State v. Holland
| Decision Date | 04 June 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. COA01-721.,COA01-721. |
| Citation | 150 NC App. 457,566 S.E.2d 90 |
| Court | North Carolina Court of Appeals |
| Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. Robert Lawrence HOLLAND. |
Attorney General Roy A. Cooper, III, by Special Deputy, Attorney General Isaac T. Avery, III, Assistant Attorney General Patricia A. Duffy, for the State.
Mann, VonKallist and Young, P.A., by Joseph VonKallist, for defendant-appellant.
Robert Lawrence Holland ("defendant") appeals his conviction of involuntary manslaughter resulting from a fatal automobile accident. Defendant assigns error to the admission of certain evidence, to the trial court's failure to allow defendant to introduce certain evidence, and to statements made by the prosecutor during cross-examination and closing arguments. For the following reasons, we conclude defendant's trial was free of prejudicial error, and we therefore uphold his conviction and sentence.
The State's evidence tended to show that on 9 October 1999, Phillip Honeycutt and his son Russell were traveling in a Chevrolet pickup truck in the southbound lane of New Salem Road, a two-lane highway in Union County. Russell was driving, and it was shortly before noon when the Honeycutts' truck passed New Hope Baptist Church. At the same time, Corbett Greene was driving a tractor in the northbound lane of New Salem Road. Greene was driving as close to the side of the road as possible, with his right wheels on the white median line. The tractor was equipped with four red-flashing rear lights, two on the rear fender, and two on the rear canopy. Greene testified that these rear flashing lights were on at that time.
As Greene approached New Hope Baptist Church, he observed in his rear-view mirror a gray Jeep Cherokee "coming fast" behind him in his lane of travel. Defendant was driving the jeep. Greene testified that he immediately "jerked" his wheels to the right to get out of the way of the jeep, but he was only able to get one wheel off of the pavement by the time the front right of defendant's jeep hit his left rear tractor tire. Greene testified that the impact raised the tractor entirely off of the ground before it hit the pavement and tipped over onto its side. He further testified that he never heard any tires squeal prior to defendant's jeep hitting the tractor from behind. After defendant's jeep struck the tractor, it veered into the southbound lane of the highway and collided head-on with the Honeycutts' truck. Phillip Honeycutt was killed as a result of head and neck fractures sustained in the collision, and Russell was seriously injured.
Various witnesses converged on the scene of the accident. James Holmes testified that he approached the driver's side of defendant's jeep and observed defendant in the driver's seat behind a partially inflated airbag. Holmes testified that he observed a strong smell about defendant of what he believed to be liquor, and that in his opinion, defendant was "drunk." Holmes attempted to reassure defendant, telling him that help had been called. Defendant then extended his hand out of his window to shake hands with Holmes. When Holmes declined to shake defendant's hand because it was "real bloody," defendant stated, "[y]ou sure are ugly." Holmes noticed that defendant had some dogs in the jeep, some of which appeared to be injured. Holmes wanted to open one of the jeep doors to get the dogs outside, and he asked defendant whether the dogs would bite. Defendant began to tell Holmes the dogs' names. Holmes testified that in the process of trying to keep the dogs calm, he called one of them by the wrong name, whereupon defendant became "upset" and corrected him as to the dog's name "like it really mattered."
Trooper Barry Hiatt of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol testified that he inspected defendant's jeep at the scene of the accident. He observed that there was green paint on the right front of defendant's vehicle which appeared to match the green paint on Greene's tractor, and that there was damage to the left rear of Greene's tractor. Trooper Hiatt also observed gray paint which appeared to match defendant's jeep in the front radiator of the Honeycutt's truck. He further testified that he inspected the interior of defendant's jeep and did not see any alcoholic beverage containers.
Trooper Hiatt then located defendant at the hospital where he observed defendant struggling with and "talking back to" the medical staff. Trooper Hiatt smelled alcohol in defendant's room, and upon speaking with defendant, he noticed that his speech was slurred, his face was flushed, and his eyes were red and glassy. Trooper Hiatt testified that it was his opinion that defendant was under the influence of alcohol, and that his "appreciable impairment" caused him to lose control over his mental and physical faculties. Trooper Hiatt read defendant his rights and then asked if he would consent to a blood test. Defendant did so, and a test administered shortly after 3:00 p.m., at least three hours after the accident, revealed defendant's blood alcohol level to be .222. Defendant was charged with driving while impaired, which charge was upgraded to involuntary manslaughter on 29 November 1999 upon the death of Phillip Honeycutt.
