State v. Best
| Citation | 674 S.E.2d 467 |
| Decision Date | 07 April 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. COA08-659.,COA08-659. |
| Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. Antavio Derrell BEST. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of North Carolina (US) |
Parish, Cooke & Condlin, by James R. Parish, Fayetteville, for defendant.
A defendant "may not be punished both for felony murder and for the underlying, `predicate' felony, even in a single prosecution."1 Defendant Antavio Derrell Best argues that his sentences for accessory-after-the-fact to first-degree murder and accessory-after-the-fact to first-degree kidnapping violate double jeopardy. Because the jury could have found Defendant guilty of accessory after the fact to first-degree murder based on the kidnapping, pursuant to the felony murder rule, we arrest judgment on Defendant's convictions for accessory-after-the-fact to first-degree kidnapping. We also vacate the award of restitution because there is an insufficient causal link to support the award.
On 15 November 2003, Defendant drove his car to pick up his friends Stephen Antonio Bell and Rafty Brown. After spending 20 to 60 minutes at a "bootleg liquor house," Defendant drove to a store, where Mr. Brown gave him money to buy duct tape. Defendant bought the tape, gave it to Mr. Brown, and said he needed to get home to his family. However, Mr. Brown said he needed to go to someone's house, and gave directions as Defendant drove there. Mr. Brown instructed Defendant to turn out the headlights and to wait in the car; thereafter, he and Mr. Bell went inside the house.
About 10 to 15 minutes later, Mr. Brown returned to the car and told Defendant that he had duct taped some people and needed to take them away. Defendant told Mr. Brown that "he didn't want any part of this." In response, Mr. Brown pointed a shotgun at Defendant and told him that he would kill Defendant and his family if Defendant did not help. Mr. Brown instructed Defendant to open the trunk of his car, and Defendant complied. Thereafter, Mr. Brown and Mr. Bell led three people, one after the other, out of the house to Defendant's car; they placed a male (later identified as Randolph Carr) and a female (later identified as Carrie Jones) into the trunk, and another male (later identified as Jimmy Ray Turner) into the back seat.2 Mr. Bell got into the front passenger's seat and Mr. Brown sat in the back seat on the driver's side, directly behind Defendant.
Defendant drove, following Mr. Brown's directions. In a statement he later gave to police, Defendant recalled hearing Mr. Brown scream at the male victim in the back seat, "Where are the drugs, Jimmy?"
At some point after riding for several miles, Mr. Brown directed Defendant to stop the car; he got out of the car, removed some logs from a driveway, and instructed Defendant to back his car in. Mr. Brown told Defendant to open the trunk, and not to move. Then, Mr. Bell took the male victim out of the backseat of the car; Mr. Brown removed the other victims from the trunk. Mr. Brown and Mr. Bell then walked the three victims into the woods while Defendant stayed in the car. Defendant stated that he heard Mr. Brown tell the three victims, "You are going to die." After Mr. Bell came back and stood by the driver's side window of Defendant's car, Defendant heard sounds of people being beaten and a shotgun being cocked, but not discharged. Mr. Brown came back to Defendant's car, retrieved a cinder block, and returned to the woods. Defendant stated that he heard sounds of people being beaten for the next 10 to 15 minutes.
Thereafter, Mr. Brown returned to Defendant's car with blood on his face, and without his shirt. Mr. Brown then instructed Defendant to drive to Mr. Brown's mother's house where he obtained a large gasoline jug, got back into Defendant's car, and instructed him to drive back to where the three victims were located.
When they returned to the scene, Mr. Brown told Mr. Bell to burn the three bodies, but Mr. Bell refused. Mr. Brown then took the gas container into the woods, and Defendant recalled seeing flames shortly thereafter. Mr. Brown returned to Defendant's car and instructed him to drive back to Mr. Brown's mother's house, where Mr. Brown left the gas container. Mr. Brown got back into the car, and directed Defendant to drive to the Village Inn Motel in Warsaw. When they arrived, Mr. Brown and Mr. Bell got out, and Mr. Brown told Defendant that he would kill him and his family if Mr. Brown heard anything about the murders.
After leaving Mr. Brown and Mr. Bell, Defendant washed the exterior and vacuumed the interior of his car. In his statement to police, Defendant said that he did not report the crimes after leaving Mr. Brown and Mr. Bell because he feared for the safety of himself and his family. The next morning, Mr. Bell called Defendant from the motel for a ride to Mount Olive. Defendant went to pick up Mr. Brown and Mr. Bell, but they had already checked out when he arrived.
