State v. Hill
| Decision Date | 07 November 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 535A95,535A95 |
| Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. Jerry Dale HILL. |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Michael F. Easley, Attorney General by William B. Crumpler, Assistant Attorney General, for the State.
Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr., Appellate Defender by Marshall Dayan, Assistant Appellate Defender, for defendant-appellant.
This case arises out of the rape and murder of Angie Porter Godwin. On 10 July 1995, defendant was indicted for first-degree murder, arson, felonious breaking and entering, first-degree rape, and first-degree sexual offense. Defendant was tried capitally before a jury, and on 25 October 1995, the jury found defendant guilty of all charges. Following a capital sentencing proceeding, the jury recommended a sentence of death After consideration of the assignments of error brought forward on appeal by 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.
for the murder conviction. In accordance with the jury's recommendation, the trial court entered a sentence of death for the first-degree murder conviction based on premeditation and deliberation and the felony murder rule; the trial court also sentenced defendant to consecutive sentences of life imprisonment for the first-degree rape conviction, twelve years for the second-degree arson conviction, three years for the felonious breaking and entering conviction, and life imprisonment for the first-degree sexual offense conviction.
At trial, the State's evidence tended to show the following: On 19 February 1994, James Dandran was driving by Bob Porter's home in Broadway, North Carolina, when he noticed smoke coming from the residence. He immediately drove to a nearby store owned by Rex Johnson and asked Johnson to notify the fire department. Dandran then returned to the Porter home to check on Angie Porter Godwin, who had been visiting her father, Bob Porter. When he arrived, he went around to the side door, where he observed blood on the steps. No one answered when he called into the house, so he returned to Johnson's store and asked him to notify the police.
The chief of the Benhaven Fire Department, Ronnie Johnson, was the first to arrive at the scene, followed shortly thereafter by Deputy John Holly of the Harnett County Sheriff's Department. They attempted to enter the house through the front door, but the heat and smoke were too intense, and they were forced to turn back.
Once the fire was extinguished, Sheriff Larry Knott secured the area to prevent any evidence from being disturbed. The sheriff then went to the side entrance of the house and observed a continuous trail of blood from the door down the steps and into the yard. It appeared that something had been dragged through the yard and into the woods behind the house. Approximately one hundred to two hundred yards away from the house, officers found the body of the victim. Sheriff Knott testified that leaves and pine straw had been raked up, piled around her body, and set on fire. The victim was lying on her back, nude, with her panties lying on her chest.
Chief Johnson identified the body as that of Angie Porter Godwin. He testified that her hair was burned off and that "one of her arms was just about burned off completely." Chief Johnson further stated that "[i]t was one of the most horrible things [he] had ever seen."
During the investigation of the Porter residence, officers found a shell casing in the hallway in front of the victim's bedroom door. They also found four .22-caliber shell casings in the woods where the victim's body was discovered. Agent Kim Heffney, an arson investigator with the SBI, took various samples from the house and the area where the body was discovered. Several of the samples revealed the presence of accelerants, either residual gasoline or residual kerosene, or a combination of the two.
Dr. John Butts, the chief medical examiner for the State of North Carolina, performed the autopsy on the victim on 20 February 1994. Dr. Butts noted that there was a considerable degree of burning on her body. He stated that the victim had four gunshot wounds to the head and scratches consistent with drag marks on the back of her body. In Dr. Butts' opinion, the victim died from the gunshot wounds to the head. Further, according to Dr. Butts, there was no evidence that the victim was alive at the time her body was set on fire.
