State v. Bullard, 252A82

• Citation: 312 N.C. 129,322 S.E.2d 370
• Decision Date: 06 November 1984
• Docket Number: No. 252A82,252A82
• Parties: , 45 A.L.R.4th 1147 STATE of North Carolina v. Vonnie Ray BULLARD.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of North Carolina

Page 370

322 S.E.2d 370

312 N.C. 129, 45 A.L.R.4th 1147

STATE of North Carolina v. Vonnie Ray BULLARD.

No. 252A82.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Nov. 6, 1984.

Rufus L. Edmisten, Atty. Gen. by Joan H. Byers, Asst. Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for the State-appellee.

Carl A. Barrington, Jr., Fayetteville, for defendant-appellant.

FRYE, Justice.

The defendant raises several assignments of error. Both parties agree, however, that the dispositive and crucial issue The trial of Vonnie Ray Bullard was complicated. Eighty-one witnesses testified, and more than half of them possessed the surname Bullard. Exhibits in excess of 1,000 were also introduced into evidence. The testimony revolved around the sequence of events during the evening of 25 August 1981. The events during that evening occurred within the Beaverdam Community and were concentrated primarily within a three-mile stretch of State Road 210, where the defendant and Pedro Hales lived. The majority of this testimony concerned the location of Pedro Hales (the decedent), Vonnie Ray Bullard (the defendant) and defendant's truck during various times on 25 and 26 August 1981. The evidence, which is mostly circumstantial, is summarized as follows:

to this appeal is whether the trial court improperly allowed Dr. Louise Robbins, a physical anthropologist, to testify as an expert in the identification of a bloody bare footprint. This issue is one of first impression in this State. It is our conclusion, after carefully reviewing the entire record, the parties' arguments, and the relevant law, that the trial court correctly allowed Dr. Robbins to testify and render her opinion. First, we will consider the issue involving the expert testimony. The remaining assignments of error, also considered to be without merit, will be addressed later in this opinion.

Pedro Hales and the defendant were neighbors in the community of Beaverdam in Cumberland County, which clusters around the intersection of State Roads 210 and 242. In October 1978, Pedro Hales had shot and wounded the defendant's son and was found not guilty by a jury on the basis of self-defense. Since that time, Vonnie Ray Bullard had made threatening statements about Pedro Hales to several witnesses. Defendant had specifically stated during 1978 or 1979 that he intended to kill Pedro Hales. During April 1981, the defendant continued to threaten that he would get Pedro and that every time he saw Pedro he thought about shooting him.

At approximately 8:30 p.m. on 25 August 1981, the defendant and Pedro were seen riding in Pedro's truck and talking at a local store. Several witnesses stated that they observed the defendant addressing Pedro in a loud and angry voice but could not determine what was being said. Later that evening, prior to Pedro's disappearance, the defendant was seen with a small pistol in his watch pocket. Defendant acknowledged that he owned a .22 caliber pistol, but claimed he had lost it several days before Pedro's death. The defendant was not wearing shoes when he was seen during this time.

Pedro was last seen alive without apparent injuries at approximately 11:00 p.m. on 25 August 1981. A local neighbor, who had seen Pedro on the side of the road and suspected he was drunk, went to Pedro's mother's house to tell Pedro's brother, Carson Hales, about Pedro. The neighbor and Carson both observed the defendant's red truck going by as they stood on Carson Hales' porch at approximately 11:05 p.m. Immediately thereafter, they went back to where Pedro had last been seen but could not find him. Fruitlessly, they began to search in the general area for Pedro. Carson Hales and his mother also went to defendant's home at approximately 11:30 p.m. to inquire whether the defendant had seen Pedro, since the defendant had driven earlier in the general direction where Pedro was last seen. However, no one was home and defendant's red truck was not there.

Meanwhile, at approximately the same time of 11:30 p.m., two witnesses observed a vehicle stopped on Melvin's Bridge, located approximately four miles from where Pedro was last seen. These witnesses pulled over on the side of the road as they approached the bridge. After about forty-five seconds, the vehicle drove away from the bridge, toward the two witnesses, who described the vehicle as the distinctive red truck owned by the defendant. The witnesses could not see who was driving the truck.

