State v. Brown

• Decision Date: 13 July 1982
• Docket Number: No. 30A81,30A81
• Citation: 306 N.C. 151,293 S.E.2d 569
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. David J. BROWN.

Page 569

293 S.E.2d 569

306 N.C. 151

STATE of North Carolina v. David J. BROWN.

No. 30A81.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

July 13, 1982.

[306 N.C. 156] Atty. Gen. Rufus L. Edmisten by Sp. Deputy Atty. Gen. Issac T. Avery III, Raleigh, for the State.

James R. Van Camp and Douglas R. Gill, Southern Pines, for defendant.

CARLTON, Justice.

Defendant brings forth several assignments of error in the guilt determination phase of his trial and several alleged errors relating to the sentencing phase of his trial. After a careful consideration of these assignments, as well as the entire record before us, we find no prejudicial error in any of these proceedings and affirm his convictions and the sentences imposed.

I.

At trial, evidence for the State tended to show that Shelly Diane Chalflinch, aged twenty-six, and her daughter, Christina S. Chalflinch, aged nine, resided in apartment 9 of the Marriage Quarters behind the Pinehurst Hotel in Pinehurst, North Carolina. They visited with Ms. Chalflinch's father, G. W. Frye, in Aberdeen on Sunday, 24 August 1980. Mr. Frye never saw his daughter or granddaughter alive after that evening.

On the morning of Tuesday, 26 August 1980, the bodies of Ms. Chalflinch and her daughter were found in a mutilated condition in the Chalflinch apartment. Police officers who entered the apartment saw blood on the floors and walls of the apartment. Pieces of flesh were scattered throughout the living area of the apartment. Small pieces of furniture had been overturned and several chairs were broken. It was hot in the apartment and the bodies had already begun to decompose. Ms. Chalflinch's body had been mutilated beyond recognition, and several feet of her intestines protruded from a large wound to her abdomen. Christina's body also bore multiple stab wounds and a brown electrical cord had been wrapped around her neck.

A bloody knife blade, broken at both ends, with the inscription "R. H. Forschne," was found in the apartment.

Following the initial investigation, the apartment was secured and remained padlocked until the time of trial. Sergeant Don Davis of the Pinehurst Police Department was placed in charge of the investigation and kept the only key to the apartment.

The bodies of the Chalflinches were taken to Chapel Hill on 26 August 1980 where autopsies were performed. An autopsy performed on the body of Ms. Chalflinch revealed approximately 100 stab and cut wounds all over her body. At least 20 of these wounds were to the facial area, 12 were in the neck area, and 16 stab wounds on the right arm appeared to be defensive in nature. In addition to the numerous wounds to the chest and shoulder area, a large gaping cut extended down the left leg from buttock to ankle and a V-shaped penetrating stab wound in the vaginal and rectal area created a virtual hole in the body. The medical examiner found a ring under the edge of the liver in the abdominal cavity. The pathologist who performed the autopsy testified, "I could place my own hand and arm through the wound in her genital area up to the area where the ring was." The ring was silver in color and had a large rectangular surface with a heraldic pattern with two animals on each side and two shields and a crown on top. In the pathologist's opinion, Ms. Chalflinch died as a result of "a combination of stab and incised wounds to all parts of her body, that some wounds might possibly have been inflicted after death and that, given the condition of the body and the temperature of the Chalflinch apartment, death could have occurred on Monday night, 25 August."

An autopsy performed on the body of Christina Chalflinch revealed multiple stab wounds, slashes, puncture marks and extensive mutilation of the genital area with a portion of the tissue removed. The head had a large number of stab wounds, one of which extended through the brain from right to left. The electrical cord which had been wrapped around the neck left a faint bluish mark. Four wounds in the chest area penetrated into the tissues of the chest and abdomen. Seven of the multiple stab wounds in the abdominal region penetrated internal organs. In the pathologist's opinion, Christina Chalflinch died as a result of multiple stab wounds to the head, chest and abdomen.

On 28 August 1980 SBI Agent Wade Anders obtained permission from the defendant to search his home, apartment 4 at the Marriage Quarters complex. Defendant was asked to sign a form indicating his consent to a search of his apartment. He signed the form after it was read to him and after he talked with a friend. The form was signed at 5:21 p. m. on 28 August 1980. The apartment was searched that same evening, while defendant was present. Items seized during the search included the tool box in which defendant kept his kitchen equipment for his job as a cook at the Pinehurst Hotel. In the box were knives bearing the inscription "R. H. Forschner" on the blades.

