Court Opinion

ID: 9571914
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:36:13.498139+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:31:10.021683
License: Public Domain

TYSON, Judge,
concurring in part and concurring in the result.
I concur with the majority opinion which finds no prejudicial error in the conviction of defendant for second-degree murder, driving while impaired and felonious speeding to elude. I write separately with regard to the admission of evidence of outstanding criminal charges and unserved warrants against defendant. The majority’s language is too broad and sweeping. Relevancy must be proven by the admitting party under Rule 401 of the North Carolina Rules of Evidence.
Relevant evidence is “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. Gen. Stat. § 8C-1, Rule 401 (2001). Rule 402 of the North Carolina Rules of Evidence states that “[a]ll relevant evidence is admissible, except as otherwise provided. . . . Evidence which is not relevant is not admissible.” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 8C-1, Rule 402. “[Relevant] evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence.” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 8C-1, Rule 403.
Rule 401 sets a standard to which trial judges must adhere in determining whether proffered evidence is relevant; at the same time, this standard gives the judge great freedom to admit evidence because the rule makes evidence relevant if it has any logical tendency to prove any fact that is of consequence. Thus, even though a trial court’s rulings on relevancy technically are not discretionary and therefore are not reviewed under the abuse of discretion standard applicable to Rule 403, such rulings are given great deference on appeal.
State v. Wallace, 104 N.C. App. 498, 502, 410 S.E.2d 226, 228 (1991), disc. rev. denied, 331 N.C. 290, 416 S.E.2d 398, cert. denied, 506 U.S. 915, 121 L. Ed. 2d 241 (1992) (citations omitted).
Defendant contends that evidence of outstanding criminal charges and unserved warrants are not relevant because he did not know of the outstanding charges or warrants at the time. The State responds that the evidence was not admitted to show the state of *500mind of defendant but the state of mind of the police officers during the high speed pursuit.
During direct examination, Officer Raymond Lyle Case of the Henderson Police Department testified:
Q In fact, had you had some involvement with the two of them [defendant and the victim] not too long before this?
A Yes, sir, about 10 days prior I had helped the Hendersonville Police Department execute a search warrant on 514 Dairy Street.
Q Would you tell us whether or not as a result of that search, there was a criminal process outstanding for both of these defendants on January 16th?
A Yes, there was.
[Defense Counsel]: Objection
The Court: How is that relevant?
[Prosecutor]: There have been an awful lot of question [sic] about why this pursuit went on, and I think it is relevant to that issue — whether or not someone was wanted legitimately by a criminal process.
The Court: Overruled. ’
Officer Case testified that defendant had felony and misdemeanor warrants outstanding. Although Officer Case was not on the scene during the chase, he testified that he was en route when defendant began to flee and transmitted information that defendant was wanted on outstanding felony warrants via radio to the officers involved in the pursuit. The police officers’ knowledge of the pending felony warrants and outstanding criminal process at the time of and during the pursuit is relevant to the state of mind of the officers in their pursuit of defendant. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in determining that the evidence was relevant and admissible.