State v. Amerson
| Decision Date | 17 June 2003 |
| Docket Number | NO. COA02-375.,COA02-375. |
| Parties | STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. QUINCY MARQUIES AMERSON. |
| Court | North Carolina Court of Appeals |
Daniel Shatz for defendant.
Quincy Marquies Amerson ("defendant") appeals from a jury verdict and conviction for first-degree murder based on premeditation and deliberation and from a judgment sentencing him to life imprisonment without parole. The jury found defendant not guilty of first-degree kidnapping and felony murder. We find no prejudicial error.
On Saturday, 7 August 1999, at approximately 4:15 a.m., Denise Parker drove her vehicle from her home and headed northeast on Cameron Hill Road, a two-lane paved state secondary road, toward N.C. Highway 24, on her way to catch a flight from the Fayettevilleairport. The road was "extremely dark." Parker observed the body of a young girl lying in the southwest lane of Cameron Hill Road, as it leads toward its intersection with Hillman Grove Road. Ms. Parker turned her vehicle around on Wilderness Lane, drove back toward the body, and parked on the shoulder off the road. She tried, but was unable to reach 911 on her cell phone and called her husband, who called 911. Parker testified that she believed the girl was already dead.
While waiting for her husband and the police to arrive on the scene, she observed a vehicle, coming from the direction of Highway 24 and traveling on Cameron Hill Road toward Hillman Grove Road, run over the girl's body in the road. That vehicle, driven by Elizabeth Hogg, turned around in Yorkshire Plantation, returned to the scene, and parked facing Ms. Parker's vehicle. When Ms. Hogg and her boyfriend, Ronald Anderson, realized that the girl lying in the road was dead and learned that the authorities had been called, they left the scene. Ms. Hogg's car was later seized and searched by law enforcement officers.
Ryan Gautier testified that he was driving down Cameron Hill Road from Highway 24 at approximately 4:05 that morning. He saw something not moving in the middle of the road and attempted to "straddle it." He testified, "As I straddled it, it hit the underneath rear of my truck."
Cathy Bryant testified that she was delivering papers along Cameron Hill Road that morning. She did not see anything in the roadway when she went by the scene between 2:15 and 2:30 a.m. Around 3:00 a.m., Ms. Bryant noticed a small, dark-colored car and a white SUV or mini van coming from the direction of Highway 24 and traveling on Cameron Hill Road toward Hillman Grove Road.
Thomas Bradshaw and Clinton Hill had attended a party at a residence off of Cameron Hill Road that night. As he and his friend were traveling down Cameron Hill Road toward Highway 24 after the party at approximately 3:45 a.m., Bradshaw noticed a blue or black Honda Accord pulling away from the side of the road near where the body of the girl was later found. Both observed the body laying in the road. Because of Hill's concern for his daughter and nieces, who were spending the night close by, Bradshaw turned around without going off the road and went to check on the girls. Bradshaw called 911 from Hill's sister's house and was told that the police had already been informed of the body in the road. Bradshaw, Hill, and Hill's sister returned to the scene and encountered the Parkers, waiting for the police to arrive.
Trooper D.L. Hawkins of the Highway Patrol arrived on the scene and One basis for his determination was that blood spray was evident in both directions although the body lay in one lane.
Agent Michael East of the State Bureau of Investigation found tire imprints both on and off the road in a field near the body which indicated that a vehicle had turned around there. Officers also found blood, pieces of tissue, earrings, charms, hair bows, a bracelet, a necklace, and more tire impressions and marks at thescene. Police also found a vehicle's wheel well liner located on the Highway 24 side of the body at the edge of the roadway in the northeast lane.
The body was identified to be Sherita Rivera ("Sherita") by her school principal. Trooper Hawkins drove with Agent East, Sabrina Currin of the Harnett County Sheriff's Office, and Trooper Stallings of the Highway Patrol to Sherita's home. Although a vehicle was parked in the driveway, no one answered when the officers knocked on the locked door. Trooper Hawkins heard a child crying inside the house. Because of the suspected murder of Sherita and the child crying, the agents decided "to do a forced entry into the house." Inside the house, Deputy Currin found an infant male alone and crying in his room, and removed him from the house. In the master bedroom, officers found the dead body of Patrice Rivera ("Patrice"), Sherita's mother. Patrice's throat was slashed and her chest contained multiple stab wounds. Patrice was a sergeant in the U.S. Army stationed at Fort Bragg. Her husband also served in the Army and was stationed in Korea at the time of the deaths.
