State v. Baldwin

• Decision Date: 10 January 1992
• Docket Number: No. 574A90,574A90
• Citation: 330 N.C. 446,412 S.E.2d 31
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Leonard BALDWIN.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 31

412 S.E.2d 31

330 N.C. 446

STATE of North Carolina v. Leonard BALDWIN.

No. 574A90.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Jan. 10, 1992.

Appeal as of right pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-27(a) from a judgment imposing a sentence of life imprisonment entered by Gaines, J., at the 23 July 1990 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Mecklenburg County, upon a jury verdict finding defendant guilty of first-degree murder. Defendant's motion to bypass the Court of Appeals as to his conviction of conspiracy to commit murder was allowed by this Court on 4 January 1991. Heard in the Supreme Court 15 November 1991.

Lacy H. Thornburg, Attorney General by Tiare B. Smiley, Sp. Deputy Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for the State.

Jean B. Lawson, Charlotte, for defendant-appellant.

MEYER, Justice.

Defendant was indicted for the murder and conspiracy to commit the murder of Roosevelt Bates and was tried capitally at the 23 July 1990 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Mecklenburg County. The jury returned verdicts finding defendant guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and first-degree murder on the theories of premeditated and deliberated murder and murder perpetrated by lying in wait. Following a sentencing proceeding conducted pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000, the jury determined that the sixteen mitigating circumstances found were sufficient to outweigh the one aggravating circumstance found and accordingly recommended a sentence of life imprisonment. The trial court, following the recommendation of the jury, sentenced defendant to life imprisonment for the murder of Bates and imposed a consecutive sentence of ten years' imprisonment for the conspiracy conviction.

On appeal, defendant brings forward numerous assignments of error. After a thorough review of the transcript of the proceedings, record on appeal, briefs, and oral arguments, we conclude that defendant received a fair trial free of prejudicial error, and we therefore affirm his convictions and sentences.

The evidence presented by the State at trial tended to show that Roosevelt Bates was the victim of a contract killing--that he was killed by defendant for money at the behest of the victim's girlfriend, Doretha Weathers, and pursuant to a plan devised by defendant and Weathers. According to the State's evidence, defendant was approached by his friend, Darwin Mobley, on 3 August 1989. Mobley said that he knew a woman who wanted defendant "to do something for her." Defendant agreed to go with Mobley to see the woman, and the two went to an apartment shared by Weathers and Bates. Weathers told defendant her name was Doretha and asked defendant if he would kill someone for $2,000. Defendant asked "who," and Weathers replied that she wanted her boyfriend killed. Defendant told Weathers that he would have to think about it and that he would "get back up with her." Defendant and Mobley then left. Mobley asked defendant if he was going to do it, and defendant replied, "I'll think about it."

At approximately 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. that evening, defendant was awakened at his home by Mobley. Mobley told defendant that a gun could be obtained from Jay Jones. Defendant and Mobley then walked toward Jones' house. Jones met them and said that he had only one bullet. Mobley asked Baldwin if he could do it with one bullet, and defendant said "No." Defendant, Mobley, and Jones then proceeded to Jones' house where Jones retrieved a .357 magnum, and the three then walked back to Mobley's home. They remained at Mobley's apartment until approximately 9:30 p.m. when they walked outside to watch a fight in the parking lot. Mobley left and returned a short time later with three bullets. Mobley took the gun, which already had one bullet in it, loaded three more bullets into the gun, and handed it to defendant.

At 9:55 p.m., defendant, carrying the loaded gun, walked with Mobley and Jones to Weathers' apartment. Defendant told Weathers that he had never shot anyone before. Weathers responded, "Don't worry, this is my third person I've done like this.... Third Boyfriend." Defendant and Weathers then walked into the apartment. Weathers escorted defendant to a bedroom, opened the closet door, and told defendant to get into the closet. Weathers told defendant that she would tell her boyfriend to get the sewing machine out of the closet and that when he came, defendant should shoot him. Defendant stepped into the closet and stood waiting, with his arms extended, pointing the gun at the closet door. About thirty seconds later, the bedroom light was turned on. The closet doors opened, and defendant saw Bates. Defendant aimed the gun and fired three shots, killing Bates. Weathers then rushed into the room and told defendant that he should leave and that she would pay him the next day.

