State v. Conner

• Decision Date: 04 March 1994
• Docket Number: No. 219A91,219A91
• Citation: 335 N.C. 618,440 S.E.2d 826
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Jerry Wayne CONNER.

Page 826

440 S.E.2d 826

335 N.C. 618

STATE of North Carolina v. Jerry Wayne CONNER.

No. 219A91.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

March 4, 1994.

[335 N.C. 622] Appeal as of right pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-27(a) from two judgments imposing death sentences entered by Watts, J., at the

15 April 1991 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Gates County. Defendant's motion to bypass the Court of Appeals and to review the judgments entered on the additional felony convictions for first-degree rape and robbery with a dangerous weapon was allowed by the Supreme Court on 6 August 1992. Heard in the Supreme Court 16 March 1993

Michael F. Easley, Atty. Gen. by Steven F. Bryant, Sp. Deputy Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for the State.

Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr., Appellate Defender by Mark D. Montgomery, Asst. Appellate Defender, Durham, for defendant-appellant.

PARKER, Justice.

Defendant, Jerry Wayne Conner, was indicted for the 18 August 1990 first-degree rape and first-degree murder of Linda Minh Rogers ("Linda"), the first-degree murder of her mother, Minh Linda Luong Rogers ("Minh"), and robbery with a dangerous weapon. He was tried capitally at the 15 April 1991 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Gates County. The jury found him guilty as charged and, following a sentencing proceeding pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000, recommended defendant be sentenced to death for both first-degree murder convictions. Judgments of death on the two murder convictions were entered on 30 April 1991; defendant was also sentenced to life imprisonment for the first-degree rape and to forty years' imprisonment for robbery with a firearm. An order staying execution of the death sentences was entered on 7 May 1991 pending the conclusion of this appeal.

The State's evidence at trial tended to show that on the evening of 18 August 1990, Harold Lowe, his girlfriend, Kathy Winslow, and Chris Bailey stopped at Rogers' Grocery outside Gatesville, North Carolina, at approximately 9:30 p.m. They parked in the lot under a streetlight facing the highway waiting for a friend, Will Harrell, to arrive. After a few minutes, Harold Lowe saw Minh Rogers and an unknown white male leave the store. Minh and the man talked for a few minutes and then Minh Rogers reentered the building. Chris Bailey testified that he first noticed the white male walking from the store toward a white car parked in the lot. A few moments later, that same white male was carrying a shotgun and walking toward the vehicle in which Bailey was sitting.

Not having paid further attention after Minh Rogers reentered the store, Mr. Lowe testified he was startled when that same man appeared at the passenger window of his truck holding "some kind of identification with a picture." The man stated he was an agent with DEA and that undercover officers were preparing to execute a drug bust in the immediate vicinity in an effort to seize over $1.5 million worth of cocaine. He further informed Mr. Lowe that if he did not want to be an accessory to the crime, he and his friends should leave the premises immediately. Lowe, Bailey, and Winslow each positively identified defendant at trial as the man who approached their car and warned them to leave the parking lot.

Will Harrell testified that he stopped by Rogers' Grocery at approximately 9:50 p.m. on the evening of 18 August 1990. As he entered the store, he recognized the owner of the establishment talking to a white male he did not know. The white male was of medium build, was approximately five-feet ten inches tall, and was wearing a plaid shirt and a baseball cap. At trial, Mr. Harrell positively identified defendant as the man he saw in Rogers' Grocery on the night of 18 August 1990.

SBI Agent Eric A. Hooks testified to statements made by Daniel Oliver Croy in a series of interviews beginning on the morning of 19 August 1990. In essence, Mr. Croy told various investigating officers that he stopped by Rogers' Grocery on the evening of 18 August 1990 after dinner. He "drank some beer, sat around, and talked with Linda [sic] Rogers, [and] her daughter." During this time, a white stocky male of medium height, thirty to thirty-five years of age, entered the store, made some purchases, chatted for a while with Minh and then left. Mr. Croy noted that the individual had a moustache and was wearing a baseball cap. Mr. Croy left the grocery store around 8:45 p.m.; and as he was backing out of his parking space, the same man he had seen inside John Lambert, a part-time employee of Rogers' Grocery, testified that on the morning of 19 August 1990, he arrived at the store at 9:00 a.m. only to find he had left his key at home. After retracing his steps, he returned to the store with the key and noted that the door lock didn't make the usual clicking sound. He then realized the door had apparently been left open overnight. When he entered the store, Mr. Lambert found the bodies of Minh and Linda Rogers.

