State v. Bruce, 167
| Citation | 150 S.E.2d 216,268 N.C. 174 |
| Decision Date | 28 September 1966 |
| Docket Number | No. 167,167 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of North Carolina |
| Parties | STATE v. Glenn E. BRUCE. |
Atty. Gen. T. W. Bruton and Deputy Atty. Gen. Harry W. McGalliard, for the State.
George Rountree, Jr., Rountree & Rountree, and Cicero P. Yow, Yow & Yow, Wilmington, for defendant appellant.
This is a summary of the State's evidence: About 6:30 p.m. on 23 September 1964 Mrs. Betty Jean Phipps parked a Pontiac Tempest automobile owned by her husband and herself near the Wilmington Public Library at Fourth and Market Streets in the city of Wilmington. In the automobile with her were her two little daughters, one aged five years and the other six and a half years. She and her two daughters got out of the automobile and went into the library. She reads a lot to her daughters, and she came to the library to check out some books. They stayed in the library 15 or 20 minutes. When they came out of the library, it was getting dark. At that time she saw defendant sitting on a little mound in front of the library that marks off the driveway. Her automobile had two doors. She opened the left door, her oldest daughter 'crawled in the back,' she got in the automobile, and her youngest daughter 'crawled across her. The left door was open. Her oldest daughter screamed. She turned around, and defendant had a pistol 'sticking in my neck.' Defendant told her if she would do exactly what he said nobody would be hurt. Defendant pushed up the front seat and got in the back seat. He then got in the front seat. She put her daughters in the back seat. Defendant had his pistol in her ribs.
She asked defendant what he wanted, and he replied that he wanted her to drive him to 'North 17.' She had moved to Wilmington the prior July and did not know where North 17 was, and asked defendant where it was. He replied, 'You just drive around and I'll tell you.' She drove off from the library because she was afraid he would hurt her two girls and herself, and she kept driving as he directed because she was afraid he would kill them. With defendant holding his pistol in her ribs she drove many miles in and around Wilmington, and finally got on Highway $17 headed to Jacksonville, North Carolina. In Onslow County defendant had her to stop at a filling station, and he bought a small quantity of gasoline. While there defendant had his pistol under his jacket pointed toward her side, and told her not to make a sound and to tell her children to be quiet. She then drove on Highway $17 a short distance and turned off on a dirt road. Defendant had her to stop, took the keys out of the ignition, and ordered her and her children out of the automobile. After they got out, he drove her automobile away. From the time he got in the automobile at the library until they got out, he had the pistol pointed at her ribs at all times, except when one of her daughters spoke and then he would point the pistol at them.
As soon as she saw the tail lights of the car disappear, she and her daughters ran as fast as they could to the highway, and got in a ditch by the highway. She saw lights coming from each direction on the highway, and ran into the highway and 'flagged down' the approaching vehicles, which were buses. They got in a bus which carried them to the police station at Holly Ridge. She told the officers what had happened, and gave them the license number of her automobile. They called her husband in Wilmington.
On her cross-examination by Mr. Rountree, she testified: Mr. Rountree moved to strike. Whereupon, the court instructed the jury as follows: Defendant did not at this time make a motion for a mistrial, or file any exception.
