State v. Blankenship
Decision Date | 09 September 1994 |
Docket Number | No. 341A92,341A92 |
Citation | 337 N.C. 543,447 S.E.2d 727 |
Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. Anthony Ray BLANKENSHIP. |
Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Michael F. Easley, Atty. Gen. by Jane R. Garvey, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
Malcolm R. Hunter, Jr., Appellate Defender by Staples Hughes, Asst. Appellate Defender, for defendant-appellant.
On 16 September 1991, a Wilkes County Grand Jury indicted defendant, Anthony Ray Blankenship, for the first-degree kidnappings and first-degree murders of Galvin Lee Sidden and Garry Patrick Sidden, Jr. Following an order changing venue to Yadkin County, defendant, because he was only 15 years old when the crimes were committed, 1 was tried noncapitally at the 22 June 1992 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Yadkin County. On 25 June 1992, the jury returned verdicts finding defendant guilty of each count of first-degree murder under both the theory of premeditation and deliberation and the theory of felony murder. The jury also found defendant guilty of both counts of first-degree kidnapping. The trial court sentenced defendant to life imprisonment for each of the two murders and imposed two forty-year sentences for the kidnapping convictions. The two life sentences were ordered to be served consecutive to each other and to a life sentence imposed in 1984. The two forty-year sentences for the kidnapping convictions, while consecutive to each other and to the 1984 life sentence, were to be concurrent with the two life sentences imposed here. Defendant appeals to this Court as of right from the judgments sentencing him to life imprisonment for each of the two murders, and the Court allowed defendant's motion to bring forward the kidnapping cases prior to consideration by the Court of Appeals.
We hold the trial court incorrectly instructed the jury on the principle of acting in concert as that principle applies to the theory of first-degree murder by premeditation and deliberation; therefore, we vacate the jury's findings that defendant committed two first-degree murders by premeditation and deliberation. Because there is no reversible error which affects the jury's verdicts that defendant is guilty of two first-degree murders under the alternative theory of felony murder, the two consecutive terms of life imprisonment imposed thereon may stand. Since defendant's kidnapping convictions served as the underlying felonies for the convictions of first-degree felony murder, the kidnapping convictions merge with the convictions for first-degree murder; accordingly, judgments on the two kidnapping convictions are arrested.
Evidence presented at defendant's trial tended to show the following:
Between 10:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on 21 July 1982, defendant, then 15 years old, went with his stepfather, Tony Sidden, to the property of Garry Sidden, Sr. in Wilkes County, North Carolina. Garry Sidden, Sr. owned a mobile home, grocery store and nightclub about a quarter of a mile from the mobile home where defendant and Tony Sidden lived. In a statement later made to police, defendant explained that he and his stepfather had planned to rob and kill Garry Sidden but that defendant had only "really discussed" the robbery. Tony Sidden apparently sought revenge for a previous incident in which Garry Sidden, Sr. had shot Tony. Defendant sought money with which to buy a dune buggy.
Tony Sidden and defendant parked a car on a logging road two hundred yards behind Tony's mobile home and walked to the property of Garry Sidden, Sr. Each carried a 12-gauge shotgun; defendant also carried a .38-caliber pistol. They positioned themselves near a shed located about thirty yards behind Garry Sidden, Sr.'s mobile home and waited for Garry Sidden, Sr. to come home from his nightclub. After thirty minutes defendant "got tired of waiting" and walked to Garry Sidden's mobile home and looked in the window. He saw Garry Sidden asleep on the living room couch. Defendant motioned for Tony to come down to the mobile home and the two waited there. Not long after, defendant saw Garry Sidden's two sons, Garry, Jr. and Galvin, walking toward their father's mobile home, from the nightclub. Garry, Jr. was sixteen years old and Galvin was ten years old at the time. Defendant and Tony Sidden forced the boys into their father's mobile home at gunpoint.
Once inside, either defendant or Tony Sidden told the boys to go into the kitchen and lie down. Garry, Sr. then awoke and Tony Sidden and defendant pointed their guns at him and told him to reveal "where the money was." Agitated, Garry, Sr. began to raise his voice, so Tony Sidden shot a hole in the mobile home above Garry, Sr.'s head to quiet him.
Tony Sidden and defendant eventually ordered Garry, Sr. and his two sons out of the mobile home. Once outside, Garry, Sr. grabbed for Tony's shotgun and the two began to wrestle. Defendant shot Garry, Sr. in the back, causing him to fall. Tony Sidden then shot Garry, Sr. in the neck. After placing his hand on Garry, Sr.'s chest to confirm that he was dead, defendant took Garry, Sr.'s wallet containing over $300.00.
