State v. Campbell
| Decision Date | 19 August 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 366A02.,366A02. |
| Citation | 617 S.E.2d 1 |
| Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. Terrance Durrell CAMPBELL. |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Roy Cooper, Attorney General, by Mary D. Winstead, Assistant Attorney General, for the State.
Staples S. Hughes, Appellate Defender, by Barbara S. Blackman, Assistant Appellate Defender, for defendant-appellant.
Defendant Terrance Durrell Campbell was indicted on 21 February 2000 for first-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon of "Buddy" William Hall. Defendant was tried capitally and found guilty of first-degree murder based on malice, premeditation and deliberation and under the felony murder rule, with robbery as the underlying felony. After a capital sentencing hearing, the jury recommended that defendant be sentenced to death; and the trial court entered judgment accordingly.
The State's evidence tended to show that on 3 February 2000 defendant was sitting in a car in a K-Mart parking lot in Aiken, South Carolina. A K-Mart employee, Valerie Green, noticed defendant when she arrived for work at 5:15 p.m. that day. Another K-Mart employee, Gail Wertz, went outside at regular intervals throughout the evening and noticed that defendant was slumped down in the car and that he could see her. Ms. Wertz became concerned that "he was up to no good" and called 911 at approximately 8:45 p.m., fifteen minutes before the store was closing. Employees from the K-Mart tried to get the license plate number, but defendant drove away.
Officer Tracy Saxton of the Department of Public Safety in Aiken, South Carolina, was dispatched to the K-Mart parking lot at approximately 8:50 p.m. A K-Mart employee directed Officer Saxton's attention to defendant's car as defendant was leaving the parking lot. Officer Saxton followed defendant from the K-Mart parking lot to a nearby convenience store and pulled her car in behind him at the gas pumps. Defendant had gotten out of the car and was walking toward the convenience store, counting change from a paper bag in his hand. Officer Saxton asked to speak with defendant, and the two met each other about halfway between her vehicle and the store entrance. Defendant told her he had been in the K-Mart parking lot because he was taking a nap. Defendant told Officer Saxton that he was on his way back to North Carolina from a construction job in Columbia, South Carolina, but that he had stopped in Aiken to rest. Officer Saxton asked defendant for his driver's license, which he could not produce. She then asked him for registration and insurance information on the car, and defendant replied that he did not have it because the car was not his. When pressed for information about the owner of the car, defendant stated that the car belonged to a friend of his who let him borrow the car, but defendant could not remember the friend's name. Defendant gave his name as "Terry Campbell" to Officer Saxton, who radioed to dispatch to do a driver's license check. Officer John Gregory arrived at the scene and remained with defendant while Officer Saxton called in the request. The initial check did not find anything on Terry Campbell, so the two officers asked defendant if he had any paperwork with his name on it. After defendant retrieved a pay stub from a bag in the car, Officer Saxton radioed the information to dispatch.
While waiting for a response from dispatch, the officers asked defendant if they could search the car, and defendant consented. Among the items found in the car were two men's wallets, neither of which belonged to defendant; a few containers, one of which appeared to contain urine; and a radio. In the trunk officers found a .22 caliber rifle, an axe, and some clothes. The wallets contained identification cards in the names of William Arthur Hall and Guy Miles. The officers asked defendant if the rifle was his. Defendant replied that he did not know it was in the car; but when Officer Gregory picked up the rifle, defendant said, "Watch it, it's loaded." Officer Gregory cleared the rifle for safety purposes by removing the bullets.
Dispatch notified the officers that defendant's driver's license had been suspended in North Carolina. The officers placed defendant under arrest for driving without a South Carolina driver's license. An inventory of the car was taken. The Aiken Department of Public Safety notified the authorities in Pender County, North Carolina, about the wallets found in the car. Pender County law enforcement officers used the information from the identification cards to conduct well-being checks on the two men whose wallets were found.