At trial, Cassandra Harding testified that she had been in a relationship with Mr. Brown, knew Mr. Bell and Defendant, and that she had picked up Mr. Brown and Mr. Bell from the motel on 16 November 2003. Ms. Harding also testified that she attended a party that evening, where she saw Defendant and Mr. Bell "standing side-by-side basically the whole time that I was there."
On 21 November 2003, Defendant went with his father to the police station to give a statement. After giving his statement, Defendant was placed under arrest and read his Miranda rights. He then gave a second statement which was substantially similar to the first.
Defendant was indicted for three counts each of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, accessory-after-the-fact to first-degree murder, accessory-after-the-fact to first-degree kidnapping, one count of burglary, and one count of accessory-after-the-fact to burglary. A jury acquitted Defendant of the three first-degree murder charges, but deadlocked on the remaining charges. At a second trial on the remaining charges, the jury found Defendant not guilty of the three counts of kidnapping, the count of first-degree burglary, and the count of accessory-after-the-fact to burglary. However, Defendant was found guilty of three counts each of accessory-after-the-fact to first-degree murder and accessory-after-the-fact to first-degree kidnapping.
Defendant appeals from these judgments arguing: (I) the evidence was insufficient to support the accessory-after-the-fact to first-degree murder and accessory-after-the-fact to first-degree kidnapping charges; (II) the trial court committed plain error by failing to instruct the jury that duress could be a defense to accessory-after-the-fact to first-degree murder and accessory-after-the-fact to first-degree kidnapping; (III) the trial court erred by failing to instruct that Defendant could rely on evidence presented in the State's case-in-chief; (IV) his convictions for accessory-after-the-fact to first-degree murder and accessory-after-the-fact to first-degree kidnapping violate his right against double jeopardy because the same evidence was used to establish elements of both crimes, and because kidnapping was the predicate offense to his accessory-after-the-fact to first-degree murder convictions; (V) the trial court committed plain error by giving a confusing and incomplete instruction; (VI) the trial court committed plain error by omitting an element from its instruction on accessory-after-the-fact to first-degree murder; and (VII) the trial court erred by ordering him to pay restitution.
In his first assignment of error, Defendant argues that the trial court should have granted his motion to dismiss the accessory-after-the-fact charges because the State introduced exculpatory evidence and its case-in-chief established, if anything, that Defendant was a principal offender, not an accessory. We disagree.
To withstand a motion to dismiss, the State must present "substantial evidence (1) of each essential element of the offense charged, or of a lesser offense included therein, and (2) of defendant's being the perpetrator of such offense." State v. Fritsch, 351 N.C. 373, 378, 526 S.E.2d 451, 455, cert. denied, 531 U.S. 890, 121 S.Ct. 213, 148 L.Ed.2d 150 (2000) (citation omitted). The State is entitled to the most favorable view of the evidence, including all reasonable inferences. Id. (citation omitted).
The elements of accessory-after-the-fact are: (1) a principal has committed the felony; (2) Defendant gave assistance to the principal to evade detection, arrest or punishment; and (3) Defendant knew the principal committed the felony. State v. Barnes, 116 N.C.App. 311, 316, 447 S.E.2d 478, 480 (1994) (citing State v. Duvall, 50 N.C.App. 684, 691, 275 S.E.2d 842, 849, rev'd on other grounds, 304 N.C. 557, 284 S.E.2d 495 (1981)). Moreover, accessory-after-the-fact "is a substantive crime-not a lesser degree of the principal crime," so a defendant may not be charged and tried as a principal, but convicted as an accessory. State v. Johnson, 136 N.C.App. 683, 695, 525 S.E.2d 830, 837 (2000).
Here, notwithstanding any exculpatory evidence in its case-in-chief, the State presented substantial evidence of each element of accessory-after-the-fact to first-degree murder and kidnapping. Specifically, the State's evidence showed that Defendant watched Mr. Brown and Mr. Bell put the bound victims into his car. He heard Mr. Brown telling the victims they were going to die as Mr. Brown led them into the woods. After hearing the sounds of people being beaten, he drove Mr. Brown and Mr. Bell from the crime scene to Mr. Brown's mother's house, and then back to the crime scene. Defendant heard Mr. Brown tell Mr. Bell to set the victims on fire; he also heard Mr....
To continue reading
Request your trial