State v. Hines
Decision Date | 31 January 1975 |
Docket Number | No. 15,15 |
Citation | 211 S.E.2d 201,286 N.C. 377 |
Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. Bobby HINES et al. |
Atty. Gen. Robert Morgan by Asst. Atty. Gen. James E. Magner, Jr., Raleigh, for the State.
Grover Prevatte Hopkins, Tarboro of the North Carolina Bar; Morris Dees, Jr., and Charles F. Abernathy, Montgomery, Ala. of the Alabama Bar for defendants.
Defendants assign as error the failure of the trial judge to grant their motions for nonsuit.
Rape is the carnal knowledge of a female person by force and against her will. The force necessary to constitute rape need not be physical force. Fear, fright, or coercion may take the place of force. State v. Flippin, 280 N.C. 682, 186 S.E.2d 917; State v. Primes, 275 N.C. 61, 165 S.E.2d 225; State v. Carter, 265 N.C. 626, 144 S.E.2d 826; State v. Thompson, 227 N.C. 19, 40 S.E.2d 620.
In passing upon a motion for judgment as of nonsuit, the trial judge must consider all the evidence admitted, whether competent or incompetent, in the light most favorable to the State, giving the State the benefit of every reasonable inference to be drawn from the evidence and considering so much of defendant's evidence as may be favorable to the State. In considering the motion, the Court is not concerned with the weight of the testimony, or with its truch or falsity, but only with the question of whether there is sufficient evidence for the jury to find that the offense charged has been committed and that defendant committed it. State v. McNeil, 280 N.C. 159, 185 S.E.2d 156; State v. Murphy, 280 N.C. 1, 184 S.E.2d 845; State v. Cooke, 278 N.C. 288, 179 S.E.2d 365; State v. Primes, supra; State v. Cutler, 271 N.C. 379, 156 S.E.2d 679.
The only question of fact presented for determination by the jury was whether defendants obtained carnal knowledge of the prosecuting witness by force and against her will or whether the acts were done with her consent. The prosecuting witness testified that she did not consent to any one of the defendants having sexual relations with her and that each of the acts of intercourse was against her will. She stated that their strength was greater than hers and that she feared for her life. We note that in the oral argument before this Court, counsel for defendants conceded that the evidence was sufficient to require submission of the case to the jury.
We hold that there was substantial evidence of all material elements of the crime of rape as to each defendant and that the trial judge properly overruled the motions for nonsuit.
Appellants, by their Assignment of Error Number 15, contend that certain statements made by the solicitor during the Voir dire examination of prospective jurors were so prejudicial as to entitle them to a new trial.
After three jurors had been seated, the following exchange occurred:
We do not find that this Court has ruled upon the effect of similar statements by the solicitor during Voir dire examinations of prospective jurors in a capital case; however, we find guidance in our cases in which the solicitors have made like remarks during jury arguments.
In State v. Little, 228 N.C. 417, 45 S.E.2d 542, the solicitor stated in his closing argument that 'in all first degree cases where men were convicted there would be an appeal to the Supreme Court, and that in this case, if this defendant were convicted (sic) there would be an appeal to the Supreme Court, and that in the event the decision of the lower court should be affirmed, there would be an appeal to the Governor to commute the sentence of the prisoner; and that not more than sixty per cent of prisoners convicted of capital offenses were ever executed.' Even though counsel for defendant subsequently told the trial judge that he did not desire an instruction to disregard this improper statement, this Court held such statement to be prejudicial error. Justice Winborne (later Chief Justice), writing for the Court, stated:
In State v. Hawley, 229 N.C. 167, 48 S.E.2d 35, the defendant was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. During the trial of this case, the solicitor, in his final argument to the jury, in part, argued:
No objection was made to the argument. This Court, nevertheless, granted a new trial,...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
State v. Oliver
... ... The probability that the jury's burden was unfairly eased by that knowledge is so great that we cannot assume an absence of prejudice. State v. Hines, ... Page 331 ... [286 N.C. 377, 211 S.E.2d 201 (1975) ], supra ... Id. at 713, 220 S.E.2d at 292 ... Thus, the evil addressed in Britt was the potential danger that this knowledge, i.e., that another jury had sentenced defendant to death in "this very ... ...
-
State v. Finch
...the burden" of the jury in violation of the rule discussed in State v. White, 286 N.C. 395, 211 S.E.2d 445 (1975), and State v. Hines, 286 N.C. 377, 211 S.E.2d 201 (1975). We think defendant misconstrues the holding in those In Hines, the district attorney made the following statement to a ......
-
State v. Miller
...by their nineteenth assignment of error. Defendants contend these remarks constitute reversible error on authority of State v. Hines, 286 N.C. 377, 211 S.E.2d 201 (1975). We find no merit in this contention. In Hines a prospective juror under interrogation stated she was 'not comfortable wi......
-
State v. Craig, 257A82
...or as this Court has said through Justice, now Chief Justice, Branch, "lighten[s] [its] solemn burden." State v. Hines, 286 N.C. 377, 386, 211 S.E.2d 201, 207 (1975). See also State v. White, 286 N.C. 395, 211 S.E.2d 445 (1975). In Hines and White defendants who had received death sentences......