State v. Garner

• Decision Date: 28 July 1995
• Docket Number: No. 342A93-2,342A93-2
• Citation: 340 N.C. 573,459 S.E.2d 718
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Daniel Thomas GARNER.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 718

459 S.E.2d 718

340 N.C. 573

STATE of North Carolina v. Daniel Thomas GARNER.

No. 342A93-2.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

July 28, 1995.

Michael F. Easley, Atty. Gen. by Jeffrey P. Gray, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr., Appellate Defender by Janine M. Crawley, Asst. Appellate Defender, Durham, for defendant-appellant.

MITCHELL, Chief Justice.

Defendant, Daniel Thomas Garner, was indicted on 22 May 1989 in two separate bills of indictment for the 31 October 1988 first-degree murders of Timmy Oxendine and Roger Ray Strickland. On 23 August 1993, defendant pled guilty to both counts of first-degree murder. Immediately following the entry and acceptance of the guilty pleas, the trial court held a capital sentencing proceeding pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000. The jury recommended a sentence of death in both cases, and the trial court sentenced defendant accordingly.

The State's evidence at the proceeding tended to show that the killings of Oxendine and Strickland were the culmination of a twenty-four day crime spree during which the defendant committed assaults, robberies and murders in the Robeson and Cumberland County areas of North Carolina. At the capital sentencing proceeding, the State introduced evidence tending to show that Kendrick Page testified that he spent the evening of 31 October 1988 at a Halloween party. He left the party sometime after midnight with his cousin. The two of them went to Rowland, Robeson County, North Carolina, where they met another cousin. Rowland Police Officer Frank McCree spotted the three men and advised them to stay out of trouble. As the three cousins were walking past the Rowland Motel, one of them observed that a motel room door was open. He suggested to the others that perhaps the guest was leaving and would give them the key so they could use the room for the remainder of the night. The three men entered the room and saw a person lying on the floor, bleeding. The men left the room and called 911 for emergency assistance.

Officer McCree responded to the call. He discovered a male victim lying face down in one of the motel rooms. When Officer McCree turned the victim over, he discovered that the victim's neck had been cut. Officer McCree then went to the motel office to contact the manager where he discovered a second victim with a bullet wound to his head.

Rowland Chief of Police Daniel Bradshen participated in the investigation of the murders. During the course of his investigation, he discovered that $700.00 was missing from the motel cash register.

Special Agent April Sweatt of the State Bureau of Investigation examined the crime scene at the Rowland Motel on 1 November 1988. Special Agent Sweatt observed that the cash register drawer in the office was open and empty, with the exception of approximately $3.00 in loose change. The victim located in the office area was identified as Timmy Oxendine. He had a single bullet wound to the back of his head, and his wallet was lying beside him. A spent shell casing fired from a .25-caliber semiautomatic weapon was recovered from the office area. The victim discovered in the motel room was identified as Roger Strickland. He had a bullet wound to the back of his neck, and his throat had been cut. A spent .25-caliber shell casing was located in the motel room.

Dr. Robert Andrews, pathologist, testified that Timmy Oxendine died from a bullet wound to the head. He also testified that Roger Strickland had two potentially fatal wounds, the cut to his neck and throat and the bullet wound. The bullet wound was the probable cause of death. Dr. Andrews extracted bullet fragments from both victims. These bullet fragments from both victims were tested by the State Bureau of Investigation, and it was stipulated that they all had been fired from the .25 caliber pistol later seized from defendant.

William Jackson, a taxicab driver in Fayetteville, testified concerning other crimes defendant committed after the two murders giving rise to this appeal. Mr. Jackson testified that he was dispatched on 18 November 1988 to pick up a passenger at the Express Stop convenience store on Ramsey Street at approximately 10:00 a.m. Mr. Jackson identified defendant as his passenger. When Mr. Jackson arrived at the Express Stop, defendant was seated in a white car being driven by a blonde-haired woman. Defendant kissed the driver, left the white car, entered the cab, and directed Mr. Jackson to drive him to a location on Highway 401 north of Fayetteville. Mr. Jackson identified the woman who was with defendant as Sherry Faulkner. Defendant continued to direct Mr. Jackson to a location on a dirt road in a rural portion of the county where there was a path leading off the road. Defendant told Mr. Jackson that there was a house at the end of the path and asked Mr. Jackson to drop him off at the start of the path. Mr. Jackson did not see a house.