Defendant lived approximately 75 yards away from the Rivera home. During a canvass of the neighborhood and because of defendant's previous relationship with Patrice, Agent East interviewed defendant on Saturday afternoon. Defendant stated that he had known Patrice for approximately two years and had spoken with her the previous afternoon. Defendant stated that the last time he had sexual relations with Patrice was one month prior toher death at her residence, which was the last time he was inside her residence. Defendant stated he did not own a vehicle and received rides from his girlfriend, Regina Garrett ("Garrett"), when he needed to travel. Defendant was restricted to an 8:00 p.m. probation curfew. Defendant spent Friday afternoon driving around in Garrett's black Honda Accord. He stated that he saw Patrice outside her residence at 8:00 p.m. talking to a neighbor. Later that evening, defendant left his residence to purchase alcohol and drove along Gilcrest Road. Defendant stated that he returned home at approximately 1:00 a.m., but then left a few minutes later to spend the night with Garrett. Garrett drove defendant home at approximately 10:00 a.m. the following morning.
When defendant was told that Patrice and Sherita had been murdered, defendant "sat back and said, `Oh,' very casual." Defendant stated that he had not killed them and that the only individual who would want to hurt Patrice was Tony Yarborough. Agent East subsequently learned that Yarborough was incarcerated in Harnett County Jail at the time of the murder. Agent East attempted to interview defendant again at the Harnett County Law Enforcement Center, but defendant made no further statements at the time.
The police met with Garrett and impounded her black Honda Accord on Sunday, 8 August 1999, after she returned home from attending a wedding in Charlotte. The police noticed that the wheel well liner was missing from the right front of Garrett's vehicle and discovered blood and human tissue underneath thevehicle. The wheel well liner found at the scene was later determined to have come off of Garrett's Honda. After impounding the car, the police re-interviewed defendant. Defendant stated that, between 10:30 and 11:00 p.m. on Friday night, he drove alone to a convenience store on Highway 87 to purchase "blunts" and then drove to Gilcrest Road and conducted a narcotics transaction. Defendant stated he called Garrett from his residence between 1:00 and 1:30 a.m. and told her he was on his way to her residence. He arrived at Garrett's home around 2:00 a.m.
Defendant stated he was not sure which route he had taken to Gilcrest Road because he was "F____ked up" on alcohol and marijuana. Agent East then asked defendant:
why did he did [sic] not tell Special Agent East that he had traveled on Cameron Hill Road on the previous interview. [Defendant] replied, quote, "When I went down that road, I didn't feel no bumps or whatever," end quote.
Defendant stated that he turned left on Cameron Hill Road from Bradford Estates. Cameron Hill Road eventually intersected with Hillman Grove Road. He turned right onto Hillman Grove Road. Garrett lived near the intersection of Hillman Grove Road and Highway 24.
After telling Agent East of prior damage to the car, defendant stated:
that maybe he ran over some of Sherita Rivera's brains or blood in the roadway and that he did not hit her body. Detective Webb then advised [defendant] that, if he was traveling in the direction which [defendant] had previously indicated, then he would have had to have run over Sherita Rivera's body because it was in his lane. [Defendant]stated, quote, "Maybe I ran over pieces of her in the road," end quote.
Agent East informed defendant that officers had found pieces of the Honda several hundred yards away, between Highway 24 and Sherita's body. East advised defendant that the plastic wheel well liner would not have fallen off prior to the vehicle running over the body. "[Defendant] stated that he had a lot of enemies and that somebody put pieces of Sherita Rivera's blood and hair, clothing, and human tissue up under his car to frame him." However, defendant did not identify anyone. Defendant was arrested for the murder of Sherita.
Sergeant William H. Thompson of the Highway Patrol testified for the State as an accident reconstruction expert. Sergeant Thompson stopped his vehicle on the Highway 24 side of the scene, prior to reaching Sherita's body. As he started walking toward the body, "The first thing I observed was a plastic [auto] body part on the left-hand side of the...
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