State v. Baldwin

• Decision Date: 29 December 2000
• Docket Number: No. COA99-1283.,COA99-1283.
• Citation: 540 S.E.2d 815,141 NC App. 596
• Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Kenneth A. BALDWIN.

540 S.E.2d 815

141 NC App. 596

STATE of North Carolina v. Kenneth A. BALDWIN.

No. COA99-1283.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

December 29, 2000.

Attorney General Michael F. Easley, by Assistant Attorney General Daniel D. Addison for the State.

Neil D. Weber, Wilmington, for the defendant-appellant.

WYNN, Judge.

This appeal stems from the defendant's conviction for second-degree kidnaping as a result of events that occurred on 29 and 30 December 1997, but relevant evidence was presented regarding events that occurred within several years prior and several months subsequent to that time. In September 1997, the defendant and Cheryl Lang had been married for approximately seventeen and a half years, during which time the defendant had allegedly abused her both physically and verbally on numerous occasions, beginning shortly after their marriage. The defendant and Ms. Lang had two children during their marriage, a son and a daughter. The alleged incidents of abuse by the defendant became more frequent around 1991 or 1992, and often involved the defendant pulling Ms. Lang's hair, and pushing, pulling, hitting or kicking her. The defendant allegedly would throw items across the room in fits of anger, and was alleged to have physically abused the children on occasion.

On 14 September 1997, the defendant and Ms. Lang, together with their children, were living in Brooklyn, New York, having recently moved there from Germany. The defendant, who was a master sergeant in the Army at the time, was assigned to John F. Kennedy Airport. The defendant and Ms. Lang had taken their children to Manhattan for the day to sightsee. That evening, after the kids had gone to bed, the defendant and Ms. Lang were watching television when they began to argue. The defendant, who had been drinking, allegedly pushed Ms. Lang and then dragged her into the kitchen to force her to make a phone call to her mother. When she refused, the defendant went to bed, leaving Ms. Lang in the kitchen and telling her not to move. Ms. Lang gathered some of her belongings, collected the children, and decided to leave. As they were preparing to leave, the defendant woke up and became angry. The defendant grabbed Ms. Lang's throat and threatened her and the children that if they left they could never come back. Ms. Lang left nonetheless, taking the children with her. After staying overnight in Wilmington, Delaware with Ms. Lang's aunt, they continued the following day to Wilmington, North Carolina to stay with Ms. Lang's parents. Although the defendant and Ms. Lang corresponded occasionally by telephone and letters, according to Ms. Lang's testimony they did not see one another again until December 1997.

At that time, Ms. Lang and the children were living in an apartment in Wilmington, North Carolina and Ms. Lang was working at Chloride Power and Electronics. On 24 December 1997 the defendant, who was from Wilmington and had family in the area, arrived in Wilmington for the Christmas holidays. The defendant was staying with his sister and her husband while in Wilmington. The defendant called Ms. Lang at her apartment at 10:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve and asked to see her. She responded that it was too late. On Christmas Day, Ms. Lang and the children spent several hours with the defendant and his family at the defendant's sister's house. Ms. Lang testified that during this gathering, upon prompting by the defendant, she told the defendant that the chances of their getting back together were not good. Over the next several days, the defendant visited Ms. Lang's apartment off and on to visit her and the children.

On 29 December 1997, Ms. Lang returned home from working all day. The defendant was at her apartment and had cooked dinner with the children, and they all sat down for dinner. After dinner, the children went to watch television and the defendant and Ms. Lang cleaned up, after which they went to her bedroom to talk in private. At that point Ms. Lang told the defendant that there was no chance of their reconciling and that the relationship was over. The defendant then made her walk out and tell the children that she was leaving the defendant and that they were getting a divorce, after which the defendant left the apartment, only to return a short time later.

When he returned to Ms. Lang's apartment approximately thirty minutes later, the defendant told Ms. Lang that there was something he needed to tell her before he left, and he again directed her back to the bedroom away from the children. After closing the bedroom door, the defendant pulled out a gun that he had retrieved from his sister's house while he was gone. The defendant pointed the gun in the air and waved it around, then chambered a round and pointed the gun at his own head, threatening to kill himself and stating that he had nothing to live for. Ms. Lang screamed and begged him not to kill himself and the defendant told her to keep quiet. He threw several hundred dollars at Ms. Lang and took off his wedding ring, giving it to Ms. Lang and telling her to give it to their daughter. The defendant told Ms. Lang that his insurance papers were in his foot locker and told her its combination.

