State v. Allison
| Citation | 265 N.C. 512,144 S.E.2d 578 |
| Decision Date | 03 November 1965 |
| Docket Number | No. 167,167 |
| Parties | STATE, v. James Howard ALLISON. |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Atty. Gen. T. W. Bruton and Asst. Atty. Gen. James F. Bullock, for the State.
David Clark, Lincolnton, for defendant appellant.
Appellant assigns as error (1) the denial of his motion for judgment as of nonsuit, and (2) the denial of his motion to set aside the verdict.
The evidence consists of that offered by the State and of the testimony of witness offered by Steppe, to wit, Steppe's mother. Allison did not testify or offer evidence.
The State's evidence consists of the testimony of Joe Anderson, John Max Bradley, R. L. Sigmon, a State Highway Patrolman, and James Melvin, Davidson County Jailer, and of exhibits. This evidence tends to show the facts narrated below.
Joe Anderson's store is located on N. C. Highway #16 in Lowesville in the eastern portion of Lincoln County. Joe Anderson owns the building and operates a general merchandise store therein. The store has a front door and a back door. About 7:00 p. m. on Friday, January 22, 1965, Joe Anderson in person closed his store, locking the front door and barring the back door. When he returned to the store about 7:00 a. m. the following morning, Saturday, January 23, 1965, he found the front door had been 'forced open' and the back door 'was just unbarred.' Within the store there was 'general confusion.' The combination to his safe had been knocked off. Numerous articles of merchandise, of a value much in excess of $200.00, were missing. Shoes were among the articles missing.
On Friday, January 22, 1965, at the request of Allison, Allison, John Max Bradley and Donny Lee Bradley drove from Burlington, N. C. to Charlotte, N. C. in Donny Lee Bradley's blue and white 1957 Buick. There they met Steppe. The four 'got something to eat' at a Charlotte restaurant. Steppe had some 'pills' and, while at the restaurant, the four started taking these pills, 'around 7 or 7:30 or 8, on Friday night, the 22nd of Jnauary.' While the four were together in the restaurant, Donny Lee Bradley, the older brother (25) of John Max Bradley (16), was arrested and locked up for public drunkenness.
Allison, Steppe and John Max Bradley (Bradley) left the restaurant and 'went to a man's house in Charlotte.' There Allison and Steppe got out, got a blanket with some tools in it and 'put them in the front seat on the front floor board.' Bradley went to sleep. When he waked up Allison and Steppe 'were fixing to turn off the highway.' They turned off the highway and parked near a church. Bradley went with Allison and Steppe to the back of a store. Allison and Steppe carried the tools from the car. They instructed Bradley 'to tell them if any cars were coming.' Bradley did not enter the store. Allison and Steppe went around to the front and thereafter came out the back door, bringing 'some stuff out in boxes.' (According to Bradley, this store was in Lincoln County or Gaston County, 'coming into Lincoln or going out of Lincoln.') Allison, Steppe and Bradley were at the store 'after midnight.'
Leaving the store, Allison, Steppe and Bradely went to the house of one Bid Blackman in Charlotte. There Allison backed the car up to the garage and Allison and Steppe 'unloaded some stuff.' Bradley was asleep and did not remember what occurred after the trip to Blackman's house until the car wreck in Davidson County. When the car wreck occurred, John Max Bradley, Donny Lee Bradley, Allison and Steppe were the occupants of the car.
Shortly after 1:30 p. m. on Saturday, January 23, 1965, R. L .Sigmon went to the scene of a one-car wreck on U. S. Highway #29, about a mile south of Lexington, N. C. The car involved, 'a two-tone 1957 Buick,' had gone off the left side of the lane for northbound traffic, down a 25-30 foot embankment and was stopped 'kind of at an angle into some trees.' Allison was under the steering wheel. Steppe was in the front seat beside Allison. Donny Lee Bradley and John Max Bradley were in the back seat.
The trunk of the car contained a wide variety of articles of personal property. Among the articles in...
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