State v. Harper
| Decision Date | 21 June 2011 |
| Docket Number | NO. COA10-686,COA10-686 |
| Court | North Carolina Court of Appeals |
| Parties | STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. ANTHONY J. HARPER. |
An unpublished opinion of the North Carolina Court of Appeals does not constitute controlling legal authority. Citation is disfavored, but may be permitted in accordance with the provisions of Rule 30(e)(3) of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure.
Appeal by defendant from judgment entered 17 February 2010 by Judge Alma L. Hinton in Halifax County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 1 December 2010.
Defendant Anthony J. Harper appeals from a judgment entered by the trial court sentencing him to a minimum term of twenty-one months and a maximum term of twenty-six months imprisonment in the custody of the North Carolina Department of Correction based upon his conviction for malicious conduct by a prisoner. On appeal, Defendant contends that the trial court erred by failing to instruct the jury on the issue of whether Defendant acted in self-defense andthat the record evidence did not suffice to support Defendant's conviction. After careful consideration of Defendant's challenges to the trial court's judgment in light of the record and the applicable law, we conclude that, while the trial court correctly denied Defendant's dismissal motion, it erred by rejecting Defendant's request for a self-defense instruction. As a result, Defendant is entitled to a new trial.
On 16 June 2009, Shirley Parker, an assistant unit manager at the Caledonia Correctional Institution, summoned Defendant, who was incarcerated at that facility, to her office for the purpose of discussing a grievance that Defendant had filed. Ms. Parker told Defendant that she was rejecting his grievance because it stemmed from a prior disciplinary matter and because inmates were not allowed to submit grievances relating to such situations. After Ms. Parker informed Defendant that his grievance would not be processed, he became upset. At that point, Mr. Hines, another assistant manager, came over to Ms. Parker's office. When Mr. Hines arrived, Defendant jumped up, said "F**k that sh*t," and returned to his dormitory. Although Ms. Parker immediately radioed a correctional officer in Defendant's block for the purpose of asking Defendant to return toher office, the officer informed Ms. Parker that Defendant had refused to comply with her request.
As a result, Ms. Parker and Mr. Hines went to Defendant's dormitory, where they found Defendant sitting at a table playing Monopoly. Although Ms. Parker asked Defendant to return to her office twice, Defendant ignored her requests and continued playing Monopoly. When Mr. Hines told Defendant to stand, however, Defendant got up and was escorted out of the prison block.
After Defendant left the prison block, Sergeant Davenport handcuffed Defendant's hands behind his back and took him to the medical station so that Defendant could be screened prior to being placed in a segregation cell as punishment for his disrespectful conduct. As Defendant was being processed prior to being placed in segregation, Ms. Parker returned to her office in preparation for her departure from the facility. After visiting Sergeant Davenport's office, where she informed Sergeant Davenport that he could call her at home if he needed her, Ms. Parker headed toward the back lobby, which was a secured area in the building.
In the lobby, Ms. Parker encountered Defendant, who was being taken to the segregation cell. At that time, Defendant was handcuffed and in the custody of Correctional Officer William Joyner. Ms. Parker stepped back to allow Defendant and Officer Joyner to pass. As Defendant passed Ms. Parker, however, he spit on her two or threetimes. According to both Ms. Parker and Officer Joyner, Defendant did not say anything to Ms. Parker before spitting on her. After Defendant spit on Ms. Parker, she dropped her purse and keys before pushing at Defendant's face. Officer Joyner grabbed Defendant by his arms and moved him away from Ms. Parker.
Defendant testified that Ms. Parker called him to her office for the purpose of discussing a grievance. Defendant claimed that he did not become upset until Ms. Parker told him that "You are not going to be getting shipped no time until after December." At that point, Defendant became angry, since he believed that Ms. Parker had been reading his outgoing mail.1
After becoming angry, Defendant left Ms. Parker's office to resume playing Monopoly. As Defendant played Monopoly, Ms. Parker, Mr. Hines, and the block officer approached Defendant and asked him to leave the block for the purpose of being handcuffed. Although Defendant did not know why he was being removed from the block, hewas taken to the nurse's station in order to be screened prior to being placed in a segregation cell. After the screening had been completed, Defendant realized that he was destined for segregation.
