State v. Hammonds

• Decision Date: 29 December 2000
• Docket Number: No. COA00-89.,COA00-89.
• Citation: 541 S.E.2d 166,141 NC App. 152
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Jakie HAMMONDS.
• Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals

541 S.E.2d 166

141 NC App. 152

STATE of North Carolina v. Jakie HAMMONDS.

No. COA00-89.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

December 29, 2000.

Michael F. Easley, Attorney General, by Steven M. Arbogast, Special Deputy Attorney General, for the State.

Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr., Appellate Defender, by Janet Moore, Assistant Appellate Defender, for defendant-appellant.

EDMUNDS, Judge.

Defendant appeals his conviction of first-degree murder. We find no error.

On the morning of 24 July 1992, Charles Pickens (Pickens) and the victim, Allen Graham (Graham), were installing cable television lines in the vicinity of defendant's home. They parked near defendant's lawn, unloaded an all-terrain vehicle, referred to in the transcripts as a four-wheeler, and began unrolling cable. Shortly thereafter, defendant confronted the two men and pointed a shotgun at them while telling them that they were trespassing on his property. Graham began to re-roll the cable in preparation to leave and said to defendant, "Can we talk—." Before Graham could complete his sentence, defendant shot him in the face. Graham fell behind the trailer, and defendant ran back into his house. Pickens fled and heard three more shots fired as he ran.

Pickens reached a nearby school where he encountered Peggy Locklear and told her "[m]y buddy's been shot." Peggy Locklear noticed that Pickens was muddy and smelled of gunpowder. Shortly afterwards, she observed a vehicle, which was later identified as belonging to defendant, speeding up and slowing down in front of the school. When Pickens returned to the scene of the shooting, he observed that Graham's body was at the driver's side of the truck, and the door to their vehicle was open. Both back windows to the vehicle had been damaged by gunshots, and there was a trail of blood from the back of the truck to Graham's body.

At defendant's trial, Melanie Graham, the victim's wife, corroborated Pickens' version of events by testifying as to what he told her had happened that day. Anthony Thompson, a detective with the Robeson County Sheriff's Department, testified that three firearms were recovered from the trunk of defendant's vehicle at the time of his arrest. Thomas Trochum, a special agent with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, tested the recovered firearms and determined that one had been used to shoot Graham. Stuart McPhatter (McPhatter), a deputy sheriff with the Robeson County Sheriff's Department, testified that when he arrived at the crime scene, he saw the body of Graham on his knees between the door of his truck and the inside of the door. McPhatter collected four waddings and a shotgun shell near the truck. Dr. Marvin Thompson, a pathologist who performed an autopsy on Graham, concluded that Graham bled to death from a shotgun wound to the face. He added that a person suffering such a wound could have walked or crawled a few yards.

Two former neighbors of defendant, Terry Chavis (Chavis) and Randy Locklear, testified as to statements defendant made regarding those trespassing on his land. Defendant told Chavis on 23 July 1992 that the cable people wanted to put cable lines on his property and that he "better not catch them over there on my land." Defendant told Randy Locklear that he wanted to kill a Jeep driver who had trespassed on his property. Willie Ray Chavis also testified that approximately one week before the shooting, defendant told him that:

[H]e could kill somebody and hide them in the acres in the neck of the woods back there and nobody would never find them, nobody would ever find out that he had killed anybody. He told me if he got caught killing somebody, he would go to jail two or three years, plead insanity and be out, and the jail wasn't nothing but a vacation, anyhow.

Finally, defendant's wife, Doreen Hammonds (Mrs. Hammonds) testified during the State's case in chief that she and defendant were in the bedroom when Graham and Pickens arrived on 24 July 1992. She heard defendant outside arguing with both men. When she heard a gunshot, she hid in the corner of the bedroom.

Defendant presented evidence tending to show that he suffered from various mental disorders and was very protective of his property. Timmy Hunt, a former neighbor, stated that defendant dug a trench in the road in front of his property and placed a "private property" sign on a pole at the edge of his yard. He further testified that he had never seen defendant confront anyone on his property. Carlie and Priscilla Locklear, also former neighbors, testified that defendant was bothered by four-wheelers in his yard and had placed barriers on his property. Both stated that defendant suffered from mood swings and appeared to have a mental problem.

