State v. Bivins, 580

Decision Date20 May 1964
Docket NumberNo. 580,580
Citation262 N.C. 93,136 S.E.2d 250
CourtNorth Carolina Supreme Court
PartiesSTATE of North Carolina v. Alexander BIVINS.

Atty. Gen. T. W. Bruton and Asst. Atty. Gen. Richard T. Sanders, for the State.

Arthur L. Lane, Fayetteville, and Earl Whitted, Jr., Goldsboro, for defendant.

PER CURIAM.

Defendant has expressly abandoned all of his assignments of error except those based on his motion for nonsuit.

The evidence for the State is sufficient for the jury to find these facts: Defendant had on July 16, 1963 partaken of alcoholic beverages. Between 8:30 and 9:00 p. m. he parked his car across the street from the home of Othol Jackson. He got out of the car, crossed the street, and went to a window in the bedroom of the Jackson home. The room was occupied by Jackson and his wife. She was on the bed adjacent to the window. There was a wire screen in the window and on the inside of the window was a venetian blind. The slats in the blind were drawn shut, but the bottom of the blind lacked six to ten inches of reaching the window sill. Defendant's presence was discovered by the odor of alcohol which pervaded the bedroom. He was seen with his face pressed against the wire screen peering into the room.

Defendant contends that looking into the room when the blind was not tightly pressed against the window sill is not a 'peeping' within the meaning of the statute. The word 'peep' means to look cautiously or slyly--as if through a crevice--out from chinks and knotholes (Webster's Third International Dictionary). The conduct described constituted a peeping, hence the court properly overruled the motion for nonsuit.

Affirmed.

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3 cases
  • Banks, Matter of
    • United States
    • North Carolina Supreme Court
    • 6 Junio 1978
    ...had the occasion to deal with this statute in four prior cases: State v. Banks, 263 N.C. 784, 140 S.E.2d 318 (1965); State v. Bivins, 262 N.C. 93, 136 S.E.2d 250 (1964); State v. Bass, 253 N.C. 318, 116 S.E.2d 772 (1960); State v. Peterson, 232 N.C. 332, 59 S.E.2d 635 (1950). All four of th......
  • State v. Banks, 86
    • United States
    • North Carolina Supreme Court
    • 24 Febrero 1965
    ...the warrant. Likewise, in State v. Bass, 253 M.C. 318, 116 S.E.2d 772, the warrant gave the name of the female person. In State v. Bivins, 262 N.C. 93, 136 S.E.2d 250, the warrant gave the name of the female person and the street address of the room she occupied at the time the offense was ......
  • State v. Driver, 653
    • United States
    • North Carolina Supreme Court
    • 20 Mayo 1964

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