State v. Grant
| Decision Date | 01 August 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. COA05-1295.,COA05-1295. |
| Citation | 632 S.E.2d 258 |
| Court | North Carolina Court of Appeals |
| Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. Matthew Charles GRANT. |
Nora Henry Hargrove, Wilmington, for defendant-appellant.
Matthew Charles Grant (defendant) was convicted of first degree murder on 17 November 2004. After a sentencing hearing, the trial court sentenced defendant to life imprisonment without parole on 1 December 2004. Defendant appeals.
The State's evidence at trial tended to show the following: Vanorance McQueen (McQueen) testified that defendant gave him $120.00 on 29 November 2003 and asked McQueen to purchase a firearm for him. McQueen testified that defendant wanted the gun to commit robberies. McQueen filled out the forms necessary for the purchase of a firearm but he lied on the forms by stating that he was purchasing the firearm for himself. McQueen further testified that he purchased a single shot twelve gauge shotgun (the shotgun) from a pawn shop and gave the shotgun to defendant. The shotgun was later identified as the murder weapon.
Dustin Roark (Roark) testified that in early January 2004, defendant asked him if he knew where defendant could buy a gun. Roark told defendant he knew someone who was selling a gun. Roark testified that he and defendant drove to Biscoe, North Carolina, where defendant purchased an SKS assault rifle from an individual.
Eric Hertzog (Hertzog) testified that he lived in defendant's home from December 2003 through early February 2004. Hertzog testified that he and defendant left defendant's home on the night of 1 January 2004, in violation of defendant's court-ordered curfew, to shoot defendant's shotgun. Hertzog also testified that sometime in January or early February 2004, he participated in a robbery with defendant. Defendant told him to wait in the car while defendant robbed a drug dealer. Defendant told Hertzog to point the shotgun at the drug dealer "if the drug dealer tried to do anything[.]" Hertzog testified that defendant robbed the drug dealer and that Hertzog did not have to use the shotgun. Hertzog further testified that defendant told him on 12 February 2004 that defendant had killed a police officer. Hertzog testified that he gave this information to police on 13 February 2004.
The Wake County Sheriff's Office investigated the 12 February 2004 shooting death of one of its deputies, Mark Tucker (the victim). Deputy Dennis Currin testified that on 13 February 2004, defendant was identified as a suspect in the shooting. Deputy William Harding (Deputy Harding) testified that he conducted surveillance of defendant on the night of 13 February 2004 and into the early morning hours of 14 February 2004. Deputy Harding testified that he arrested defendant for reckless driving, improper registration, and possession of marijuana. Deputy Harding transported defendant to the Wake County Public Safety Center.
Sergeant Jerry Winstead (Sergeant Winstead), of the Wake County Sheriff's Office, testified that he and Lieutenant Richard Johnson (Lieutenant Johnson) interviewed defendant at the Wake County Public Safety Center on 14 February 2004 about the shooting death of the victim. Sergeant Winstead testified that Chief Deputy Stewart entered the interview room and told them, "we got the gun." Defendant heard this statement and Lieutenant Johnson told defendant that "things [were] piling up." Sergeant Winstead told defendant "the physical evidence [was] coming in minute by minute[.]" Defendant lowered his head, pulled Sergeant Winstead's pen and notepad toward him, and wrote the following: Defendant then confessed to shooting the victim.
Sergeant Winstead further testified that defendant made the following written statement on 14 February 2004:
I had gone back to that field to shoot off the shotgun I had. I had no intention of ever using it on another person.
I backed into a spot and parked my car. Then I got out and popped the trunk and was checking out the gun and I had loaded it.
I heard a noise and when I looked up and I saw an unmarked police car coming towards me. My first thought was to just close my trunk and try to leave. But the officer pulled up in front of my car sort of and stopped.
I stayed behind my car, and when he got out I came from out behind my car with the shotgun loaded. I knew that I was going to be in trouble either way, but I felt that I didn't—I did not have a choice.
He looked at me and started to reach for his gun but he stopped. He told me to put the gun down. I was so scared I didn't really know what to do. When he told me to put the gun down I knew that if I did, my life would be over.
I told him I can't. And it just seemed to happen so fast. I heard the gun go off. I didn't ever look to see what happened. I turned around, threw the gun in the trunk, closed it and got in my car and drove away.
I was scared to death. I asked—I was shaking all over and all I could think about was that I needed to be around people. I called up some of my friends and told them to meet me somewhere. They asked what happened and I told them.
They said they would help me hide my stuff and that ... is what happened. I never wanted to kill anybody and I wished I could take it all back and I can't. All I can do now is take responsibility for my actions and pray that one day [the] family and God will forgive me.
