State v. Brown

• Decision Date: 10 December 1985
• Docket Number: No. 565A83,565A83
• Citation: 315 N.C. 40,337 S.E.2d 808
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Willie BROWN, Jr.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 808

337 S.E.2d 808

315 N.C. 40

STATE of North Carolina v. Willie BROWN, Jr.

No. 565A83.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Dec. 10, 1985.

Lacy H. Thornburg, Atty. Gen. by Joan H. Byers, Asst. Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for the State.

Herman E. Gaskins, Jr., Washington, for defendant-appellant.

MEYER, Justice.

Defendant brings forward numerous assignments of error relating to both the guilt-innocence phase and the sentencing phase of his trial. For the reasons stated below, we uphold his convictions for first-degree murder and for robbery with a dangerous weapon, and the sentences imposed thereon.

Defendant was charged in indictments, proper in form, with the 6 March 1983 armed robbery and murder of Vallerie Ann Roberson Dixon. The State's evidence at trial tended to show that at 5:47 a.m. on 6 March 1983, the Williamston Police Department received a call to the effect that the Zip Mart on Main Street seemed to be open for business, but the clerk was not there. Among those officers notified of the call was Officer Verlon Godard. Officer Godard made it known that he had just seen the clerk, Vallerie Ann Dixon, in the store while patrolling the area at 5:20 a.m. Several officers, including Godard, were immediately dispatched to the store and confirmed that Dixon and her car, a 1973 brown and tan four-door Plymouth sedan owned by her mother, were missing. The officers also found Dixon's pocketbook and a small amount of change scattered on the floor near the cash register. The store's manager was summoned, and upon her arrival, she reported that approximately $90.00 was missing from the register and safe.

At this time, the police initiated a concerted effort to find Dixon and sent Patrolman Johnny Sharp to look for her vehicle. At approximately 6:20 a.m., Patrolman Sharp reported over the radio that he had spotted the car on Highway 64. The car was heading towards town at a speed of five to ten miles per hour, and a check of the license plate number confirmed that it belonged to a member of Dixon's family. Sharp then pulled up behind the Plymouth and activated his flashing blue lights and siren. In response, the driver increased his speed and drove for several blocks in an apparent attempt to evade the patrolman. However, the car rolled to a stop just as a vehicle driven by Sergeant Donnie Hardison arrived to cut it off. The officers remained by their vehicles with guns drawn and demanded that the driver immediately exit the vehicle. After a delay of 10 to 20 seconds, a man identified as the defendant got out of the car. He was immediately placed under arrest and advised of his rights.

A search of the car incident to the defendant's arrest resulted in the discovery of a .32 caliber six-shot revolver and a paper bag containing approximately $90.00 in cash and a small change purse containing money, identification, and other items belonging to Dixon. The revolver contained four live cartridges, one spent shell, and an empty cylinder. A search of the defendant's person produced a toboggan cap with eye holes cut out of it and a pair of ski gloves. The exterior of the car was examined and found to be partly covered with fresh mud.

At the police station, the defendant was again advised of his rights and questioned by local police and Special Agent Kent Inscoe of the State Bureau of Investigation. The defendant admitted that he had walked to the Zip Mart and robbed the clerk while wearing a toboggan cap and using a .32 caliber revolver. He stated that he ordered the clerk to give him her car keys, and he proceeded to make his escape in her vehicle until being apprehended by the police. The defendant, however, denied having any knowledge of the present whereabouts of the clerk and stated that he had left her unharmed at the store.

At approximately 10:00 a.m., an automobile belonging to the defendant's mother was discovered approximately 100 yards from the Zip Mart. When confronted with this information, the defendant admitted that he did not walk from his mother's house, but that he drove the car to that point.

At approximately 4:00 p.m. that same day, searchers discovered Ms. Dixon's body in an area consistent with the location defendant was headed away from when spotted that morning. The body was discovered more than one-tenth of a mile up an unpaved and muddy single-lane logging path located within five miles of town. The fully clothed body was lying face down across some washed-out tire tracks. A purple cord was tied around one wrist. Dixon's mother, with whom she lived, could not identify the cord as belonging to her daughter.

