State v. Garris

• Decision Date: 15 July 2008
• Docket Number: No. COA07-1388.,COA07-1388.
• Citation: 663 S.E.2d 340
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Darrell Lugene GARRIS.
• Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals

663 S.E.2d 340

STATE of North Carolina v. Darrell Lugene GARRIS.

No. COA07-1388.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

July 15, 2008.

Appeal by defendant from judgments entered 1 June 2007 by Judge John L. Holshouser, Jr., in Davidson County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 17 April 2008.

Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Special Deputy Attorney General R. Marcus Lodge, for the State.

Appellate Defender Staples Hughes, by Assistant Appellate Defender Charlesena Elliott Walker, for defendant-appellant.

McCULLOUGH, Judge.

Darrell Lugene Garris ("defendant") appeals judgments entered after a jury verdict of guilty of one count of attempted first-degree murder, one count of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, one count of communicating threats to police officers, and possession of marijuana with intent to sell or distribute. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

FACTS

Late at night on 29 March 2006, Thomasville Police Officers Rusty Fritz ("Officer Fritz") and Timothy Adams ("Officer Adams") stopped a speeding car with no tag lights and a taillight out. Following this stop, the officers searched defendant, who had been sitting in the vehicle's front passenger seat, and then told defendant he was "free to go." Defendant was given permission to retrieve a CD from the car, but instead he took out a black plastic bag from the car. When defendant was questioned about the contents of the bag, he opened it enough so that Officer Fritz could see a bag of marijuana inside the black plastic bag. Defendant then began to run away from the officers.

During Officer Fritz's pursuit, defendant threatened, "back up or I'll shoot." Defendant did not follow through with his threat at that time. Officer Fritz saw no weapon in defendant's possession when the threat was made, although defendant's hand was inside the black plastic bag. Officer Fritz struck defendant in the leg with his baton, and then defendant continued to run.

Officer Fritz testified that defendant fired multiple times at him. Officer Fritz fired his weapon at defendant eight times, while defendant attempted to run away. Officer Fritz testified that defendant was first to fire a weapon. Officer Steven Currie ("Officer Currie"), who later arrived on the scene, shot at defendant twice while he was within twenty feet. Defendant was hit twice as he was being pursued, once in the abdomen and once in the leg.

Officers found a Bryco Arms brand nine millimeter semi-automatic gun in a black plastic bag located at the corner of a house, near where defendant was shot. On 29 March 2006, officers also found a nine millimeter .380 FEG brand semi-automatic pistol by a trash can behind a residence, along the route defendant ran while being chased. Officers also recovered two spent shell casings matching the .380 pistol.

Defendant was charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, possession with intent to sell or distribute marijuana, communicating threats, and possession of stolen property. On 28 May 2007, defendant was tried in Davidson County's Superior Court. At the close of the State's evidence, Judge Holshouser dismissed the possession of stolen property charge. The jury returned verdicts finding defendant guilty of the remaining charges.

The trial court arrested the assault sentence pursuant to the State's contention that it was based upon the same facts as the attempted first-degree murder conviction, and sentenced defendant to consecutive terms of 220-273 months and 15-18 months of imprisonment for the attempted murder conviction and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon, respectively. The trial court consolidated the second possession of a firearm conviction with the convictions for possession with intent to sell or distribute marijuana and communicating threats, and sentenced defendant to a suspended sentence of 15-18 months. Defendant appeals.

I.

On appeal, defendant contends that the trial court erred by allowing the introduction of certain testimony referring to the chain of custody procedures followed by the State Bureau of Investigation ("SBI"). Specifically, defendant objects to SBI testimony stating that evidence collected at the crime scene is transferred back to the local police department once the District Attorney "clears the [police] officer of any wrongdoing." We disagree with defendant, and hold that the trial court did not err. Relevant evidence is that which has "any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence." N.C. Gen. Stat. § 8C-1, Rule 401 (2007). Furthermore, "[e]vidence is `relevant when it reveals a circumstance surrounding one of the parties and is necessary to understand properly their conduct or motives or if [the evidence] allows the jury to draw a reasonable inference as to a disputed fact.'" State v. Fleming, 350 N.C. 109, 130, 512 S.E.2d 720, 735, cert. denied, 528 U.S. 941, 120 S.Ct. 351, 145 L.Ed.2d 274 (1999) (citation omitted).