The defendant's truck was next observed at approximately 12 midnight, traveling at The following day, 26 August 1981, a large amount of blood, a .22 bullet, glass, bloody bare footprints, a bare footprint in sand, tire tracks, and a piece of red plastic safety belt assembly were found on Melvin's Bridge. During a search of defendant's truck that same day, a blood smear matching the victim's, but different from the defendant's, was found on the floor board. The back window on defendant's truck was broken. The safety belt assembly on the passenger's side was missing. Scientific comparisons of the glass found at the crime scene and the glass from defendant's truck showed the glass was of a common origin. The sections of the seat belt assembly still present in the passenger's side of the truck revealed a small hole at approximately the head level of a passenger. The particles in the hole were found to be lead which is consistent with a lead bullet passing through the seat belt assembly. Also, the safety belt assembly found at the scene was identical to the seat belt assembly in defendant's truck.

a rapid rate of speed. He was seen pulling his truck behind his house, which is not where he normally parks it. The defendant was observed turning his headlights off as soon as his truck entered the driveway. Approximately ten minutes later, the defendant spoke with several witnesses, who testified that defendant's hair was wet and freshly combed and that he looked as though he had just changed clothes and showered.

A detective from the Sampson County Sheriff's Department testified that he took a series of photographs with a 35mm camera at varying shutter speeds of a bloody bare footprint on the asphalt and another bare footprint in sand. He also testified that he had brushed some sand away from the bloody footprint before he photographed it. This same footprint was later sprayed with luminol reagent, which enhances the footprint and illuminates the bloody areas. Photographs of the luminol-enhanced footprint were also taken. Additionally, the detective testified that as he was trying to remove the piece of asphalt with the bloody footprint, the asphalt broke primarily in the heel region of the footprint.

A supervisor of the latent evidence section of the SBI laboratory testified that he took ink and latex paint impressions of the defendant's feet and that he gave the impressions and copies of the photographs of the unknown footprint (both natural light and luminol enhanced) to Dr. Louise Robbins. He also testified that he observed no ridge details on the unknown footprints found on the bridge and could not make a comparison with known footprints of the defendant. He also testified he would not make an identification of the footprints based on shape alone.

Dr. Louise Robbins, a physical anthopologist employed at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, testified, over objection and after a lengthy voir dire hearing, about her background, qualifications, and independent studies in bare footprint comparisons. She explained her methodology for comparing known and unknown bare footprints by size and shape, without relying on ridge detail in the bare footprints. She testified that in her opinion a bloody bare footprint found on Melvin's Bridge was that of the defendant.

Pedro's body was found several days later in the South River. An autopsy revealed he had been stabbed seventeen times and shot three times. A .22 bullet was removed from his body. The first bullet had entered the left side of the head exiting at the center of the back. The second bullet had entered the right side of the back near the shoulder, and there was no exit wound. A .22 caliber bullet was found in this back wound. The third bullet entered in the left shoulder and exited a short distance later. Basically, the wounds were inflicted in a left to right direction.

During the search for Pedro's body, the defendant stated, "Do you think he deserved to live after he shot my son?" He also made the statement, "What would you do if someone had shot your young'un and the law had turned him loose?" The defendant, when questioned by authorities Defendant denied killing Pedro and stated that they were friends. Defendant admitted he was with Pedro earlier on the evening of 25 August 1981. He also stated that no one else used his truck during the entire evening. Evidence was presented that three people went over Melvin's Bridge earlier during the morning of 26 August 1981 and no blood was observed by these three people. A deputy with the Cumberland County Sheriff's Department did observe the blood on the north side of Melvin's Bridge at approximately 10:30 a.m. that same morning. Several character witnesses testified on behalf of the defendant. The defense also presented testimony of Professors Cartmill and Robertson of the Duke University Medical School, Department of Anatomy, who stated that Dr. Louise Robbins' method of footprint analysis was inaccurrate and that the unknown footprints did not, in their opinion, belong to the defendant.

stated that he did not know of anyone else who had his truck on the evening of 25 August 1981. He admitted driving over Melvin's Bridge on 25 August 1981 at approximately 10:30 p.m. and seeing an old Volkswagen. Defendant's house and vehicle were searched and no .22 caliber pistol was found. The defendant claimed that he lost his pocket knife and pistol several days prior to the killing. Defendant and another [312 N.C. 136] witness testified that defendant broke his...