Over the next several hours, Ms. Lang begged the defendant not to kill himself and to put the gun down. He would alternately hold the gun to his head, and then lower it. At breaks in the conversation, the defendant would remove the clip from the gun, but then reinsert it. Ms. Lang testified that she was petrified and was worried that the gun may fire accidentally. Ms. Lang asked the defendant why he was going to kill himself in her apartment, and he responded that he wanted to do it in front of her. Ms. Lang asked if she could take the children elsewhere, but the defendant refused to allow her or the children to leave. He later told Ms. Lang that the children could leave, but Ms. Lang did not want the children to wander the busy street outside alone, so they stayed.

Ms. Lang continued begging the defendant not to kill himself, and he repeatedly asked her questions about what had gone wrong with their marriage and why she did not love him anymore. At one point, the defendant, who is diabetic, left the apartment to retrieve his glucometer from his car, taking the phone receiver with him. He instructed Ms. Lang not to move, and returned approximately a minute later with his glucometer. After testing his blood-sugar level with the glucometer and taking a shot, the defendant again threatened to kill himself, telling Ms. Lang to call an ambulance, which she refused to do.

This pattern continued into the morning of 30 December 1997, with the defendant threatening to kill himself and asking Ms. Lang what had gone wrong and Ms. Lang begging him not to kill himself and to allow her to leave. At one point during this period, Ms. Lang fell asleep for a short time, and awoke on the bed next to the defendant, who was awake with the gun next to him. The defendant did not allow her to leave the bedroom that night. At another point during the evening, the defendant and Ms. Lang had sexual intercourse, which Ms. Lang alleged to be non-consensual. In the morning of 30 December, the defendant again checked his blood-sugar level and took an insulin shot. Ms. Lang then accompanied the defendant to the kitchen where he got a soda, after which they returned to the bedroom. The defendant, threatening to shoot himself imminently, allowed Ms. Lang to leave the room to be with the children to comfort them when they heard the shot. Not wanting to wake the children, Ms. Lang instead sat in the hallway outside the bedroom with her hands over her ears. Shortly thereafter the defendant came and took her back into the bedroom, threatened again to kill himself, and again refused to allow Ms. Lang or the children to leave the apartment. The defendant briefly allowed Ms. Lang to leave the bedroom to go check on her son, whose bedroom door had opened, but he came and retrieved her again shortly thereafter.

After some convincing, the defendant allowed Ms. Lang to call her employer so she would not lose her job, but stood close by during the call and told her to be careful what she said. Ms. Lang simply told her superiors that she was sick and hung up. Later that morning, a cable repairman stopped by in response to a repair call Ms. Lang had placed several days earlier. Ms. Lang left the bedroom to tell the repairman what was wrong, and the defendant stayed immediately behind her the entire time the repairman was in the apartment. After the repairman had left, Ms. Lang convinced the defendant to eat something to keep his blood sugar up and made a sandwich for him.

Eventually the defendant said something about needing help, and Ms. Lang agreed. Around 4:00 p.m. on 30 December 1997, Ms. Lang drove the defendant to the base hospital at Camp Lejeune. Before leaving for the hospital, the defendant gave to Ms. Lang the clip of bullets from the gun, which she hid in the apartment. She showered quickly, while the defendant talked to the children and told them what he was doing. After checking the defendant into the psychiatric ward at Camp Lejeune, Ms. Lang returned to Wilmington to her parents' house, where she broke down and told her parents of the overnight ordeal.

In February 1998, after talking with an attorney, Randall Rusch, Ms. Lang took out a restraining order against the defendant. She also filed a civil suit including claims for divorce, alimony, equitable distribution and child custody. Also in February 1998, Ms. Lang spoke to a domestic violence investigator with the Wilmington Police Department, Detective Malcolm Phelps. On 29 May 1998, at the urging of Mr. Rusch, Ms. Lang again spoke to Detective Phelps in detail regarding the events of 29 and 30 December 1997, and explained that she had been unable to serve the defendant with the restraining order. After giving a detailed statement to Detective Phelps and expressing her...