State v. Gibbs

• Full Citation: State v. Gibbs, 335 N.C. 1, 436 S.E.2d 321 (N.C. 1993)
• Decision Date: 05 November 1993
• Citation: 436 S.E.2d 321,335 N.C. 1
• Docket Number: No. 1A92,1A92
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Renwick GIBBS.

Page 321

436 S.E.2d 321

335 N.C. 1

STATE of North Carolina v. Renwick GIBBS.

No. 1A92.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Nov. 5, 1993.

Page 329

[335 N.C. 16] Appeal of right pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-27(a) from judgments imposing three death sentences entered by Beaty, J., at the 21 October 1991 Special Session of Superior Court, Beaufort County, on jury verdicts finding defendant guilty of three counts of first-degree murder. Execution was stayed 6 January 1992 by this Court pending defendant's appeal. Defendant having also been found guilty of one count each of first-degree burglary, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and conspiracy to commit first-degree burglary, the trial court consolidated these three offenses for judgment and imposed a term of imprisonment of fifty years. On 9 September 1992 this Court granted defendant's motion to bypass the Court of Appeals as to his two convictions of conspiracy and his conviction of first-degree burglary. Heard in the Supreme Court 15 March 1993.

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Michael F. Easley, Atty. Gen. by Joan Herre Byers, Sp. Deputy Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for the State.

James R. Parish, Fayetteville, for defendant-appellant.

PARKER, Justice.

Defendant was tried capitally for the murders of Louise Farris and her children, Shamika Farris and William Earl Farris, Jr.; and pursuant to the jury's unanimous recommendation was sentenced to death for each of the three murders. For the reasons set out herein, we conclude the jury selection, guilt-innocence, and [335 N.C. 17] sentencing phases of defendant's trial were free from prejudicial error and the death sentences are not disproportionate.

State's evidence tended to show defendant was married to Ann Gibbs, whose mother and siblings were the murder victims. The families lived in Washington, North Carolina. Defendant and Ann were married 2 December 1985 but the marriage was marked by discord; Ann testified that within weeks after her marriage she discovered defendant was engaged in a relationship with Yvette Gay. Defendant later had two children by Yvette; their relationship continued up to the time defendant was arrested for the murders of Ann's family. Ann left defendant many times during their marriage and sometimes returned home to stay with her parents and siblings. Once she went to live with her mother's sister in Virginia, but defendant traced her there. In early May 1990 Ann again left defendant and went to stay in a battered women's shelter. She testified that in the past defendant had threatened to harm her family and she returned to him out of fear that he would carry out his threats. She knew defendant owned firearms and once saw two rifles in the trunk of his car. She testified defendant said they were for her if she ever left him. When she left defendant in May, she went to the shelter to protect the Farris family from defendant's harassment of herself and them.

Ann testified further that at the time of the murders she worked the midnight to 8:00 a.m. shift at National Spinning in Washington. She mostly used her father's blue 1982 Pontiac station wagon to drive to work, but on 29 May 1990 she had his red Ford Falcon. Around 11:30 p.m. she drove the Falcon to her parents' house, and her father drove her to work in the Pontiac wagon. After she had been at work about ten minutes, defendant appeared and attempted to persuade her to return to him. Ann testified she had told her supervisor she was afraid of defendant but "for some reason the guard would not keep Renwick out of the plant." Ann told defendant to go back to his new wife, Yvette. In the past when Ann had left defendant he became angry and sometimes threatened or physically assaulted her, but on this night he was calm. Her supervisor saw defendant and asked him to leave, and defendant did so.

William Earl Farris, Sr., Ann's father, testified that at the time of the murders his family lived at 1403 John Small Avenue in Washington. John Small Avenue is also North Carolina Highway [335 N.C. 18] 264; a short lane leads from the highway to the house. His wife, Louise, was forty years old; his daughter, Shamika, was sixteen; and his son, William Earl, Jr., was thirteen. The father worked in Greenville, North Carolina. He testified further that after taking Ann to work around midnight on 29 May, he returned home on 30 May, set his alarm clock, and went to sleep. He arose about 3:45 a.m., reset the alarm for 4:45 a.m., and dressed. Driving the Pontiac wagon, he left for Greenville. He did not return until around 1:00 p.m. on 30 May, when he saw a crowd of people at the front of the lane leading to his house.

