State v. Hunt, 5A86-8.

Citation357 N.C. 257,582 S.E.2d 593
Decision Date16 July 2003
Docket NumberNo. 5A86-8.,5A86-8.
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of North Carolina
PartiesSTATE of North Carolina v. Henry Lee HUNT.

Roy Cooper, Attorney General by G. Patrick Murphy, Barry S. McNeill, and William P. Hart, Special Deputy Attorneys General, for the State.

D. Stuart Meiklejohn, pro hac vice, and Steven L. Holley, pro hac vice, New York City, for defendant-appellant.

Hunter, Higgins, Miles, Elan & Benjamin by Robert Neal Hunter, Jr.; and Gaskins & Gaskins by Herman E. Gaskins, Jr., on behalf of the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, amicus curiae.

Louis D. Bilionis on behalf of North Carolina Law Professors Anthony V. Baker; Sara Sun Beale; Louis D. Bilionis; John Charles Boger; Kenneth S. Broun; James E. Coleman, Jr.; Michael Kent Curtis; Marshall L. Dayan; Irving Joyner; Robert P. Mosteller; Eric L. Muller; Gene R. Nichol; J. Wilson Parker; H. Jefferson Powell; Richard A. Rosen; Fred J. Williams; and Ronald F. Wright, Jr., amici curiae.

North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys by William D. Kenerly, amicus curiae.

BRADY, Justice.

Henry Lee Hunt (petitioner), convicted of two capital murders over seventeen years ago, challenges the lawfulness of the charging instruments used to indict him for first-degree murder. These instruments, known as "short-form indictments," have been used to charge murder suspects under North Carolina law for over a hundred years. This appeal therefore raises a question of critical importance to the legal validity of virtually every murder conviction secured in this state over the past century.

The dispositive issue in the present case is whether the United States Supreme Court's recent decision in Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002), renders North Carolina's short-form murder indictment unconstitutional. We conclude that it does not and therefore affirm the decision of the trial court.

Petitioner is currently incarcerated on North Carolina's death row. On 28 May 1985, petitioner was indicted in Superior Court, Robeson County, on two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the killings of Jackie Ray Ransom and Larry Jones. Petitioner was indicted pursuant to short-form murder indictments authorized by N.C.G.S. § 15-144.

Petitioner was tried and convicted on all counts at the 18 November 1985 session of Superior Court, Robeson County. The facts underlying petitioner's conviction were presented fully in our opinion reviewing petitioner's case on direct appeal. See State v. Hunt, 323 N.C. 407, 373 S.E.2d 400 (1988)

. Briefly, those facts indicate that petitioner's codefendant, Elwell Barnes, recruited petitioner to assist in the killing of Jack Ransom. Barnes had agreed to kill Ransom for $2,000 so that Ransom's wife could obtain the proceeds of a life insurance policy. On 8 September 1984, petitioner killed Ransom. Believing that another individual, Larry Jones, had discussed Ransom's murder with police, petitioner shot and killed Jones on 14 September 1984.

Pursuant to our statutory capital sentencing procedures, the State introduced evidence to the jury supporting two aggravating circumstances for each of petitioner's first-degree murder convictions. As for the murder of Ransom, the State presented evidence as to the following aggravating circumstances: (1) a prior conviction for a felony involving the use or threat of violence to another person, N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(e)(3) (1983) (amended 1994); and (2) capital felony committed for pecuniary gain, N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(e)(6). For the murder of Jones, the State introduced evidence supporting the following aggravating circumstances: (1) a prior conviction for a felony involving the use or threat of violence to another person, N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(e)(3); and (2) murder committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest, N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(e)(4). The jury found that the State had established each of the submitted aggravators beyond a reasonable doubt and recommended a sentence of death for each of the murders. The trial court entered judgments accordingly.

Petitioner sought and received extensive direct and collateral review of his convictions and sentences. On direct appeal, this Court found no error in petitioner's convictions and sentences. Hunt, 323 N.C. 407, 373 S.E.2d 400. The United States Supreme Court vacated the sentences of death and remanded the case to this Court with instructions to review the penalty phase of petitioner's trial in light of McKoy v. North Carolina, 494 U.S. 433, 110 S.Ct. 1227, 108 L.Ed.2d 369 (1990). Hunt v. North Carolina, 494 U.S. 1022, 110 S.Ct. 1464, 108 L.Ed.2d 602 (1990). On remand, this Court found any error in the penalty proceeding harmless beyond a reasonable doubt and again found no reversible error in petitioner's convictions and sentences. State v. Hunt, 330 N.C. 501, 411 S.E.2d 806 (1992). The United States Supreme Court subsequently denied petitioner's writ of certiorari to review our decision. Hunt v. North Carolina, 505 U.S. 1226, 112 S.Ct. 3045, 120 L.Ed.2d 913 (1992).

