State v. Goode

• Decision Date: 08 September 1995
• Docket Number: No. 10A94,10A94
• Citation: 461 S.E.2d 631,341 N.C. 513
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina, v. George Earl GOODE, Jr.

Page 631

461 S.E.2d 631

341 N.C. 513

STATE of North Carolina, v. George Earl GOODE, Jr.

No. 10A94.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Sept. 8, 1995.

Michael F. Easley, Attorney General by Tiare B. Smiley, Special Deputy Attorney General, for the State.

J. Clark Fischer, Winston-Salem, for defendant-appellant.

ORR, Justice.

This case arises out of the stabbing deaths of Leon and Margaret Batten. At the time of the murders, Mr. Batten was the landlord of the trailer park in which defendant resided with his wife. On 30 March 1992, defendant was indicted for two counts of first-degree murder and one count of robbery with a dangerous weapon. Defendant was tried before a jury, and on 19 November 1993, the jury found defendant guilty of all charges. Following a capital sentencing proceeding, the jury recommended sentences of death for the murder convictions. In accordance with the jury's recommendation, the trial court entered one sentence of death for the first-degree murder conviction based on the theory of premeditation and deliberation and the felony murder theory, one sentence of death for the first-degree murder conviction based solely on the theory of premeditation and deliberation, and a sentence of forty years' imprisonment for the robbery with a dangerous weapon conviction.

After consideration of the assignments of error brought forward on appeal by the defendant and a thorough review of the transcript of the proceedings, the record on appeal, the briefs, and oral arguments, we conclude that defendant received a fair trial free from prejudicial error. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm his convictions and sentences.

At trial, the State's evidence tended to show the following: Glen Troublefield testified that on 29 February 1992, defendant arrived at his apartment between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. accompanied by defendant's brother, Chris Goode, and Eugene DeCastro. After talking for a short while, the four men left for a club in a Nissan Maxima driven by defendant. Leonard Wiggins, a resident of Selma, North Carolina, testified that this same night at approximately 6:20 p.m., he observed defendant in the Maxima on Kay Drive. Wiggins testified that defendant stopped the car, got out, approached him, and asked, "Don't I know you?" Wiggins further testified that he replied, "No, I do not know you." Defendant then punched him in the eye and along with DeCastro robbed him of his jacket and necklace. Troublefield testified that at this time, he heard Wiggins yell, "Help, I'm being robbed," and that defendant and DeCastro returned to the car carrying a jacket and necklace belonging to Wiggins.

Troublefield also testified that after defendant returned to the car, he began driving in an erratic manner and lost control of the car, which ended up in a ditch. After it was removed from the ditch, defendant drove to a store where the men purchased a bottle of wine. Troublefield testified that defendant resumed driving and shared the bottle of wine with Chris Goode and DeCastro. Thereafter, defendant again drove the car into a ditch. Troublefield testified that at this time, defendant, Chris Goode, and DeCastro were near a trailer. Troublefield exited the car and began running in the opposite direction.

James Adams testified that on 29 February 1992, he was a resident of the Dallas Mobile Home Park. Adams testified that between 7:15 and 7:30 p.m., he observed a black man in a trailer he knew to be unoccupied. He then notified the landlord, Mr. Batten, about his observation, and Mr. Batten followed him back to the trailer. As Mr. Batten approached the trailer, Adams observed someone go into the trailer and get something off the "eating table." Thereafter, Adams returned to his trailer and sat in his vehicle for approximately ten minutes before returning to the trailer where Mr. Batten was. As he approached the trailer, Adams observed four black men beating Mr. Batten, and he heard Mr. Batten crying out, "Help me. Help me. Please help me." Adams then left to go get help.

Levi Snead testified that when he arrived at the Dallas Mobile Home Park between 7:15 and 7:30 p.m. on 29 February 1992, he observed "three or four guys outside [a] trailer with the door wide open." They appeared to be "scuffling," and the person on the ground looked like he was trying to get up. Snead went to the Batten house to notify Mr. Batten of the trouble at his trailer park. Mr. Batten's wife, Margaret Batten, answered the door and informed him that she thought her husband was already at the trailer park. Snead then left to report the disturbance to a deputy sheriff. Snead testified that on his way to notify the sheriff, he passed Margaret Batten heading toward the trailer park.