Deborah Blount, defendant's sister, testified that she lived in Harris Acres, a trailer park in Chocowinity, where she kept defendant and Yvette's two children. Defendant lived in a trailer nearby, and around 9:30 a.m. on 30 May she saw him there. He seemed nervous and in a hurry. In the past defendant had asked her to help him persuade Ann to reconcile with him; this day he made a similar request. Defendant and Deborah drove to Washington, where

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she intended to do several errands. About 11:30 a.m., defendant met Deborah again at their uncle's store. Defendant laughed and joked with some other people in the store and bought an artificial rose for Ann. Defendant said he wanted Deborah to go with him to the Farrises' house to talk to Ann, and Deborah agreed to go. When they arrived at the house, Deborah knocked on the door, but no one answered, so she walked back towards defendant's car. He asked if she had looked in the window and she said she had not. Defendant went under the carport on the west side of the house, and Deborah started to follow him; but he turned back and came running past her. Screaming and pulling at his face, he ran into the front yard. Deborah was frightened and wanted to run away; but she went under the carport towards a side door and began calling out for Ann. In the house, Deborah looked down a hallway and saw a woman's pocketbook on the floor. In the hallway she turned and saw William Earl Farris, Jr., lying on the floor and another head to one side of him. Leaving the house, she ran down the lane to a florist's shop on Highway 264 and asked that authorities be called. When she returned to the house, defendant was still outside screaming and pulling at his face

First to arrive at the crime scene were Officer David Sparrow and Detective Mary Ann Buck, both of the Washington Police Department. Sparrow testified that he noticed the window in the door under the carport was broken. In a bedroom he saw two bodies [335 N.C. 19] lying face down and another leaning against a bed. Rescue squad personnel arrived and checked the bodies, and then the area was secured with yellow boundary tape. Sparrow then summoned Eric L. Tellefsen, Special Agent with the State Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau assumed control of the investigation.

About 2:35 p.m., Special Agent Dennis G. Honeycutt, mobile crime laboratory operator, arrived at the scene. He testified at length about his observations and illustrated his testimony with photographs. All the victims' bodies were bound and gagged. The body of Shamika Farris, clad in a blue tee-shirt and white panties, was sitting on the bedroom floor, her back and head supported by the bed. A gag in her mouth was secured by a sock tied around her head, her wrists were tied behind her, and her ankles were tied together. Her skull had been split by a gunshot wound. Tissue and blood spilled out onto the floor, and a piece of her skull plate lay beside her. The body of William Earl Farris, Jr., clad only in white undershorts, was lying face down on the floor. He also was gagged, his hands were tied behind him, and his ankles were tied together. There was a round gunshot wound in his upper left back and a small hole in the floor just above his head. Louise Farris, fully clothed, was lying face down on the floor, similarly gagged and bound. By her head was a bullet hole in the bedroom floor. She had suffered a large wound in her chest and another wound in her left wrist. Honeycutt recovered four spent 30-30 shell casings from the bedroom and a piece of a brown paper bag with letters glued on to form the message, "i told you about slappeing my Mother" [sic]. Honeycutt also observed that the drawers had been pulled out of a table in the master bedroom. In the same room the bottom drawer of a large chest had been pulled out and other drawers were open. He also saw an alarm clock set for 4:58 a.m.; the alarm had been turned off. Outside the house Honeycutt observed that some wires in the telephone junction box had been loosened and others cut.

State's evidence also included a series of statements defendant made to investigating officers. SBI Agent Kent Inscoe testified that around 5:30 p.m. on 30 May he interviewed defendant at the Washington Police Department. Defendant stated that he had last seen his wife around midnight at National Spinning. He left National Spinning and spent the night at a converted school bus where Yvette Gay lived with her twin sister Doris. On the morning of 30 May, Doris woke defendant because she needed a ride to work. [335 N.C. 20] He took her to work sometime around 7:30 a.m.; went to the home of his sister, Alice; and then returned to the bus. Telling Yvette he was going back to National Spinning to see

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Ann, defendant left the bus again about 7:55 a.m. When he arrived at National Spinning, Ann had already left. Defendant returned to the bus, lay down for a while, and then went to his trailer in Chocowinity, where he persuaded Deborah to go to Washington with him. Later, when he and Deborah went to the Farrises' house, he went inside and called out for his wife and children. Upon seeing the bodies, he recognized Junior and Shamika, ran outside, and went into shock

Defendant's next statement was made around 1:40 p.m. on 31 May to SBI Agent Tim Batchelor. Batchelor...