Dr. Lawrence Harris, a forensic pathologist, performed an autopsy on the body of the victim. Dr. Harris testified that Dixon had been shot six times. Entrance wounds were found in the chin, the back side of the upper right arm, at the back base of the neck, the lower central part of the back, the right breast, and the back of her right thigh. Assuming that Dixon's upper body was in an upright position when struck by the bullets, the shot to the chin travelled on a slightly downward plane, while the remaining bullets travelled at an upward angle of approximately 30 degrees. Dr. Harris testified that the paths of the bullet wounds to the back were consistent with the wounds having been administered to the victim as she lay face down on the ground. He testified, however, that he could not be certain as to the position of the body when the shots were fired. Although he could not ascertain which bullet was fired first, Dr. Harris was able to conclude that Dixon slowly bled to death as a result of all six wounds over a period of approximately 15 minutes and would have lost consciousness shortly before she died. Dr. Harris also discovered a series of scratch marks approximately three and one-half inches long on Dixon's left forearm.

Special Agent Douglas Branch of the State Bureau of Investigation testified that he performed test firings with the gun which was discovered in the car at the time of defendant's arrest. He stated that, in his opinion, a comparison of the test-fired bullets with the bullets removed from Ms. Dixon revealed that she had been shot with that gun. Agent Branch had also examined the blouse the victim was wearing when she was shot. He testified that the fabric ends surrounding the bullet hole to the right front mid-section of the blouse were melted. This indicated that the muzzle of the gun was pressed into the blouse at the time that shot was fired. Agent Branch could not accurately determine the range involved with the other shots.

The defendant took the stand and testified that he was living in Williamston with his mother on 6 March 1983. He testified that he awoke at approximately 6:00 a.m. and left the house in his mother's car in order to pick up his girlfriend and take her to work. Upon realizing that he was too early to take his girlfriend to work, the defendant stated that he parked his mother's car and began to jog. As he did so, he saw another man run past him and away from another automobile parked on Carolina Avenue. The defendant stated that the door to that car was open and that a gun and a bag full of money were visible on the front seat. He stated that he sat down in the car but before he could leave, the police arrived and arrested him. Defendant denied that he either robbed or killed Ms. Dixon and also denied making any admissions to the police. He acknowledged that he had been to the Zip Mart on prior occasions and that he knew Dixon as the sister of a former classmate.

On cross-examination, the defendant admitted that he had been convicted of breaking or entering in North Carolina and that he had been convicted of five armed robberies and an assault on a police officer in Virginia. However, he denied having actually committed any of those crimes.

Following the presentation of all the evidence, the jury found the defendant guilty of first-degree murder and of armed robbery.

At the sentencing phase of the trial, the State introduced evidence of defendant's record of prior convictions. In 1963, defendant was convicted in Martin County of six counts of felonious larceny and six counts of breaking or entering. In 1965, defendant received an 80-year sentence in Virginia on five counts of armed robbery and one count of felonious assault. The victim of this assault, former Portsmouth, Virginia, police officer James M. Caposella, was permitted to testify regarding the details of defendant's former crimes. Mr. Caposella stated that on 5 March 1965, the defendant, in an attempt to avoid arrest, shot him three times, causing him to fall to the floor paralyzed. As the defendant ran away, he shot at the officer twice more but missed. Mr. Caposella stated that he had yet to fully recover from his injuries.

The defense presented evidence of the defendant's close relationship with his mother and of his poor scholastic record in school.

At the close of the sentencing phase of the trial, the trial court submitted three possible aggravating and seven possible mitigating circumstances for the jury's consideration. The jury found each of the aggravating factors and none of the mitigating circumstances and returned a recommendation that the defendant be sentenced to death. Following the recommendation, the trial court entered judgment sentencing the defendant to death.

I. Guilt-Innocence Determination Phase

The defendant initially contends that the trial court committed reversible error by trying defendant on a capital charge without first conducting a formal arraignment. The record is silent as to whether a formal arraignment was held, and we must therefore proceed on the assumption that no arraignment took place. We conclude, however, that this omission does not render the verdict or judgment invalid.

An arraignment is a proceeding whereby a defendant is brought into open court before a judge having jurisdiction to try the offense so that he may be...