Defendant testified on his own behalf, stating that Greene's tractor had pulled out in front of him from a dirt logging road. Defendant maintained that this caused him to strike the tractor and veer to the left. He testified on direct examination that he had no memory of what had occurred after he struck the tractor, remembering only that his jeep came to a rest at the side of the road and that he was in pain. However, defendant maintained on cross-examination that he "didn't hit the damn pickup truck," but rather, Russell Honeycutt was driving on the wrong side of the road and ran into the front of Greene's tractor. When asked why there was no noticeable damage to the front of Greene's tractor, defendant simply responded that the front of the tractor "weighs a thousand pounds" and that "[y]ou could drive that [tractor] into the church and there wouldn't be any damage on it." Defendant further testified that he had not been drinking prior to the accident, but once his jeep came to a rest following the collision, he picked up one of two liquor bottles from the floor of his jeep and began to drink vodka to "self medicate."
On 24 January 2001, a jury convicted defendant of involuntary manslaughter. The trial court entered judgment thereon, sentencing defendant to eighteen to twenty-two months' imprisonment. The trial court also ordered defendant to pay restitution to the Honeycutt family. He appeals.
Defendant first argues on appeal that Trooper Hiatt's testimony was inadmissible because he should not have been qualified as an expert in the field of accident reconstruction, and because he failed to establish that his testimony was reliable. We disagree.
The trial court accepted Trooper Hiatt as an expert in accident investigation and reconstruction, and then permitted him to testify to details about the accident scene, including the extent and location of damage to the vehicles, the presence of scrape, gouge and scuff marks in the pavement, and the location of debris. Based on his analysis, Trooper Hiatt gave an opinion as to the sequence of events which occurred, opining that both Greene's tractor and defendant's jeep were traveling north on New Salem Road; that the jeep collided with the rear of the tractor; that thereafter, the jeep crossed the center line of the highway; that the jeep collided with the Honeycutt's pickup truck, which was traveling south; and that both vehicles then came to a rest on the left side of the road. Defense counsel vigorously cross-examined Trooper Hiatt before the jury both on his qualifications and his opinions.
Under N.C.Gen.Stat. § 8C-1, Rule 702 (2001), in order for expert testimony to be admitted, the expert must be qualified by "knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education." "North Carolina case law requires only that the expert be better qualified than the jury as to the subject at hand, with the testimony being `helpful' to the jury." State v. Jones, 147 N.C.App. 527, 543, 556 S.E.2d 644, 654 (2001) (citation omitted), appeal dismissed and disc. review denied, 355 N.C. 351, 562 S.E.2d 427 (2002). The trial court's decision with respect to whether a witness possesses the necessary qualifications and is in a better position than the jury to form an opinion on the matter to assist the jury in understanding the evidence "is within the sound discretion of the trial court and will not be reversed by the appellate court unless there is a complete lack of evidence to support it." Pelzer v. United Parcel Service, 126 N.C.App. 305, 309, 484 S.E.2d 849, 851-52, disc. review denied, 346 N.C. 549, 488 S.E.2d 808 (1997); see also State v. Miller, 142 N.C.App. 435, 444, 543 S.E.2d 201, 207 (2001) ().
In this case, we cannot hold that there is a "complete lack of evidence" to support the trial court's acceptance of Trooper Hiatt as an expert in accident investigation and reconstruction. Trooper Hiatt's testimony established that he possesses both formal training and a fair amount of experience in investigating accidents, specifically with regard to accident reconstructions. Trooper Hiatt testified that he had been a State Trooper for sixteen years; that in 1992 he completed a six-week course in accident investigation and reconstruction for which he received a certificate entitled "Traffic Accident Reconstruction"; and that he has attended various other training programs in the area of accident investigation, including both a basic and advanced program on the inspection and investigation of commercial vehicle accidents, and a training course in the use of a...
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