A forensic serologist with the SBI examined the apartment of Ms. Chalflinch and the area outside it on 28 August 1980. He observed blood all over the apartment. Additionally, he performed luminol and phenolphthalein tests to determine the presence of blood undetectable to the human eye. Through use of these tests, blood was discovered in the corner of the kitchen in the shape of two partial footprints of the balls and toes of the feet, side by side. Patterns of blood were discovered outside the front door of Ms. Chalflinch's apartment and also on the deck outside the front door, on the fourth and tenth steps leading down from her apartment, and on the concrete pad at the foot of the steps. Blood was also observed between the concrete pad and the first stepping stone, and this bloodstain was in a shape resembling a bare foot. At the door to defendant's apartment, visible bloodstains were found on the concrete stoop. The luminol test indicated the presence of blood on the doorknob. The tool box taken from defendant's apartment had a small spot on the lid which tests revealed to be blood and the blade of one of the R. H. Forschner knives tested positive with phenolphthalein. A bloodstain was also found on a pillow at the head of defendant's bed. Blood was found in other areas throughout the apartment and bare footprints of blood were found all over the floor in the kitchen. On that evening, defendant had a cast on his left hand.

An SBI agent who qualified as an expert in the field of fingerprint and palm print identification testified that a latent palm print on the wall of the bedroom of Ms. Chalflinch's apartment was the same as that of the left palm print of the defendant.

Several friends of defendant's testified that the ring found in Ms. Chalflinch's body was the ring normally worn by defendant.

Other evidence for the State tended to show that defendant attended a party on Sunday evening, 24 August 1980, where he played the role of disc jockey. He drank alcoholic beverages throughout the evening and took at least five "Black Beauties." During the party defendant was wearing his ring. At approximately 11:30 p. m., defendant and a group left the party and went to a nightclub known as the Crash Landing. Members of the Southern Pines Police Department on patrol observed the defendant walking on the highway near the Crash Landing at approximately 2:10 a. m. on Monday, 25 August 1980. He was staggering, carrying his shoes and was barefooted. The officers gave him a ride to the kitchen entrance of the Pinehurst Hotel. They left him there at approximately 2:45 a. m.

A co-worker of defendant testified that she saw the ring in question on the Saturday before 25 August 1980. On the following Monday at approximately 7:00 a. m., she saw the defendant at work and he had two bandaids on his left hand in the thumb area. She did not observe the ring at that time. Defendant was in pain and told her that he had cut his hand.

Evidence for the defendant tended to show that the night shift supervisor at the Pinehurst Hotel saw the defendant in the hotel's front office between 2:30 and 3:00 a. m. on 25 August 1980. He left the front of the hotel at approximately 3:00 a. m.

A co-worker and friend of defendant's testified that defendant had been in apartment 9 of the Marriage Quarters before 25 August 1980. Two residents of apartments in the Marriage Quarters testified that they had been at home on the night of 24 August 1980 and had not heard anything unusual. One of these residents saw Ms. Chalflinch at approximately 11:00 p. m. on 24 August 1980. They talked and she stated that she had to do some laundry. He saw her through his apartment window again around 12:30 or 1:00 a. m. on 25 August 1980, heading toward the laundry.

Becky Mills, a nurse at Moore Memorial Hospital, testified that she first saw the defendant at approximately 11:00 p. m. on 25 August 1980. He was in the emergency room recovering from surgery resulting from cut tendons on his left hand and had a cast on his left arm. He left the hospital at approximately 4:10 a. m. on 26 August 1980.

Gaston Yarborough and Raymond Pate, employees of the hotel, testified that they passed by the Marriage Quarters on their way home from work on Monday, 25 August. They left work at approximately 11:00 p. m. They heard a lady hollering from the direction of the Marriage Quarters and a banging noise. Yarborough drove by the Marriage Quarters and saw that lights were on only in the end apartment on the corner. Pate testified that he did not see Ms. Chalflinch's car in the parking lot when he went to work at approximately 2:30 p. m. on 25 August 1980. At 11:00 p. m., as he was walking to his truck to leave work, he heard noises from the direction of the Marriage Quarters. He heard a young girl's voice say, "Leave her alone, leave her alone." He then drove by the Quarters. He saw lights on only in the apartment in the right-hand corner. He looked up toward the lighted apartment and saw a white male with sandy blonde...