Lieutenant Johnson testified that he interviewed defendant again on 15 February 2004. Defendant provided more details about the shooting. Defendant told Lieutenant Johnson that he drove to the construction site of the new YMCA building on 12 February 2004 to target shoot. Defendant said he was standing at the trunk of his car when he "saw what he thought or knew to be an unmarked police car." Defendant told Lieutenant Johnson that "there was no question in his mind that what he saw was a police car[.]"
Lieutenant Johnson testified that defendant said the victim got out of his car. Defendant said he saw the victim's badge clipped to his belt. Lieutenant Johnson further testified as follows: "[Defendant] stated that knowing that he was on probation, was not legally able to possess a firearm, that [defendant] ... knew that [the victim] ... had probable cause to search his car and that he was going back to jail and he didn't want to go back to jail." Lieutenant Johnson also testified that defendant stated that he raised the shotgun, and "as he raised the [shotgun], he was cocking it preparing to shoot." Defendant said he aimed at the victim's head because Defendant again confessed to killing the victim. Defendant also told Lieutenant Johnson that defendant's friend, McQueen, had helped defendant acquire the shotgun, and that defendant had purchased the shotgun to "rip marijuana dealers off."
Justin Franke (Franke) and Lawson Rankin (Rankin) testified that defendant told them that on 12 February 2004, he went to a field near his house to test his new SKS assault rifle. However, defendant told Franke and Rankin that the clip on the SKS assault rifle was "messed up" and that defendant tried to fix it. Franke and Rankin testified that defendant said he could not fix the clip and decided to shoot the shotgun in the field. Defendant also told Franke and Rankin that he picked up the shotgun from the trunk and heard someone say, "son, put the gun down." Defendant told them he turned around and saw the victim standing next to a Crown Victoria. Defendant told Franke and Rankin that he shot the victim with the shotgun. Defendant also told them he shot the victim because "he was on probation for ... car thefts and ... possessing guns would have sent him back to jail."
Franke and Rankin also testified that defendant asked them to hide the shotgun and defendant's pistol. Defendant gave them step-by-step instructions as to how they should conceal the weapons. Franke and Rankin hid the shotgun and pistol in the woods and told defendant where they had hidden them.
Scott Varju (Varju) testified that on the evening of 12 February 2004, defendant asked him to hold defendant's SKS assault rifle. Defendant told Varju that "there [were] cops driving around his house and he didn't know why and he wanted [Varju] to hold [the SKS assault rifle][.]" Varju took the SKS assault rifle from defendant and hid it in a speaker box at Varju's home. Police recovered the SKS assault rifle from Varju's home on 18 February 2004.
Special Agent Neal Morin (Agent Morin) of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation testified that he was assigned to the crime laboratory in Raleigh as a firearms examiner. Agent Morin testified he examined the SKS assault rifle and determined that it had been modified in "an attempt to convert the [SKS assault] rifle to full automatic fire."
Margaret Price (Ms. Price) testified that she became defendant's probation officer in November 2003. On cross-examination, defense counsel asked Ms. Price about a report in her files as follows:
Q. Yes. And I can approach if it will speed that up. Let me show you the page I am looking at. Is this a page from your report—from your files?
A. It is.
Q. Okay. And it is. Okay. And does that indicate that there was a conversation about contact with TASK and [defendant] indicated he had an appointment for the 19th of February?
A. That's correct.
On re-direct examination, the State engaged in the following inquiry:
Q. Miss Price, your records also reflect the correspondence from Miss Brayboy at the TASK...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Bodden
...to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence." State v. Grant, 178 N.C.App. 565, 573, 632 S.E.2d 258, 265 (2006) (quoting N.C. Gen.Stat. § 8C-1, Rule 401 (2005)) (internal brackets and quotations omitted). "Although a trial court's ......
-
State v. Moore
...403 of the North Carolina Rules of Evidence will only be disturbed upon a showing of an abuse of discretion. State v. Grant , 178 N.C. App. 565, 573, 632 S.E.2d 258, 265 (2006) (citation omitted). 1. Death Threat ¶ 18 Defendant first raises issue with the testimony of her aunt, Tiffany Dixo......
-
Yorke v. Novant Health, Inc.
...discretionary and we do not review them for an abuse of discretion, we give them great deference on appeal." State v. Grant, 178 N.C.App. 565, 573, 632 S.E.2d 258, 265 (2006), disc. review denied, 361 N.C. 223, 642 S.E.2d 712 At trial, Mr. Yorke argued that Defendants' failure to complete a......
-
State v. Locklear
...403, and a trial court's determination will only be disturbed upon a showing of an abuse of that discretion." State v. Grant, ___ N.C.App. ___, ___, 632 S.E.2d 258, 265 (2006) (citing State v. Campbell, 359 N.C. 644, 674, 617 S.E.2d 1, 20 (2005), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 126 S.Ct. 1773, ......