Court Opinion

ID: 9585107
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:56:16.839431+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:27:49.219214
License: Public Domain

Judge Greene
concurring in the result.
I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that Dr. Frazer’s testimony, in which he stated he “believed that [Queena] was a reliable informant,” was “proper and admissible.” This statement constituted expert testimony as to Queena’s credibility, and as such, was inadmissible. See State v. Wise, 326 N.C. 421, 426, 390 S.E.2d 142, 145 (“[E]xpert testimony as to the credibility of a witness is not admissible.”), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 853, 112 L. Ed. 2d 113 (1990); State v. Aguallo, 318 N.C. 590, 599, 350 S.E.2d 76, 81 (1986) (holding that it was error to allow an expert to testify that she found the victim “believable”). I nonetheless concur in the majority’s result, however, because even if the jury had found Queena to be less than credible (which, in any event, is unlikely given that Queena’s detailed testimony was consistent with what she had told her family, police, and medical examiners following her abduction), the physical evidence in this case is overwhelming. See N.C.G.S. § 15A-1443(a) (1997) (stating that a non-constitutional error is not prejudicial unless there is “a reasonable possibility that, had the error in question not been committed, a different result would have been reached”); cf. Aguallo, 318 N.C. at 599-600, 350 S.E.2d at 82 (awarding defendant a new trial where there was a “reasonable possibility that a different result would have been reached by the jury” because the physical examination of the victim took place more than six months after the alleged *64rape, and defendant’s conviction therefore “hinged on the victim’s testimony and ... credibility”).
In this case, the physical evidence alone overwhelmingly supports defendant’s conviction. As noted in the majority’s recitation of the facts, Dr. Odom’s examination of Queena in the hours following her abduction revealed large contusions on Queena’s buttocks, an anal fissure, a laceration of the left side of Queena’s vagina, blood in her vagina, and a ruptured hymen. Dr. Frazer’s examination of Queena the next day revealed, in addition to the above, a cut at the back of Queena’s vagina and several cuts around her anus. Dr. Frazer also discovered an adult pubic hair inside Queena’s anal canal, which was determined to be “microscopically consistent” with defendant’s pubic hair. Forensic tests conducted on the interior of defendant’s automobile revealed human blood on the seat cushion and carpet fibers matching those found on the clothing Queena had worn on the night of her abduction. A DNA analysis of a section of the crotch of the undergarments Queena had worn revealed semen with a DNA banding pattern that matched a sample of defendant’s blood. Expert testimony revealed that the probability that the DNA found on Queena’s undergarments belonged to anyone other than defendant was approximately 1 in 2.1 billion. Accordingly, although I believe that Dr. Frazer’s testimony as to Queena’s reliability was inadmissible, the overwhelming physical evidence in this case specifically connecting defendant to the heinous crimes committed against Queena leads me to conclude that there is no reasonable possibility that the jury would have reached a different outcome in the absence of Dr. Frazer’s inadmissible statement.
As to the remaining issues raised by defendant on appeal, I fully concur in the majority opinion.