go to the guilt of

another person, [but] doesn’t exclude the defendants . . . from guilt.” In reaching its

decision, the trial court reasoned that even though the proffered evidence pointed to

another suspect, the jury had received evidence that the perpetrators had been

communicating with someone else on the night of the murder. According to the trial

court, this scenario indicated that “there may have been other people involved” in the

crimes. Specifically, the proffered evidence was not inconsistent with the defendants’

guilt because all four suspects: Abbitt, Albarran, Phillips, and McCain may have

committed the crime together. Thus, according to the court, the evidence “doesn’t

exclude the defendants’ . . . from guilt.” Yet, as Judge Murphy noted in his dissent at

the Court of Appeals, the record lacks evidence linking Abbitt, Albarran, Phillips, and

McCain, “by phone or otherwise.” State v. Abbitt, 278 N.C. App. 692 (2021) (Murphy,

J., dissenting in part and concurring in part). According to Gregory’s testimony, only

                                          -32-
                                   STATE V. ABBITT

                                   Earls, J., dissenting

two perpetrators were in her home when her daughter was murdered. While she

testified that two or three phone calls transpired between the male perpetrator and

someone else, she did not testify about who the someone else was. There is no

evidence that McCain, Phillips, Abbitt, and Albarran committed this offense together.

Thus, the trial court assumed there was a connection between the four, without any

evidentiary support, and based on that assumption, excluded potentially exculpatory

evidence that someone else may have committed the crimes.

      The majority’s analysis suggests that because the facts of this case imply the

involvement of more than two actors, it is not possible for the proffered evidence to

be inconsistent with Ms. Abbitt’s and Mr. Albarran’s guilt. This is simply not true. As

noted above, there is no evidence in the record linking Phillips, McCain, Abbitt, and

Albarran together. Drawing all reasonable inferences in defendants’ favor, as must

be done for these purposes, the evidence implicating Phillips and McCain was

inconsistent with Ms. Abbitt’s and Mr. Albarran’s guilt and should have been

introduced at trial.

      Defendants also should have had the opportunity to impeach Gregory’s

testimony. “The primary purpose of impeachment is to reduce or discount the

credibility of a witness for the purpose of inducing the jury to give less weight to his

testimony in arriving at the ultimate facts in the case.” State v. Bell, 249 N.C. 379,

381 (1959) (quoting State v. Nelson, 200 N.C. 69, 72 (1930)). Namely, because Gregory

had initially identified Phillips as resembling the woman who was in her apartment

                                           -33-
                                    STATE V. ABBITT

                                   Earls, J., dissenting

on the night of the murder, this evidence could have called Gregory’s recollection of

the individuals in the apartment into question. Taken together, the proffered

evidence “constitute[d] a possible alternative explanation for the victim’s unfortunate

demise and thereby cast[ ] crucial doubt upon the State’s theory of the case,” State v.

McElrath, 322 N.C. at 13–14, however, the jury never heard this potentially

exculpatory evidence.

      Excluding this evidence was erroneous and prejudicial to both defendants. “A

violation of the defendant’s rights under the Constitution of the United States is

prejudicial unless the appellate court finds that it was harmless beyond a reasonable

doubt.” N.C.G.S. § 15A-1443(b) (2021). It is the State’s burden “to demonstrate,

beyond a reasonable doubt, that the error was harmless.” Id. In this case the State

cannot meet that burden because it cannot show that “the trial court’s erroneous

exclusion of evidence that tended both to exonerate defendant and implicate another

perpetrator . . . [did not] infect[ ] the evidence supporting the conviction,” and “it

cannot be said the error did not affect the outcome of defendant’s trial.” Israel, 353

N.C. at 216 (citing N.C.G.S. § 15A-1443(a) (1999)). In these circumstances, the State

cannot show that, after hearing evidence of third-party guilt, the jury would still have

convicted Abbitt and Albarran.

      Wrongful convictions can occur when relevant and potentially exculpatory

evidence is kept from the jury. Although this is but one case, the trial court’s decision

to exclude this evidence and this Court’s affirmance of that decision have broader

                                           -34-
                                       STATE V. ABBITT

                                       Earls, J., dissenting

implications. Between 1989 and 24 August 2023, 3,361 people were exonerated in the

United States following wrongful convictions. UCI Newkirk Ctr. for Sci. & Soc’y et

al.,   The    National      Registry     of    Exonerations:     Exonerations       by    State,

https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/Exonerations-in-the-United-

States-Map.aspx (last visited Aug. 24, 2023). These wrongful convictions range from

robbery to murder and in total amount to 29, 950 years lost to wrongful incarceration.

Id. During this same period, North Carolina exonerated 73 people, 37% of whom

experienced a wrongful conviction for murder. Id. In total, wrongfully convicted North

Carolinians have wasted 935.6 years of their lives behind bars. Id.

       Our Rules of Evidence serve to protect against wrongful convictions, however,

if they are misapplied, these rules can hinder the accuracy of our criminal justice

system rather than bolster it.2 In this case the misapplication of our relevancy

standard led to the conviction of two people who may not have been found guilty if

the jury had heard the evidence tending to show that Phillips and McCain committed

the crimes. On average, each wrongfully convicted North Carolinian has lost 12.82

years of his or her life to incarceration, and in some cases, people have spent 20 years

       2 Another example is Rule 404 of the North Carolina Rules of Evidence, which states

that “[e]vidence of a person’s character or a trait of his character is not admissible for the
purpose of proving that he acted in conformity therewith on a particular occasion.” N.C. R.
Evid. 404(a). While there are exceptions to this rule, it generally serves to protect the accused
from a conviction that is based solely on what the jury thinks of the accused person’s
character and instead focuses the jury’s attention on whether jurors believe the defendant
committed the crime for which he or she is on trial for.

                                               -35-
                                     STATE V. ABBITT

                                    Earls, J., dissenting

or more in prison for crimes they did not commit.3 Id. Wrongful convictions do not

serve the interests of justice or of the State or victims of criminal acts.

       The United States Constitution grants defendants the right to present a

meaningful defense, Holmes, 547 U.S. at 324, and the right to a fair trial, Chambers,

410 U.S. at 294. Our rule of relevancy related to the admission of evidence of third-

party guilt must be in line with these overarching constitutional principles. See N.C.

G.S., Rule 8C-1, 401 (official cmt. (2021)); see also McElrath, 322 N.C. at 13; Israel,

353 N.C. at 219 (quoting McElrath, 322 N.C. at 13). Under the correct application of

the Rules of Evidence and the relevancy standard, Abbitt and Albarran are entitled

to a new trial in which they are permitted to introduce evidence of third-party guilt.

Because the trial court misapplied the legal standard and improperly excluded the

evidence of third-party guilt that Abbitt and Albarran sought to admit, I dissent.

       3 For example, Larry Lamb was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison in

1993. UCI Newkirk Ctr. for Sci. & Soc’y et al., Larry Lamb: Other North Carolina
Exonerations,
https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=4240        (last
visited on Aug. 24, 2023). He was incarcerated until 2013, when he was exonerated following
a new trial, which showed that testimony at Mr. Lamb’s original trial had been false. Id.
Similarly, Willie Womble spent 38.3 years in prison after being convicted of murder in 1976
and was exonerated only after the man who actually committed the crime wrote a letter to
the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission which reviewed the case and successfully
recommended that a judicial panel vacate Womble’s conviction. Id. (last visited Aug. 24,
2023).

                                            -36-