Mrs. Hammonds was called as a defense witness and testified as to defendant's frustration with four-wheelers and his mental problems. She stated that defendant had nightmares the week before the shooting and could not sleep. She also testified that there was a "private property" sign on the pole in front of their yard, a "no trespassing" sign attached to a chain across their driveway, and that defendant had placed a board studded with nails in the trench in the road. When cross-examined by the State, Mrs. Hammonds testified that on the morning of 24 July 1992, she saw a truck and told defendant that the cable people were outside. She heard defendant cursing and apparently observed defendant obtain a gun from beneath the bed.¹ In addition, she testified that she was scared of her husband and that she had previously seen him use guns to confront people in the road. When asked if defendant had told her after the shooting what he had done, she answered in the affirmative.

Dr. Shelley Snead, assistant professor of psychiatry at East Carolina University, interviewed defendant and reviewed his medical records, police reports, an investigative report, an autopsy report, and a transcript of a telephone conversation between defendant and his wife. She gave defendant a primary diagnosis of personality disorder with paranoid features and provisional borderline intellectual functioning, and a secondary diagnosis of intermittent explosive disorder and alcohol dependence, remission in a closed environment. In her opinion, defendant was not malingering and did not have the ability to form a specific intent to kill on 24 July 1992.

Mona Jacobs, defendant's sister, testified that she had observed mood changes in her brother after the death of their stepfather. She stated that she visited defendant the week before 24 July 1992 and told him that he might need to seek some help because he appeared agitated and nervous. In addition, she testified to the poor living conditions and abuse that she and defendant suffered as children.

Defendant was arrested on 25 July 1992 and has remained incarcerated since that date. He was indicted on 1 February 1993 for first-degree murder. Approximately three and a half years after his indictment, defendant filed a motion for speedy trial requesting that his case be brought to trial within sixty days or, in the alternative, be dismissed with prejudice. The trial court granted defendant's motion on 18 November 1996 and ordered that defendant's trial begin before 1 March 1997. Defendant did not object to this form of relief.

Defendant's trial commenced on 3 February 1997. On 6 March 1997, the jury found defendant guilty of first-degree murder and thereafter recommended life imprisonment without parole. Defendant filed notice of appeal on 17 March 1997. The court reporter filed a series of motions for extension of time to produce a transcript of the trial court proceedings. On 26 January 1999, 26 February 1999, and 16 March 1999, defendant filed motions for new trial due to the court reporter's failure to produce the transcript. Defendant obtained the transcript after a series of extensions covering two and a half years, and the record on appeal was filed on 20 January 2000.

I.

Defendant first contends that he was deprived of his constitutional right to a speedy trial, arguing that his incarceration without bond for over four and a half years before trial, followed by the State's failure to provide the transcript necessary for his appeal for another two and a half years, violated his rights to a speedy trial, access to the courts, due process, equal protection of the law and other rights guaranteed by the United States and North Carolina Constitutions. Accordingly, defendant asks that his conviction be vacated and the murder charge dismissed with prejudice.

We begin with an analysis of the pretrial delay. The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the fundamental law of this State provide every individual formally accused of a crime the right to a speedy trial. See, e.g., State v. Lyszaj, 314 N.C. 256, 261, 333 S.E.2d 288, 292 (1985)

. The Sixth Amendment states, in relevant part, "[i]n all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy ... trial." U.S. Const. amend. VI. This provision is made applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment. See Klopfer v. North Carolina, 386 U.S. 213, 222, 87 S.Ct. 988, 993, 18 L.Ed.2d 1, 8 (1967). Likewise, Article I, Section 18 of the North Carolina Constitution provides that "all courts shall be open to every person ... without favor, denial or delay." N.C. Const., Art. 1, 18. The same analysis is employed under both the Sixth Amendment and Article I when reviewing speedy trial claims. See State v. Flowers, 347 N.C. 1, 489 S.E.2d 391 (1997).

In Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972), the United States Supreme Court established a balancing test involving four interrelated factors for courts to conduct on a case by case basis in determining whether a defendant's constitutional right to a speedy trial has been violated. See id. at 530, 92 S.Ct. at 2192, 33 L.Ed.2d at 116-17. These factors include: (1) the length of the...