Dr. Butts also collected specimens for evidentiary purposes, including swabs from the victim's vaginal and rectal region. These specimens were sent to the SBI laboratory in Raleigh for testing. Microscopic examination of these swabs indicated the presence of sperm in both the vaginal and rectal specimens. At the conclusion of these examinations, the swabs were preserved for further During an interview with SBI Agent Michael East, defendant initially denied any involvement in the crimes being investigated. Later the next night, however, defendant admitted being involved in the crimes and gave a detailed confession to East. In his confession, defendant stated that he and an accomplice entered the house through the front door, then walked straight through the hallway and to the bedrooms located in the back of the house. As they neared the victim's bedroom, a squeaky floorboard awakened the victim. When she opened the door, defendant stated that his accomplice shot her twice in the head. Defendant then stated that his accomplice grabbed the victim's feet and dragged her through the living room, out the side door, and down a path into the woods. Once they reached the woods, defendant stated that he and his accomplice both had sex with the victim. Afterwards, they poured kerosene over the victim's body and inside the house and set both places on fire. They then left the Porter residence and drove to defendant's home, where they changed clothes. Next, they drove to a pond, where they discarded the murder weapon. Pursuant to specific directions from defendant, officers recovered a .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol from a pond in Sanford on 25 February 1994.
analysis, specifically DNA analysis. Mark Boodee, an expert in the field of DNA forensic analysis, testified that the DNA analysis revealed a match with defendant with respect to the sperm from both the vaginal and rectal specimens.
Defendant signed a written statement concerning his involvement, and the statement was introduced into evidence. Police efforts to confirm the existence of an accomplice were unsuccessful. Defendant also made several other incriminating statements to fellow inmates at the Harnett County jail which were introduced into evidence.
Defendant first assigns as error the trial court's denial of his motion for a change of venue. Defendant argues that he could not obtain a fair and impartial jury because of pretrial publicity and that the denial of this motion violated his constitutional and statutory rights. We disagree.
The test for determining whether a change of venue should be granted is "whether, due to pretrial publicity, there is a reasonable likelihood that the defendant will not receive a fair trial." State v. Jerrett, 309 N.C. 239, 254, 307 S.E.2d 339, 347 (1983). The burden is on the defendant to show a reasonable likelihood that the prospective jurors will base their decision in the case upon pretrial information rather than the evidence presented at trial and will be unable to remove from their minds any preconceived impressions they might have formed. Id. at 255, 307 S.E.2d at 347. "The determination of whether defendant has shown that pretrial publicity prevented him from receiving a fair trial rests within the sound discretion of the trial court and will not be overturned absent a showing of an abuse of discretion." State v. Gregory, 340 N.C. 365, 384, 459 S.E.2d 638, 649 (1995), cert. denied, 517 U.S. 1108, 116 S.Ct. 1327, 134 L.Ed.2d 478 (1996).
In the present case, a hearing was held on 17 August 1995 on defendant's motion for change of venue. At the hearing, defendant offered into evidence a videotape of television news coverage concerning the case and newspaper articles about the case from the Dunn Daily Record and the Harnett County News. The publicity included articles containing incriminating statements defendant made to a reporter during a jailhouse interview. Defendant also offered the testimony of four local attorneys who were of the opinion defendant could not receive a fair trial in Harnett County. In ruling on the motion for change of venue, the trial court made the following findings of fact and conclusions of law:
The court finds that the majority, if not all, of the publicity generated in the case, particularly in the local newspapers since the initial occurrence of the offense and the reporting of the arrest of the defendant, has been generated by the defendant himself.
There has been no evidence that persons having heard about the case or about the defendant or who have, indeed, read, listened ....
to, or watched any news accounts of the arrest of the defendant and investigation of the case would not be capable of laying aside those impressions or opinions and rendering a verdict based on the evidence presented in court.
The court is not convinced that the testimony of defense attorneys as to word of mouth publicity or, quote, private talk, close quote, is sufficient in and of itself to predict that a jury cannot be assembled from Harnett County citizens and the court finds, based on the totality of the circumstances in this case, that the defendant has not proven that there is a reasonable likelihood that he could not be afforded a fair trial in Harnett County.
Defendant renewed his motion for a change of venue on 3 October 1995. At the...
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