Tony Sidden and defendant then marched the two boys to the car they had parked earlier, forced the boys into the trunk and closed the lid. After driving awhile, Tony Sidden stopped the car on a dirt road and ordered the two boys out of the trunk. Leaving his .38-caliber pistol in the car, defendant stepped away to urinate. When he returned, Tony Sidden was forcing the boys to lie face-down on the road. Defendant asked Tony Sidden, "What are we going to do?" Tony Sidden replied, "We've got to shoot them." Defendant, carrying his shotgun, turned and walked a few feet away. Tony Sidden then shot each boy in the head with defendant's .38-caliber pistol. Tony Sidden and defendant left the two bodies where they lay and drove about three hours away to Spring Lake, in Cumberland County, North Carolina.
Defendant testified at trial that he had not shot the boys and had not wanted them shot. He had thought the boys would be tied up in the woods so that he and Tony Sidden could escape. Although defendant was armed and did not intervene to attempt to spare the boys' lives, he testified "there was not a lot [he] could do" to prevent their deaths.
Tony Sidden and defendant stayed at Spring Lake for the rest of the night and the following day. At some point during the day, defendant tossed the pistol into a nearby pond. That evening Tony Sidden asked defendant to return to Wilkes County to dispose of the boys' bodies. Defendant agreed to do so and drove back alone to Wilkes County. He found the bodies undisturbed, dragged them to the car and put them in the trunk. He then drove to an abandoned well on property once rented by his family in nearby Miller's Creek, North Carolina. Defendant dumped the two bodies into the well, poured lime and drain cleaner into the well to "take care" of the bodies, and covered the well opening with logs before returning to Cumberland County.
Tony Sidden and defendant remained at Spring Lake for several days until they learned from a television report that warrants had been issued for their arrest in conjunction with Garry Sidden Sr.'s murder. They fled North Carolina and lived in several states before eventually turning themselves in to authorities in September 1983. Tony Sidden and defendant were subsequently tried together and convicted for the first-degree murder of Garry Sidden, Sr. The trial court sentenced each of them to life imprisonment for that murder and this Court found no error in the trial. State v. Sidden, 315 N.C. 539, 340 S.E.2d 340 (1986). The fate of the two boys remained unknown, however, until defendant, serving his life sentence for the murder of Garry Sidden, Sr., confessed to the facts set out above on 30 August 1991. In September 1991, he led the police to the bodies of the two boys. Thereafter, defendant was charged with their murders and kidnappings, which are the subject of this appeal.
Other facts will be introduced in the discussion of the assignment of error to which they are pertinent.
Defendant first contends the trial court erred by refusing during the trial to reappoint counsel to represent him after he earlier had waived counsel and proceeded pro se. Defendant bases this argument on certain statements made by the trial court before and on the first day of trial.
At his initial appearance on 18 September 1991, defendant requested and received appointed counsel, Mr. Charles Poole. On 20 April 1992, defendant appeared with Mr. Poole at a pretrial motions hearing and informed the court he wished to represent himself. The trial court inquired as to the reasons for defendant's change of heart and urged him to reconsider, but defendant was adamant and executed a written waiver of counsel. The trial court appointed Mr. Poole as standby counsel. The court informed defendant while Mr. Poole would be available to answer questions, he would not "go out and do the leg work" for defendant. Defendant indicated he understood, and the trial court reiterated, "He'll just answer your legal questions."
Defendant appeared in court again on 24 April 1992, and the trial court continued to urge defendant to reconsider his waiver of counsel. Defendant remained steadfast, and the following exchange took place:
After the court had set the date on which defendant's...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
State v. Abraham
...1002 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1018, 103 S.Ct. 381, 74 L.Ed.2d 513 (1982))), modified on other grounds, State v. Blankenship, 337 N.C. 543, 447 S.E.2d 727 (1994). Under the doctrine of acting in concert, where a single crime is involved, one may be found guilty of committing the cr......
-
State Carolina v. Waring
...vacated, 408 U.S. 939, 92 S.Ct. 2873, 33 L.Ed.2d 761 (1972)). Although defendant argues that we should apply State v. Blankenship, 337 N.C. 543, 447 S.E.2d 727 (1994), Barnes explicitly overruled Blankenship. Barnes, 345 N.C. at 230, 481 S.E.2d at 69. Accordingly, the trial court's instruct......
-
State v. Anderson, 60A97.
...the trial court committed plain error by improperly instructing the jury on acting in concert in accordance with State v. Blankenship, 337 N.C. 543, 447 S.E.2d 727 (1994), which was subsequently overruled by State v. Barnes, 345 N.C. 184, 481 S.E.2d 44, cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 118 S.Ct.......
-
State v. Millsaps
...circumstance, awarded the defendant a new sentencing hearing. Although a life case, this Court's discussion in State v. Blankenship, 337 N.C. 543, 447 S.E.2d 727 (1994), overruled on other grounds by State v. Barnes, 345 N.C. 184, 481 S.E.2d 44, is instructive. In Blankenship the Court Ordi......