Detective Michael Bass of the Johnston County Sheriff's Department testified that on 29 February 1992 at 7:33 p.m., he responded to a call concerning a disturbance at the Dallas Mobile Home Park. Detective Bass testified that when he arrived on the scene, he observed three black males, one of whom he identified as defendant, between a Toyota truck and a Buick parked in the yard of a trailer. As Detective Bass exited his patrol car, the three males fled the scene. At this time, Detective Bass found the bodies of Leon and Margaret Batten in the bed of the truck. Detective Bass observed Mr. Batten lying on his right side, with his head elevated slightly because of the fender wheel in the back of the truck. Mrs. Batten's shirt had been removed, her bra was up above her breast area, and she was bleeding heavily from her chest area. There was no pulse on either victim.

Lieutenant Ron Reynolds testified that on 29 February 1992 at 7:33 p.m., he was on patrol when he heard Detective Bass' dispatch regarding the trailer park and received a description of the three black men who had fled the crime scene. While on his way to assist in the call, he noticed a black man walking at a fast pace away from the trailer park, looking back over his shoulder. When the man refused to talk to Lieutenant Reynolds, he placed the man in his patrol car and transported him back to the trailer park. The man was later identified as defendant. The other two suspects were also eventually apprehended. Reynolds further testified that police officers recovered a wallet containing Mr. Batten's identification cards and money during their search of defendant.

Patrick Byrd, an acquaintance and former jailmate of defendant, testified that on approximately 22 December 1992, defendant approached him while he was in his cell in the Johnston County jail. Byrd testified that defendant informed him that he was charged with murder. Byrd further testified that defendant told him that on the night of the murders, DeCastro and defendant's brother were in his trailer with him "drinking [and] smoking weed."

On direct examination by the prosecutor, Byrd further testified:

A. [Defendant] told me then the rent man came. He come [sic] to collect the rent cause they was [sic] a couple months behind. Then he speculated--told me he speculated that the rent man was messing around with his wife and they started fussing, you know.

Q. Who started fussing?

A. Mr. Goode, George.

Q. And who was he fussing with?

A. Mr. Batten.

Q. Go ahead.

A. Then he took him--DeCastro, took and hit him, he told me.

Q. Hit who?

A. Mr. Batten. Then he say [sic] he pull out the knife and started stabbing him.

Q. Who pulled out the knife?

A. George.

Q. Stabbed who?

A. Mr. Batten.

Q. Did he tell you anything else?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Tell us about it.

A. Then he took him and put him in the back of the truck. While they were doing that his wife pulled up.

Q. Whose wife pulled up?

A. Mr. Batten's wife.

Q. Did he tell you what happened after that?

A. She got out and saw what happened, started hollering, you know, so they grabbed her.

Q. Did he tell you any more about that?

A. No. He told me they started messing with her.

Dr. Deborah Radisch, Associate Chief Medical Examiner of the State of North Carolina, was tendered and qualified as an expert in the field of forensic pathology. Dr. Radisch testified that she performed autopsies on the bodies of the victims on 1 March 1992. Dr. Radisch further testified that during the autopsy of Margaret Batten, she observed multiple injuries, including stab wounds in the chest, abdomen, head, and neck; six or seven broken ribs; and cuts through the esophagus, stomach, large intestine, spleen, right kidney, and liver. A total of twenty-three distinct stab wounds was found on Margaret Batten. Dr. Radisch also found several "defensive" wounds located on the backs of Mrs. Batten's hands. Dr. Radisch testified that in her opinion, the cause of death was multiple stab wounds to Mrs. Batten's chest and abdomen.

Dr. Radisch testified that during her autopsy of Leon Batten, she again observed multiple injuries, including four stab wounds to his chest and back, puncture wounds, bruising, areas of abrasion, bruising about his head and face, and several broken ribs. The cause of death was determined to be a stab wound to the left chest.

State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Duane Deaver, who was proffered as an expert in the field of forensic serology and bloodstain pattern interpretation, testified that although he found no visible bloodstain located on defendant's boots, a chemical test indicated the presence of blood, the type of which could not be determined. Agent Deaver did not detect any visible bloodstains on defendant's coveralls, hat, or boxer shorts. It was Agent Deaver's opinion that the absence of blood on any of defendant's clothing had no exculpatory effect.

Ralph Richardson, a former Marine and friend of defendant's, testified that in March 1991, he gave defendant a Gerber brand knife with an interchangeable blade. He testified that the knife found at the crime scene and the knife he gave defendant were very similar and that he could not detect any differences. Testimony showed that the knife...