After the shooting, defendant hid the gun in the woods and walked to Mobley's apartment. He told Mobley that he had shot the man and that he was going to turn himself in. Mobley told defendant that it would be "dumb" to do that and suggested that defendant go home. After defendant returned home, Jones came to defendant's house looking for the gun. Defendant retrieved the gun from the woods and handed it to Jones. At Jones' request, defendant gave Jones some alcohol which Jones used to clean the gun.

The next day, defendant went with Jones to Mobley's apartment. Mobley left and returned with a bag containing approximately $1,500.00. Mobley reached into the bag, handed defendant $300.00, and told defendant that Weathers would pay him the rest of the money later.

On 23 August 1989, defendant was arrested and questioned about the shooting. Initially, defendant denied any knowledge of the shooting and claimed that he had been across town at the time of the shooting. In response to being told that he had been implicated in the shooting, defendant stated, "Okay, I'll tell you about it."

Defendant then gave a statement, which was reduced to written form and signed by defendant, detailing the events of 3 August 1989. This statement was admitted into evidence at defendant's trial and, together with an out-of-court identification made by Weathers, served as the State's primary evidence against defendant.

Other evidence presented by the State included testimony concerning the investigation of the Bates' shooting. According to the testimony of two police officers, Bates' body was discovered lying face forward in the closet of a bedroom in his home. His "left arm was bent slightly near the upper portion of his body. His right arm was extended up and above his head into the closet area." A search of the victim's pockets revealed approximately $1,000.00 in cash, and in his right front pants pocket a small caliber pistol was found "down deep in the pocket" with the money on top. An autopsy of Bates' body established that he died as a result of two gunshot wounds to the upper left chest. One additional bullet was removed from the ceiling of the bedroom in which Bates' body was found.

A firearms examiner testified that he test-fired a .357 magnum that the police recovered from Jones. He stated that the trigger pull on the .357 magnum was normal--it was not a "hair trigger." He further testified that the two bullets recovered from Bates' body were of a different manufacture from the bullet recovered from the ceiling but all three had been fired by the .357 magnum obtained from Jones.

Throughout the trial, defense counsel proceeded on the theory that defendant was mentally incapable of planning and executing a plan of murder. Dr. Daniel Biber, an expert in psychological evaluations and testing, testified that he had performed a psychological evaluation of defendant in July 1990. Dr. Biber testified that his evaluation of defendant revealed that defendant thinks very concretely; that due to his inability to think things out, defendant is intellectually unable to plan future courses of behavior or evaluate alternatives; that defendant tends to take direction from others and is easily led by and dependent upon others; and that defendant is "easily lead [sic] in an interview" and may when making a statement or answer give an incomplete response.

Defendant testified that Mobley asked defendant if he would "kill somebody for $40,000.00" but that he never agreed to kill anyone. Defendant claimed that he went to the home of Bates and Weathers because he was scared that Weathers would have him killed. Defendant testified, "[Jones] told me that if I didn't kill the guy that Ms. Weathers would have somebody to kill me." Defendant also stated that on the day of the shooting "this boy named Donald Young approached me and put a small revolver to my side and pulled the trigger twice.... That made me think that that Lady was serious about having me killed if I didn't kill Mr. Bates."

In order to corroborate defendant's testimony of the alleged threat by Young, defense counsel also presented testimony of Mobley. Mobley testified that he saw Young threaten defendant by pointing a gun at him. However, on cross-examination, Mobley further stated that at the time of the threat, Young "said something about [defendant] messing with [Young's] nephews and talking about [Young]." This was the only evidence presented to explain Young's action and it in no way connected the threat made by Young to Weathers.

Defendant further testified that Weathers led him into the closet and told him "to stand in the closet until the bedroom light come [sic] on and that would be him and for me to shoot him." Defendant testified that he was scared and that when the door opened he was surprised. Up until that moment, defendant stated, he had not known whom he was supposed to shoot. When he saw Bates, he recognized him and did not intend to shoot him. Defendant also claimed that he saw a gun handle sticking out of Bates' pocket and that he fired two shots as Bates reached for the gun in his pocket.

Based on testimony elicited from defendant, Dr. Biber, and other...