State v. Hinson

• Decision Date: 28 July 1995
• Docket Number: No. 499A94,499A94
• Citation: 341 N.C. 66,459 S.E.2d 261
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Russell Brice HINSON.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 261

459 S.E.2d 261

341 N.C. 66

STATE of North Carolina v. Russell Brice HINSON.

No. 499A94.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

July 28, 1995.

Michael F. Easley, Atty. Gen. by Valerie B. Spalding, Asst. Atty. Gen., for State.

Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr., Appellate Defender by Janine M. Crawley, Asst. Appellate Defender, Durham, for defendant-appellant.

ORR, Justice.

Defendant was indicted for the 28 December 1992 first-degree murder of Felicia Hope Houston. He was tried capitally at the 6 December 1993 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Union County, and was found guilty as charged. The jury recommended and the judge sentenced defendant to life imprisonment.

Defendant appeals to this Court asserting three assignments of error. We find no error in defendant's assignments and, accordingly, uphold defendant's conviction for murder in the first degree and sentence of life imprisonment.

Evidence presented by the State tended to show the following facts and circumstances. Felicia Houston was a sixteen-year-old high school student. During the Christmas holidays in 1992, she visited with her cousins in Monroe, North Carolina. Felicia's cousin, Cynthia Wilson, age thirteen, testified that at approximately 6:30 p.m. on 28 December 1992, Cynthia, Felicia and Cynthia's sister Deborah, left their apartment to visit another cousin. As they walked down the sidewalk towards a parking lot, Cynthia observed a parked red truck. Cynthia testified that immediately after observing the truck, she saw a flash of light coming from it and heard a "swishing" sound. Felicia fell to the ground and began screaming that she was hurt. Cynthia momentarily hid behind a tree and observed an arrow sticking in the tree. She then went for help and a neighbor called for an ambulance. By the time Cynthia returned to the victim, a crowd had gathered, and the police had arrived. When an officer turned Felicia over, Cynthia saw an arrow protruding from Felicia's chest.

Cynthia testified that none of the three girls had any kind of weapon with them and none of them had said anything to whoever was in the red truck. Because it was dark, Cynthia could not see inside the red truck.

Padishah Poole testified that on 28 December 1992, he and about four other black males were standing outside near a tree in the area of the Wilsons' apartment complex. Poole testified that he saw a red truck drive by slowly, cruising. During the two- or three-hour period that Poole was standing in the vicinity of the apartment building, the truck drove by four or five times. Poole testified that the truck had a camper top on the back of it. Poole could not see inside the truck because the windows were tinted. As the truck approached the men, Poole heard a noise. Poole and his companions thought someone was shooting with a silencer, so they ran to the back of the apartment building. They could still, however, see the tree from where they were standing.

Poole testified that three or four minutes later, the truck returned. He saw some girls walking towards the tree, and the truck slowed. Then Poole heard one of the girls screaming. Neither Poole nor his companions had said anything to whoever was in the truck prior to the attack on the girls.

Guy Brown testified pursuant to a plea agreement. He had been charged with accessory after the fact of first-degree murder and was sentenced to three years. The terms of the plea agreement specified that if he testified truthfully at defendant's trial, the murder charge would be dropped, and since he had already served eleven months in jail, he would be released from jail.

Brown testified that he had met defendant through defendant's brother and that both he and defendant worked in the same masonry business. On 28 December 1992, Brown first saw defendant at about 4:30 p.m. when defendant came to Brown's trailer. Defendant told Brown that he wanted him to "take him down the road to deliver a message." Defendant said that he and a friend named Chris had been cheated in a drug deal earlier. Defendant did not say what the message was. Brown, who was babysitting his children, told defendant they would have to wait until his wife got home from work so that they could take the truck she was driving, which was a red Chevrolet S-10 with a camper top on the back. Brown testified that his wife arrived home a little after 5:00 p.m. After Brown and his wife talked briefly, defendant and Brown left in Brown's truck and went to McDonald's. Once they reached McDonald's, defendant gave Brown directions to a housing project. Brown testified that he realized then that the housing project was the location in which defendant had mentioned that he and Chris had been cheated when they went to buy drugs. Brown asked defendant if the housing project was the place, and defendant replied that it was. Defendant pointed to the corner of a building where he said he and Chris had gone to buy crack and the seller had run off with $70.00 of Chris' money. Brown testified that he kept driving around the block. Defendant said he wanted to see if the drug dealers were standing outside and that he was looking for one particular "boy." Brown drove around the block some more, but when they could not find the "boy" they were looking for, they drove to a liquor store where defendant bought some liquor. It was then that Brown noticed a crossbow on the passenger side floorboard of the truck. When defendant returned to the truck, Brown asked him whether he was going to deliver the "message" with the crossbow, and defendant said that he was. Brown testified, however, that he did not realize at the time that defendant was actually planning to shoot somebody with it.