                Rogers' Grocery drove up beside him on the driver's side of the car.  The man told Mr. Croy that he was an "SBI agent working with DEA on a big drug deal that was going down in the area."   At one point during the conversation, the man asked Mr. Croy if he would like to see his credentials.  He then held up a pump shotgun and said "there's my credentials."   Mr. Croy left shortly thereafter but recalls that the lights in the store were on and the store was apparently still open
                

Deputy George M. Ryan of the Gates County Sheriff's Department described the crime scene. The nude body of Linda Rogers was lying on her back in a large pool of blood concentrated around her neck, shoulders, and abdomen. He noted a gaping gunshot wound in her upper chest and that the teeth in her mouth were "just shattered." Minh Rogers' body was found on a lounge chair behind the counter. Although she was fully clothed, her pullover sweater had been pulled up just below her breasts and her shorts had been unzipped and pulled down. She was covered in blood. After securing the scene, Deputy Ryan notified the SBI.

Dr. Page Hudson, former Chief Medical Examiner for the State of North Carolina, performed the autopsies on 20 August 1990. He stated that the cause of death for Minh Rogers was a gunshot wound to the head causing massive destruction of the skull and brain. He further opined that the shot was fired from a very short distance--two to four feet. Spermatozoa were present in the vaginal cavity of Linda Rogers indicating that she had been sexually active just prior to her death. The younger woman died from a "shotgun wound to the under surface of chin and neck."

On the morning of 31 August 1990, SBI Special Agent Malcolm McLeod, Gates County Deputy Sheriff George Ryan, and Hertford County Deputy Sheriff Ronnie Stallings questioned defendant concerning the murders at Rogers' Grocery on the night of 18 August. After an initial attempt to mislead the officers, defendant related the following sequence of events. On the day defendant was fired from his job as a truck driver with Rose Brothers (either the thirteenth or fourteenth of August 1990), he stopped at the Fast Fare in Murfreesboro. He engaged in an extensive conversation with a black male whom he did not know personally but had seen on numerous occasions. The man was approximately six-feet tall, weighed 240 pounds, and was in his thirties with slightly graying hair. The conversation centered upon whether defendant was interested in making some quick, "illegal money." Even after being offered $7000 to kill a "Japanese woman who ran a store in Gates County," defendant informed the man he was not interested and left. However, as financial problems began to arise, defendant drove back to Murfreesboro to locate the black male. When he was unable to find him, defendant decided to kill the woman and try to collect the money afterwards.

Defendant further informed the officers that on Saturday, 18 August, he drove to Gates County, located Rogers' Grocery, and went inside. He left shortly thereafter since there were several customers inside. On the next several times he drove by, there were vehicles in the parking lot. When he finally found the lot relatively empty, he parked his car and entered the store carrying his 12-gauge pump, sawed-off shotgun with pistol grips. When he walked in, defendant told Minh Rogers he was going to shoot her. She laughed. He then forced her to lie down upon a lounge chair located behind the counter. When she attempted to rise, he shot her in the upper chest area from a distance of approximately eight (8) inches. Upon being startled by the victim's teenage daughter entering the main room of the store, defendant held her at gunpoint. After searching her for a weapon, he ordered her to take off her clothes. He then raped Linda Rogers Defendant modified this version of his confession to state that, on 18 August 1990, he had stopped in Rogers' Grocery to get something to drink. An older white male and the woman who owned the store started to tease him--calling him "cowgirl" or "cowboy". He became angry, left the store, and went to Alvin Riddick's home where he stayed until after dark. While drinking two bottles of George Dickel whiskey, defendant became more and more upset about his treatment at the store earlier in the day. He returned to the store finding only Minh Rogers and the white male present. As he entered the store, the white male called him a "dickhead." Defendant suggested the two men go outside and fight. Outside, however, the unidentified white male indicated he was not interested in fighting and left. Defendant then proceeded to kill the two women as he previously indicated.

and shot her in the upper chest. Defendant remembered talking with some people in the parking lot of Rogers' Grocery but does not recall identifying himself as a law enforcement officer. Before fleeing the scene, defendant picked up a dark colored briefcase, a bank bag, and the money from the cash register.

The State...