State v. Williams
| Decision Date | 12 December 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 256A08.,256A08. |
| Citation | 669 S.E.2d 290,362 N.C. 628 |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. Theodore Jerry WILLIAMS. |
Roy Cooper, Attorney General, by Derrick C. Mertz, Assistant Attorney General, for the State-appellant.
Richard E. Jester, Loouisburg, for defendant-appellee.
This case requires us to decide whether dismissal of a criminal charge against defendant was appropriate under N.C.G.S. § 15A-954(a)(4). In a pretrial hearing, the State admitted to the existence, possession, and destruction of material evidence favorable to defendant and acknowledged that it was impossible to produce the evidence at that time or, by implication, at any future trial. Based on these circumstances, we conclude that the State flagrantly violated defendant's constitutional rights and irreparably prejudiced the preparation of his defense. Accordingly, we find the requirements of N.C.G.S. § 15A-954(a)(4) satisfied and affirm the Court of Appeals.
Theodore Jerry Williams (defendant) was arrested and placed in the Stanly County Detention Center on 17 November 2003 on charges unrelated to the present matter. During February and March 2004 and while in custody in Stanly County, defendant initiated actions in various courts naming an assistant district attorney for Stanly County, the Stanly County Sheriff, and the Stanly County Commissioners for alleged civil rights violations.
After filing these actions, defendant was transferred to the Union County Jail on 19 April 2004. Even though defendant made numerous requests, he received neither the paperwork authorizing nor an explanation for his transfer. Less than twenty-four hours after his arrival at the Union County Jail, defendant was charged with misdemeanor assault on a government official at that facility. The State alleged that defendant punched Union County Sheriff's Deputy Brad Moseley when Deputy Moseley attempted to remove defendant from a holding cell. Defendant denied the allegation and testified that in the early morning hours of 20 April 2004, he was maced and beaten by multiple officers at the Union County Jail, where he sustained severe injuries, including a broken arm. Defendant testified he was then transferred back to the Stanly County Detention Center midday on 20 April 2004, and photographs were taken of him at that time for reprocessing purposes. The photographs showed the bruises and wounds defendant sustained at the Union County Jail.
Defendant further testified that after the events of 20 April 2004 and while he was being held in Stanly County, two individuals, one of whom was defendant's attorney, informed defendant of a poster they had seen on a wall in the offices of the District Attorney for the Twentieth Prosecutorial District, which included Stanly and Union Counties at the time. The poster contained two photographs of defendant. The first depicted defendant without any injuries as he appeared when processed into the Stanly County Detention Center on 17 November 2003, with a caption stating: "Before he sued the D.A.'s office." The second photograph depicted the injured defendant as he appeared when processed back into the Stanly County Detention Center on 20 April 2004, with a caption stating: "After he sued the D.A.'s office." Defendant testified that after viewing the poster, his attorney began making requests and serving subpoenas to obtain the poster and the photographs used to create the poster. However, defendant never received any of the requested items. At a pretrial hearing in Stanly County on 11 July 2005 concerning charges in that jurisdiction, Assistant District Attorney Stephen Higdon (ADA Higdon) admitted to the existence of the poster, its removal and destruction, and the impossibility of producing it or the original photographs that appeared on the poster.
After defendant was indicted for having attained habitual felon status, the Union County Grand Jury returned a superseding true bill of indictment on 30 October 2006, charging defendant with felony assault on a government officer or employee. Proceeding pro se, on 28 November 2006, defendant filed a Motion to Dismiss for Prosecutorial Misconduct and Brady1 Violation, in accordance with N.C.G.S. § 15A-954. A hearing was held on the motion on 18 January 2007. Defendant testified that he helped fill out and serve the subpoenas and that the poster existed at the time the initial subpoenas were served. The State declined to cross-examine or otherwise rebut defendant's evidence and presented no evidence of its own. Instead, the State opposed defendant's motion solely on legal grounds.
The salient portions of the trial judge's findings of fact from the hearing include the following:
4) That on April the 19th of 2004 the Defendant was transported to Union County. . . .
. . . .
6) The Defendant alleges that he was assaulted by various officers and members of the Union County Jail. . . . That on April the 20th, 2004, the Defendant was photographed by the staff of the Stanly County Jail. . . .