Brown testified that the two men then drove to a Fast Fare convenience store where Brown went in and bought ice and soda. After mixing some drinks, defendant suggested that he and Brown go back to the housing project because defendant had not yet delivered his "message." By that time, it was getting dark. This time, defendant directed Brown to drive into the housing project the back way. As they drove by the apartments, defendant, who was on the passenger side, was closest to the apartments. Defendant saw an individual standing outside whom he described as "one of them." He then told Brown to drive back to the McDonald's so that they could finish their drinks.

Brown testified that he drove back to McDonald's where defendant drank some more liquor and got out to use the bathroom. Defendant then said, "Let's go ahead and get this over with." Brown drove back to the apartments. When he and defendant arrived, Brown pulled up to two males because defendant recognized one of them as a drug dealer. Brown further testified that when he stopped the truck, defendant took the crossbow from under his feet and attempted to aim it out of the open passenger window. He further testified that he yelled at the two males, who were standing some distance away. Defendant fired the crossbow, and then Brown drove away. Defendant remarked that he thought he had hit a tree and reloaded the crossbow. Brown replied that he would drive around again so that they could look for the arrow. Brown testified that he and defendant drove around and that defendant said the men would probably shoot at them. Brown replied that they probably would not be there.

When they reached the apartments again, Brown drove slowly but did not stop. Defendant asked Brown to stop; he was looking out of the truck towards the back as if someone was approaching from behind. Brown stopped and leaned over to see who it was. He had seen three girls coming over a rise and had heard them talking. Brown testified that defendant had the crossbow partially out of the passenger window and was aiming it towards them. Brown testified that he told defendant "not to shoot because they were girls," but that defendant replied that he "didn't care," stating that "one of them was going to pay." Defendant then fired the crossbow.

Brown testified that he heard one girl scream. As he began to drive away, he heard another, different scream. Defendant said that he thought he had hit one of the girls. Brown testified that he did not try to help the girls because he and defendant were white, were in a black neighborhood, and had shot a girl. He was scared and wanted to get out of the area. Brown and defendant stopped at a gas station to use the bathroom, and defendant bought a pack of cigarettes and a bag of ice. They sat in the truck and mixed some more drinks. Brown then drove home where he and defendant continued to drink liquor and beer in an outbuilding near Brown's house until about 10:00 p.m. Brown drove defendant home in defendant's truck because defendant was too drunk to drive. Defendant's wife drove Brown back to his trailer.

Pam Brown, Brown's wife, testified that Brown told her that

he had taken Russell down there and, um, they drove around and, um, Russell shot an arrow at a tree. He assumed that he hit a tree. And then he drove around another time, and, um, he said Russell threw the crossbow up again and, um, he shot it, and as Mitchell [Guy Brown] was driving off he heard girls screaming.

She further testified that Brown "told Russell not to shoot because there were girls at the end of the street and Russell told him that it didn't matter, that someone was going to pay."

Deborah Radisch, M.D., Associate Chief Medical Examiner of the State of North Carolina, was stipulated to be an expert forensic pathologist, and testified that she performed an autopsy on the victim's body on 30 December 1992. Dr. Radisch opined that the victim died as the result of an arrow wound to her right armpit, which had caused her to bleed to death.

Roger Coan, a detective with Monroe Public Safety, testified that he participated in the investigation into the victim's death. The investigation focused on defendant beginning on 30 December 1992, after a telephone call from a...