The trial court's ruling on the relevance of evidence is generally given great deference. See State v. Godley, 140 N.C.App. 15, 25, 535 S.E.2d 566, 574 (2000), disc. review denied, 353 N.C. 387, 547 S.E.2d 25, cert. denied, 532 U.S. 964, 121 S.Ct. 1499, 149 L.Ed.2d 384 (2001). Even when evidence is determined to be relevant, the trial court may exclude it if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the potential for unfair prejudice, confusion, or misleading the jury. See N.C. Gen.Stat. § 8C-1, Rule 403 (2007); see also State v. Wallace, 351 N.C. 481, 523, 528 S.E.2d 326, 352-53, cert. denied, 531 U.S. 1018, 121 S.Ct. 581, 148 L.Ed.2d 498 (2000), reh'g denied, 531 U.S. 1120, 121 S.Ct. 872, 148 L.Ed.2d 784 (2001), cert. denied, 360 N.C. 76 (2005). "A trial judge's decision under Rule 403 regarding the relative balance of probative weight and potential for prejudice will only be overturned for an abuse of discretion." State v. Hyman, 153 N.C.App. 396, 401-02, 570 S.E.2d 745, 749 (2002), cert. denied, 357 N.C. 253, 583 S.E.2d 41 (2003).

Defendant has the burden of showing that prejudice existed, such that "there is a reasonable possibility that, had the error in question not been committed, a different result would have been reached at the trial out of which the appeal arises." N.C. Gen.Stat. § 15A-1443(a) (2007). Furthermore, even admission of irrelevant evidence "will be treated as harmless unless the defendant shows that he was so prejudiced by the erroneous admission that a different result would have ensued if the evidence had been excluded." State v. Harper, 96 N.C.App. 36, 42, 384 S.E.2d 297, 300 (1989).

Before an item may be received into evidence, the party offering the evidence must establish both that the item offered is identified as the same object involved in the incident and that the object has undergone no material change. See State v. Campbell, 311 N.C. 386, 388, 317 S.E.2d 391, 392 (1984). A detailed chain of custody of the evidence need only be established when "the evidence offered is not readily identifiable or is susceptible to alteration and there is reason to believe that it may have been altered." Id. at 389, 317 S.E.2d at 392. "Determining the standard of certainty required to show that the item offered is the same as the item involved in the incident and that it is in an unchanged condition lies within the trial court's sound discretion." Fleming, 350 N.C. at 131, 512 S.E.2d at 736. Any weak links in the chain of custody affect only the weight given to the evidence and not its admissibility. See id. After reviewing the record in the instant case, we conclude that defendant has not met his burden of showing that the introduction of a statement establishing the chain of custody of the officers' service weapons was unduly prejudicial.

During trial, Special Agent Patrick Daly ("Agent Daly") testified that the police officers' service weapons, which had been fired in pursuit of defendant and collected as evidence, were later returned into the custody and control of the Thomasville Police Department. In reference to multiple items collected for evidence, including a bloodstained T-shirt and tennis shoes, Agent Daly stated that

[o]nce the items have been completely analyzed at the lab, they come back to me. I maintain custody of those in our evidence locker in our office. Once the District Attorney rules on the case and clears the officer of any wrongdoing, then the items are transferred back to the local departments.

Defense counsel objected to this statement on the grounds that it implied the officers had done no wrong. The objection by the defense counsel regarding the characterization of wrongdoing was sustained as it may have reflected upon defendant, but the evidence was allowed to show SBI procedure.

Defendant argues that the trial court committed prejudicial error because the testimony suggested that the prosecutor had already determined the officers were without fault. Furthermore, defendant contends the testimony's only purpose was to implicitly suggest to jurors that there was no need for them to concern themselves with the question of whether the officers were acting unlawfully, which, if answered in the affirmative, may have permitted defendant to act in self-defense.

Defendant also contends that evidence of the department rule that police officers' service weapons are returned "[o]nce the District Attorney rules on the case and clears the officer of any wrongdoing" was not relevant because the officers' service weapons were not then introduced into evidence after their chain of custody was established.

The nature of the testimony does not suggest that because the officers' service weapons had been returned to them, they had been cleared of any wrongdoing,...