State v. Moore

• Decision Date: 04 March 1994
• Docket Number: No. 556A90,556A90
• Citation: 335 N.C. 567,440 S.E.2d 797
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Blanche Kiser Taylor MOORE.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 797

440 S.E.2d 797

335 N.C. 567

STATE of North Carolina v. Blanche Kiser Taylor MOORE.

No. 556A90.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

March 4, 1994.

[335 N.C. 576] Appeal as of right pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-27(a) from a judgment imposing a sentence of death entered by Freeman, J., at the 15 October 1990 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Forsyth County, upon a jury verdict of guilty of first-degree murder. Heard in the Supreme Court 16 February 1993.

Michael F. Easley, Atty. Gen. by Barry S. McNeill, Sp. Deputy Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for the State.

David F. Tamer and Lisa S. Costner, Winston-Salem, for defendant-appellant.

PARKER, Justice.

Defendant, Blanche Kiser Taylor Moore, was indicted for the 7 October 1986 first-degree murder of Raymond C. Reid, Sr. (herein "Reid"). She was tried capitally at the 15 October 1990 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Forsyth County, and was found guilty as charged. Following a sentencing proceeding pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000, the jury recommended defendant be sentenced to death. Judgment of death was entered on 16 November 1990. An order staying execution of the death sentence was entered on 26 November 1990 pending the conclusion of this appeal.

In May of 1989, defendant's then husband, the Reverend Dwight D. Moore (herein "Moore"), while being treated at North Carolina Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was diagnosed with arsenic poisoning. An investigation was begun which led to the eventual exhumation of the bodies of P.D. Kiser, Sr., defendant's father; James N. Taylor, defendant's first husband; and Reid, a previous boyfriend. All of the bodies tested positively for the presence of arsenic. Defendant was indicted in Alamance County for the murders of Kiser and Taylor and the felonious assault on Moore; she was indicted in Forsyth County for the The State's evidence at trial tended to show that defendant met Reid while working at Kroger supermarket in Burlington, North Carolina, in 1962. They did not start going out together, however, until 1979. According to the testimony of a Kroger risk management investigator, Reid had said he and defendant "probably would have been married, except she wanted to be there next to her family." Reid was transferred several times in 1979 and 1980 until he became manager of a store in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Defendant worked the entire time in Burlington except for a brief period in 1979 when she was at a store in Durham. Defendant last worked at Kroger 17 October 1985, when she left her employment on account of sexual harassment.

murder of Reid. The Alamance County cases were subsequently transferred [335 N.C. 577] to Forsyth County. This opinion reviews defendant's capital trial for the murder by arsenic poisoning of Reid.

Reid initially became ill on 1 January 1986. After having spent New Year's Eve with defendant and having eaten some of her homemade potato soup, Reid began experiencing severe symptoms of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Reid, who had never been known to miss work, was absent from work more than four weeks over the next few months. His last day at work was 29 May 1986. Reid's condition became progressively worse; and he was admitted to Wesley Long Hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina, on 30 May 1986 by his physician, Dr. Norman H. Garrett, Jr. On admission, Reid reported to Dr. Garrett that while eating supper seven days earlier, he had experienced nausea, vomiting, and dehydration, that he had become violently ill, and that he had been unable to keep down any solid foods since that time. Dr. Garrett's admission diagnosis was acute gastroenteritis based on "his profound dehydration, nausea and vomiting."

While hospitalized, Reid's condition continued to deteriorate; and Dr. Garrett revised his diagnosis to multiple systems failure based on Reid's symptoms including excessive nausea and vomiting, loose stools, skin rash, edema, dehydration, bone marrow damage, blood cell abnormalities, electrolyte abnormality, tachypnea (progressive shortness of breath), respiratory failure, tachycardia (fast heartbeat), low blood pressure, kidney malfunction and shutdown, and numbness and tingling in his hands and feet. Each of these symptoms is characteristic of arsenic poisoning.

By the morning of 5 June 1986, Reid's condition had stabilized. Dr. Garrett informed Reid, in defendant's presence, that he need only remain in the hospital for three to five more days following his circumcision (the procedure was the result of an infection and was not related to Reid's other symptoms). However, Reid's condition worsened so much over the next week that it became "life threatening," and Dr. Garrett transferred him to North Carolina Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem on 13 June 1986. Dr. Garrett was never able to make a satisfactory diagnosis of the cause of Reid's multi-system failures.