On his way to segregation, Defendant encountered Ms. Parker in the lobby and told her that "she was a real piece of work . . . nothing but black trash." After Defendant made this comment, the escorting officer, Mr. Joyner, pulled up on Defendant's handcuffed arms to make him lower his head, at which point Ms. Parker began hitting Defendant with her fist and telling him that he "needed to respect black women." Ms. Parker hit Defendant on his neck and head five or six times while calling him a "black motherf***er" and a "son of a b*tch." Defendant testified that he spit on Ms. Parker in order to repel her attack. According to Detective Roy Rooks of the Halifax County Sheriff's Department, Defendant complained that Ms. Parker had assaulted him at the time Defendant was processed following his arrest.
On 17 June 2009, a warrant for arrest was issued charging Defendant with malicious conduct by a prisoner. On 26 October 2009, the Halifax County grand jury returned a bill of indictment charging Defendant with malicious conduct by a prisoner. After Defendant submitted a written request for discovery on 16 September 2009, the State provided discovery and made a reciprocal written request for discovery on 3 December 2009 that included an inquiry as to whetherDefendant intended "to offer at trial a defense of alibi, duress, entrapment, insanity, mental infirmity, diminished capacity, self-defense, accident, automatism, involuntary intoxication or voluntary intoxication."
The charge against Defendant came on for trial before the trial court and a jury at the 15 February 2010 criminal session of the Halifax County Superior Court. At the jury instruction conference, after Defendant requested the trial court to instruct the jury on the issue of self-defense, the following colloquy occurred:
On 17 February 2010, the jury returned a verdict finding Defendant guilty of malicious conduct by a prisoner.
At the ensuing sentencing hearing, the trial court determined that Defendant had accumulated five prior record points and should be sentenced as a Level III offender. Based upon these determinations, the trial court sentenced Defendant to a minimum term of twenty-one months and a maximum term of twenty-six months imprisonment in the custody of the North Carolina Department of Correction, with this sentence to begin at the expiration of any sentences that the Defendant was currently serving. Defendant noted a timely appeal to this Court from the trial court's judgment
On appeal, Defendant argues that the trial court erred by (1) refusing to instruct the jury on self-defense and (2) denying Defendant's motion to dismiss predicated on the assertion that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for malicious conduct by a prisoner. Although the evidence was sufficient to support Defendant's conviction, we conclude that Defendant is entitled to a new trial as a result of the trial court's failure to deliver a self-defense instruction.
"In ruling on a defendant's motion to dismiss for insufficiency of the evidence, the trial court must determine whether there is substantial evidence of each essential element of the crime charged and of the defendant's identity as the perpetrator." State v.Noffsinger, 137 N.C. App. 418, 423, 528 S.E.2d 605, 609 (2000) (citing State v. Barrett, 343 N.C. 164, 172, 469 S.E.2d 888, 893, cert. denied, 519 U.S. 953, 136 L. Ed. 2d 259, 117 S. Ct. 369 (1996)). "'Substantial evidence is relevant evidence that a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.'" State v. Turnage, 362 N.C. 491, 493, 666 S.E.2d 753, 755 (2008) (quoting State v. Crawford, 344 N.C. 65, 73, 472 S.E.2d 920, 925 (1996)). In determining the sufficiency of the evidence:
" [T]he trial court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, giving the State the benefit of all reasonable inferences." "If substantial evidence exists to support each essential element of the crime charged and that defendant was the perpetrator, it is proper for the trial court to deny the motion." . . . Supporting evidence may be "direct, circumstantial, or both."
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