7) That the photograph of the Defendant made on April 20th, 2004, showed the Defendant's condition during a time relevant to the subject prosecution.
8) That in May of 2004, Detention Officer Becky Green of the Stanly County Sheriff's Office went on an unrelated matter to the Stanly County office of the District Attorney for the 20th Prosecutorial District, that while in the office Ms. Green saw a poster which contained two photographs of the Defendant. One photograph . . . was made when the Defendant was processed into the jail on November 17th of 2003, with a caption saying, in quotation, "Before suing the District Attorney's office," closed quotation, and a second photograph . . . that was made when the Defendant was processed back into the Stanly County Jail between April 19th and 20th of 2004, which showed the Defendant's injuries and was captioned, quotation, "After he sued the District Attorney's office". . . .
9) That during proceedings regarding this case and upon the request of the Defendant for discovery and disclosure that [ADA] Higdon stated in open court that the poster had been destroyed and was not available, and that the subject photographs originally taken at the Stanly County Jail were not available as well.
Based on these findings of fact, the trial judge concluded the following as a matter of law:
1) That the photographs of the Defendant made during his processing into the Stanly County Jail on November 17th of 2003 and again between April the 19th and 20th of 2004 are relevant and material to the defense of the subject prosecution.
2) That the poster of the photographs described herein was willfully destroyed and not made available to the Defendant although the Defendant made a valid and timely request for same.
3) That the original photographs described herein have not been made available and as represented by the State of North Carolina are unavailable to the Defendant, even though implicitly requested by the Defendant.
4) That due to the destruction or failure of the State to provide this evidence, which is material and may be exculpatory in nature, the Defendant's rights pursuant to the Constitution of the United States and the North Carolina Constitution have been flagrantly violated and there is such irreparable prejudice to the Defendant's preparation of his case that there is no remedy but to dismiss the prosecution.
The State timely appealed to the Court of Appeals, where a majority affirmed the trial court's ruling. State v. Williams, ___ N.C.App. ___, ___, 660 S.E.2d 189, 190 (2008). The dissenting judge at the Court of Appeals argued that finding of fact number nine was not supported by competent evidence and that the trial judge's conclusions of law were erroneous. Id. at ___, 660 S.E.2d at 196-97 (Tyson, J., dissenting). The State timely appealed to this Court based on the dissent.
In reviewing a trial judge's findings of fact, we are "strictly limited to determining whether the trial judge's underlying findings of fact are supported by competent evidence, in which event they are conclusively binding on appeal, and whether those factual findings in turn support the judge's ultimate conclusions of law." State v. Cooke, 306 N.C. 132, 134, 291 S.E.2d 618, 619 (1982) (citations omitted). Even if "evidence is conflicting," the trial judge is in the best position to "resolve the conflict." State v. Smith, 278 N.C. 36, 41, 178 S.E.2d 597, 601, cert. denied, 403 U.S. 934, 91 S.Ct. 2266, 29 L.Ed.2d 715 (1971). The decision that defendant has met the statutory requirements of N.C.G.S. § 15A-954(a)(4) and is entitled to a dismissal of the charge against him is a conclusion of law. "Conclusions of law drawn by the trial court from its findings of fact are reviewable de novo on appeal." Carolina Power & Light Co. v. City of Asheville, 358 N.C. 512, 517, 597 S.E.2d 717, 721 (2004) (citing Humphries v. City of Jacksonville, 300 N.C. 186, 187, 265 S.E.2d 189, 190 (1980)). "Under a de novo review, the court considers the matter anew and freely substitutes its own judgment" for that of the lower tribunal. In re Appeal of The Greens of Pine Glen Ltd. P'ship, 356 N.C. 642, 647, 576 S.E.2d 316, 319 (2003) (citing Mann Media, Inc. v. Randolph Cty. Planning Bd., 356 N.C. 1, 13, 565 S.E.2d 9, 17 (2002)).
The trial judge's order does not falter on finding of fact number nine. That finding of fact states:
That during proceedings regarding this case and upon the request of the Defendant for discovery and disclosure that [ADA] Higdon stated in open court that...
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