Defendant got out of the cab and began searching his pockets as if he were searching for his wallet. At this point, Mr. Jackson observed the white car being driven by defendant's girlfriend approaching. Mr. Jackson commented to defendant that his girlfriend must have his wallet. Defendant then took a pistol from his pocket and shot Mr. Jackson twice in the chest. Defendant paused and then shot Mr. Jackson once in the head. Mr. Jackson slumped over in the seat and pretended to be unconscious. Defendant's girlfriend pulled up beside the cab, and Mr. Jackson heard her talking with defendant. The engine in the cab was still running. Mr. Jackson sat up in the cab, put it in gear, and drove away as fast as he could. Defendant entered the passenger side of the white car, and the car began to chase Mr. Jackson's cab. Mr. Jackson eventually got away. He was hospitalized for his injuries for over a month; a .25-caliber projectile was recovered from his spleen, a second projectile was later removed in a separate surgical procedure, and a third projectile remains lodged in his neck.

Defendant was subsequently convicted of assault upon Mr. Jackson with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon. He was sentenced to sixty years imprisonment.

Sergeant Jeffrey Stafford of the Fayetteville Police Department testified that he investigated another robbery and homicide which occurred at the BTO convenience store on 27 October 1988. The victim, Eva Harrelson, had been shot twice in the head with a .25-caliber weapon, and approximately $1,100 was missing from the store. Officer Stafford testified that defendant had been convicted of the crimes at the BTO convenience store and as a result was currently serving his sentence of life imprisonment plus twenty-five years. Officer Stafford also testified that Dana Adams had participated in the robbery and murder at the BTO convenience store and had split the proceeds with defendant. Ms. Adams had pled guilty to accessory after the fact to murder and received a seven-year sentence. Ms. Adams had also participated in the Rowland Motel murders which resulted in defendant's convictions leading to this appeal. Ms. Adams had held one of the victims at gunpoint during the robbery.

Officer Stafford further testified that Dana Adams was a topless dancer who also worked for an escort service. Dana Adams and Sherry Faulkner danced together and were close friends. Defendant met Ms. Adams and Ms. Faulkner at a topless bar that he visited while his wife was out of town in late September 1988. Prior to his association with Ms. Adams and Ms. Faulkner, defendant had no criminal record.

A State Bureau of Investigation firearms expert testified that the bullets and spent shell casings recovered in the Eva Harrelson convenience store murder case, the William Jackson assault case, and the Rowland Motel murders case all had been fired from defendant's .25-caliber Beretta pistol seized from the 1081 Glen Reilly Road residence.

James McCleod testified that he was incarcerated with defendant in the Cumberland County jail in November 1988; defendant confessed to him regarding the BTO convenience store robbery and murder and the Rowland Motel robbery and murders. Defendant told Mr. McCleod that Dana Adams and defendant needed money. Ms. Adams told defendant that someone sold drugs from the Rowland Motel and that there was over $10,000 in the motel safe. When defendant and Ms. Adams arrived at the motel to rob it, they found two homosexuals coming out of one of the motel rooms putting on their clothes. Defendant robbed the two men and then took one to a room and cut his throat. Defendant forced the other man to lie down behind the counter in the office area. This victim begged for his life, but defendant shot this victim in the back of the head because he "didn't want to leave behind any evidence." Defendant also told Mr. McCleod about shooting the taxicab driver, William Jackson.

Brad Dickens, a friend of defendant's, testified that he had met defendant through Dana Adams and Sherry Faulkner. Mr. Dickens recognized the .25-caliber Beretta pistol that had been introduced into evidence as one that he had seen in defendant's possession. Defendant had told Mr. Dickens about the BTO convenience store robbery and murder and about the Rowland Motel murders. Defendant told Mr. Dickens that his girlfriend and he checked into the motel and then asked the clerk to come to the room, claiming that there was a problem with the electricity. When the clerk arrived, defendant cut his throat and then went to the office where he killed the other clerk and robbed the motel. Mr. Dickens testified that defendant kept a box cutter in his car.

Defendant also presented evidence during the capital sentencing proceeding. Defendant did not testify but offered evidence from family, friends, and Army officers to the effect that he underwent an abrupt and radical character change a month before committing the Rowland Motel...