Pender County Sheriff's Deputy Jody Woodcock was dispatched to William Hall's house. All the doors were locked, but Deputy Woodcock was able to enter through an unlocked kitchen window. The deputy found Mr. Hall dead on the living room floor. Mr. Hall was found on his back with his head partially underneath a small table. Blood was pooled around his head, and cigarette butts and a paper cup were scattered around him. The only clothes on the body were long john bottoms and socks; Mr. Hall's genitalia were exposed. Blood was spattered on the living room ceiling and walls, including on a tapestry depicting the Last Supper that hung over the couch. Blood was also pooled on the couch. A towel lying on a love seat in the living room had blood on it, as did a table near the couch. In the master bedroom blood smears were found on a pillow lying near the foot of a bed, and bloodstains appeared on the floor. Coins and a pair of men's trousers were lying on the floor of the bedroom, and coins and loose coin wrappers were found on the bedroom closet floor. Blood also appeared on the door between the living room and the foyer.
Evidence collected at the crime scene and from defendant's body was sent to the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) for DNA testing. DNA profiles taken from the cigarette butts collected from around the victim's body were consistent with the victim and defendant. Blood found on defendant's jeans matched the victim's.
An autopsy performed on the victim revealed approximately eleven blunt trauma wounds to the head. The wounds were found on the front, top, and back of the head along with a skull fracture located under the wounds on the left front of the head. According to John Almeida, M.D., the pathologist who performed the autopsy, the injuries resulted in massive cerebral damage and intercerebral hemorrhage. Dr. Almeida testified that the victim died as a result of these trauma wounds, which were most likely caused by a "heavy cutting instrument." Several non-fatal wounds were also found on the victim's left forearm. Dr. Almeida determined that these wounds were defensive in nature. An analysis of the victim's blood showed no alcohol in his system.
During their investigation of the murder, police found video surveillance tapes showing defendant and the victim together at a Wal-Mart store in Wallace, North Carolina, at approximately 5:00 or 5:30 p.m. on 2 February 2000, the night of the murder. The victim and defendant were also seen together in a videotape purchasing a bottle of gin at an ABC store in Wallace that night.
After defendant was arrested, he was taken to the county jail, where his clothes and personal items were collected. On 4 February 2000 defendant wrote a thirteen page statement in which he gave his version of the events surrounding the murder. On 5 February 2000 defendant waived extradition and was transferred from South Carolina to Pender County, North Carolina.
George Corvin, M.D., an expert in forensic psychiatry, was called as a defense witness and testified that defendant did not suffer from any severe psychiatric illness but that defendant suffered from anxiety and had a history of significant problems with alcohol. Dr. Corvin also testified that defendant had extreme beliefs and fears regarding homosexuality. Additionally, Dr. Corvin stated that defendant felt that being touched by another man, however benignly, was "evil" and "unGodly" and that it would "change your manhood."
Defendant first assigns error to the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress all evidence discovered after he was stopped by the police in Aiken, South Carolina. This argument is based on defendant's contention that he was illegally seized in violation of his constitutional rights when he was detained by Officer Saxton, that there was no reasonable suspicion for the seizure, and that all evidence obtained as a result of the illegal seizure should have been suppressed. We disagree.
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the "right of the people to be secure . . . against unreasonable searches and seizures." U.S. Const. amend. IV. The Fourth Amendment is applicable to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. See State v. Watkins, 337 N.C. 437, 441, 446 S.E.2d 67, 69 (1994). Article I, Section 20 of the North Carolina Constitution provides similar protection against unreasonable seizures. N.C. Const. art. I, § 20.
The trial court conducted a hearing on defendant's motion to suppress on 25 February 2002. Testimony was taken from Officers Saxton and Gregory, as well as from Chief Investigator Dwayne Courtney. Based on the evidence produced at the hearing, the trial judge denied defendant's motion and later issued a written order with findings of fact and conclusions of law. The trial court made the following...
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