This is a further summary of the State's evidence: W. B. Richardson, a member of the State Highway Patrol and stationed at New Bern, testified in substance: On the night of 23 September 1964 he was on duty north of New Bern on Highway $17. He received a radio message to be on the lookout for a 1963 Tempest sports coupe, license No. BR--8313. He immediately turned around and proceeded south on Highway $17 to New Bern, and while driving through New Bern he met this vehicle at the intersection of Queen and Broad Streets in New Bern. Broad Street is also U. S. Highway $17. He immediately made a U-turn in the street and followed this vehicle. He pulled up beside the vehicle, turned on the red light on the patrol car, and sounded his siren. Defendant, driving the Pontiac Tempest automobile, saw him and the patrol car, increased his speed and pulled over into Richardson's lane of traffic forcing him to fall back. Defendant increased his speed to 65 or 70 miles an hour in New Bern, and ran through red lights. The street defendant was driving on was a four-lane street. Defendant crossed the median between the north-bound and south-bound traffic, got into the south-bound lane, and was going north in the south-bound lane. The traffic at the time was fairly heavy. As defendant approached the intersection of Front and Broad Streets near the mouth of the Neuse River bridge, he swerved his automobile to avoid striking a sailor in the highway, lost control of his vehicle, skidded up on the curbing, came back to the street in a diagonal skid, and struck a light pole and wrecked. Defendant jumped out of the wrecked automobile and ran down the embankment. Richardson jumped out of the patrol car and gave pursuit. He hollered for defendant to stop and he did, throwing up his hands. Richardson told him he was under arrest. He found about 40 rounds of .22-caliber ammunition in defendant's pocket. By that time several other officers had arrived, and he turned defendant over to them. He searched the wrecked automobile and found in it five boxes of .22 ammunition and a pistol. Defendant was within about 10 to 20 feet of the automobile when he searched it. After he had searched the car, he took the defendant and the pistol and ammunition and proceeded south on Highway $17 to meet officers from Onslow County. Trooper Campbell rode with him. On the way to meet the Onslow County officers he had a conversation with the defendant. He does not remember who started the conversation. He talked with defendant, asked him his name, where he was from, and where he was going. After that defendant started talking and talked continuously while he was with Richardson. At this point Richardson was asked by the solicitor, 'What did he tell you?' The court asked the prosecuting officer, 'Is this offered as a purported confession?' The prosecuting officer replied, 'Yes.' Whereupon, the court asked the jury to retire from the courtroom. In their absence Richardson was examined by Mr. Rountree, of counsel for defendant, and testified as follows:
'I had this conversation with the defendant after he was under arrest and in my patrol car. * * * At that particular time I had ceased to search around for suspects, and the finger of suspicion had come to rest upon the defendant. I did not tell him at that time that he was entitled immediately to representation by counsel, but Trooper Campbell did. I told him I didn't want to hear about the case. Trooper Campbell told him the seriousness, did he realize the seriousness of this charge; and he, Trooper Campbell, advised him to contact an attorney before he did much talking like that.
'I don't say that we advised him in the words as set out, as to his legal rights, but we did tell him he was entitled to counsel, and he made the statement that he had no money to hire counsel. We explained that the State would furnish him one. I did not question him about what had happened, other than where he was going, his name was all I was interested in. I told him I was not the investigating officer, and that he would be turned over to the Onslow County authorities, and that so far as I was concerned, I had no charges other than no operator's license and speeding and reckless driving, and due to the fact that the other charges were greater than mine, that I would not bring charges myself.
'I told him not to say anything. Trooper Campbell told him he'd better not talk until he'd contacted an attorney. That was before we got out of the city of New Bern. As quickly as he started talking we told him not to do it. When he mentioned money, I told him that the State would get him counsel. I said, 'Well, the State will furnish you (counsel).' I even started a conversation not even pertaining to this. In our conversation it so happened he had worked for a man in Whiteville that I knew and I started talking with him about that.
After Mr. Rountree had finished his questioning of Richardson, the prosecuting officer questioned Richardson, and in answer to his question Richardson replied:
There is nothing in the record at this point to indicate that defendant desired to...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Walls
...to overcome the will of the victim and secure control of his person without his consent and against his will...." State v. Bruce, 268 N.C. 174, 182, 150 S.E.2d 216, 223 (1966). A motion to dismiss should be denied when the State presents substantial evidence of each element of the crime cha......
-
State v. Hampton
...State v. Burchett, 107 Ariz. 185, 484 P.2d 181 (1971); Cox v. State, 203 Ind. 544, 177 N.E. 898, 181 N.E. 469 (1932); State v. Bruce, 268 N.C. 174, 150 S.E.2d 216 (1966). Defendant urges that his conduct constituted a unitary criminal event, that the alleged kidnapping was a subsidiary inci......
-
State v. McCoy, 88
...to possess sufficient intelligence and character to comply with the cautionary instructions of the trial judge. State v. Bruce, 268 N.C. 174, 150 S.E.2d 216 (1966). There are, of course, some situations in which courts have concluded that juries cannot adequately comply with cautionary inst......
-
State v. Branch, 1
...instructed the jury not to consider the statements made. Presumably the jury followed the court's instructions. State v. Bruce, 268 N.C. 174, 150 S.E.2d 216 (1966). Mrs. Branch's sixth motion for mistrial was based on Deputy Sheriff Stocks' and Deputy Sheriff Respass's violation of the cour......