Dr. Robert Hamilton, a specialist in internal medicine and nephrology who treated Reid at Baptist Hospital, testified that Reid was admitted with a number of symptoms, including a raspy voice, severe swelling in his lower extremities, anemia, low white blood cell count, a rash over his lower extremities, white patches in his mouth, very poor bowel sounds, difficulty breathing, and signs of kidney failure. Reid's condition continued to deteriorate, resulting in a "Code Blue" on 21 June 1986. Emergency measures were taken and Reid was intubated so that he could be mechanically ventilated. Over the next few days, Reid became nearly paralyzed.

Dr. Hamilton began with a preliminary diagnosis of Guillain-Barre syndrome. Reid showed some slight improvement following a procedure called "plasmapheresis." In this procedure, the patient's blood is removed from the body, the red blood cells are separated from the plasma, and the red blood cells are returned to the body. The lab report from a urine sample obtained from Reid between 27 June 1986 and 28 June 1986 showed "quite elevated" levels of arsenic in the urine. Dr. Hamilton, however, never saw the results of this test. Reid further improved during July of 1986 but continued to have difficulty breathing and needed to be on Lisa Hutchens, the head nurse in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), testified that the last time she saw Reid looking well was on 1 October 1986 when she visited him in the intermediate care unit. Defendant was with Reid and was feeding him banana pudding. Hutchens again visited Reid on 3 October 1986 in his room in the intermediate ward. Reid was in "acute respiratory distress" and was very frightened. He pleaded with her to "[p]lease help me or I'm going to die." Reid was returned to the ICU on 4 October 1986. Nurse Hutchens recalled defendant often bringing Reid food items from home such as iced tea, frozen yogurt, milk shakes, and soups during this time.

a respirator. Reid gradually recovered use of his extremities and was able to breathe on his own. During this time, defendant asked Dr. Hamilton if she could bring food from home for Reid and was given permission to do so. At the end of September, Reid suffered another serious setback.

Steven Reid, one of Reid's sons, testified that he visited his father on 4 October 1986 and found he had eaten a breakfast prepared by defendant. He stayed until late that afternoon and visited again on the fifth before returning to East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. When Steve called on Monday, 6 October 1986, defendant informed him he should return to the hospital as soon as possible. When he arrived on the evening of the sixth, he hardly recognized his father. He looked as if he had gained almost one hundred pounds and "[h]is eyeballs were even starting to swell and his skin was splitting."

Dr. Kyle Jackson testified that Reid became "progressively weaker and unable to continue his breathing on his own well enough to sustain life." By 7 October 1986, Reid was on inotropic drugs and mechanical ventilation. He was able to communicate only with his eyes. In the early afternoon, Reid "coded" and the responding medical personnel began to administer CPR and to perfuse his heart in order to give him emergency drugs. Dr. Jackson pronounced Reid dead from complications which he thought were attributable to Guillain-Barre syndrome. Several witnesses recalled that moments after Reid passed away defendant stated: "We cannot have an autopsy. He has been through too much. He wouldn't want to be cut on like this. We just--we cannot have one."

Several hospital employees, family members, and visitors testified that they recalled defendant bringing Reid milk shakes from McDonald's while he was hospitalized at Wesley Long Hospital. Gloria Head, a fellow Kroger employee, recalled visiting Reid and observing a container of red Jello in defendant's purse. Dr. Garrett had previously testified that Reid had informed him on 30 May 1986 that he began vomiting after eating Jello the previous night.

Wanda B. Moss, a registered nurse in the ICU at North Carolina Baptist Hospital, described the treatment Reid underwent in the hospital. On some occasions Reid was fed with a Dobhoff feeding tube inserted into him. The tube is very narrow and becomes easily clogged. Nurse Moss stated that Coca-Cola is inserted by syringe into the tube and is effective in unclogging it. Defendant was frequently in the room when Nurse Moss used the syringe and the Coke to clear Reid's Dobhoff tube. The Coke was often left unattended in the patient's room, and the syringes were kept in an unlocked closet in Reid's room. Nurse Moss further recalled defendant bringing peanut butter milk shakes, banana pudding, tomato pudding, corn bread, and milk from home for Reid and feeding him herself. The ICU nursing notes reflect repeated instances where Reid complained later in the day of being nauseated after having been fed by defendant. Nurse Moss never saw anyone other than defendant bring food to Reid or feed him.

Pursuant to a court...