Petitioner filed his first post-conviction motion for appropriate relief (MAR) pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 15A-1415 in Superior Court, Robeson County, on 3 December 1992. On 2 June 1994, several of petitioner's claims were dismissed as procedurally barred. This Court affirmed that dismissal. State v. Hunt, 336 N.C. 783, 447 S.E.2d 436 (1994). Beginning on 12 September 1994, the Superior Court conducted a five-week evidentiary hearing in connection with the remaining MAR claims. On 16 September 1996, the court denied petitioner's MAR. Both this Court and the United States Supreme Court denied writs of certiorari. State v. Hunt, 345 N.C. 758, 485 S.E.2d 304, cert. denied, 522 U.S. 861, 118 S.Ct. 163, 139 L.Ed.2d 107 (1997).

On 10 April 1998, petitioner initiated federal habeas corpus proceedings under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina granted the State's motion for summary judgment and denied petitioner's section 2254 petition. Petitioner appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which affirmed the district court's order on 23 May 2002. Hunt v. Lee, 291 F.3d 284 (4th Cir.2002). The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari review on 2 December 2002. Hunt v. Lee, 537 U.S. 1045, 123 S.Ct. 619, 154 L.Ed.2d 517 (2002). Upon exhaustion of federal habeas corpus review, petitioner's execution was scheduled to occur between 12:01 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. on 24 January 2003.

On 23 December 2002, petitioner filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in Superior Court, Orange County, pursuant to chapter 17 of the North Carolina General Statutes. Petitioner alleged that the Superior Court, Robeson County, did not have jurisdiction to try his case, as the indictments under which the court proceeded were defective. Specifically, petitioner contended that his indictments failed to allege: (1) the specific elements of intent, premeditation, and deliberation; and (2) the aggravating circumstances presented by the State in support of its contention that petitioner should receive the death penalty.

In an order entered 14 January 2002, the Orange County trial court denied in part and granted in part the petition for writ of habeas corpus. The trial court first denied petitioner's argument that the indictment failed to allege intent, premeditation, and deliberation. The trial court concluded that the argument was meritless based upon well-established case law from both this Court and the United States Supreme Court. However, the trial court granted a writ of habeas corpus as to petitioner's second argument based upon the United States Supreme Court's recent decision in Ring, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556. The trial court concluded that the court in which petitioner was convicted and sentenced did not have jurisdiction because, pursuant to Ring, the aggravating circumstances relied upon by the State at sentencing should have been alleged in petitioner's indictments. Pursuant to Rule 25(4) of the General Rules of Practice for the Superior and District Courts, the trial court concluded that the United States Supreme Court's decision in Ring rendered petitioner's second claim a "meritorious" challenge to the Superior Court's jurisdiction.

The trial court went on to conclude that if the petition "is deemed not to present a jurisdictional challenge, ... it presents a meritorious non-jurisdictional challenge" and should be transferred to Robeson County "for disposition as a[MAR]." The State petitioned this Court for a writ of certiorari to review the trial court's order, but this Court denied the State's petition on 16 January 2003. State v. Hunt, 356 N.C. 686, 576 S.E.2d 333 (2003).

On 14 January 2003, petitioner filed a second MAR, along with a stay of execution, in Superior Court, Robeson County, alleging that he was factually innocent based upon evidence unavailable at the time of his trial. The trial court denied the second MAR and stay on 22 January 2003.

On 17 January 2003, Superior Court Judge Jack A. Thompson, who was assigned to Robeson County, held a hearing to consider the writ of habeas corpus returned to Superior Court, Robeson County, pursuant to Rule 25(4). Judge Thompson conducted a de novo review and thereafter entered an order on 21 January 2003 denying the petition. According to Judge Thompson, this Court had consistently rejected the very same arguments raised by petitioner: that the indictments should have contained the aggravating circumstances that the State intended to introduce at trial. Judge Thompson found that nothing in Ring required a different result or reconsideration of the issue raised. As such, Judge Thompson concluded that Superior Court, Robeson County, had subject matter jurisdiction over the crimes for which petitioner was indicted and denied the petition, as it...

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