State v. Klinger
| Citation | 739 S.E.2d 627 |
| Decision Date | 19 March 2013 |
| Docket Number | No. COA12–798.,COA12–798. |
| Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. William Charles KLINGER, Defendant. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of North Carolina (US) |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal by defendant from judgments entered 23 January 2012 by Judge Alan Z. Thornburg in Avery County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 10 January 2013.
Roy Cooper, Attorney General, by Margaret A. Force, Assistant Attorney General, for the State.
Russell J. Hollers III, for defendant-appellant.
Defendant William Charles Klinger (“defendant”) appeals from his convictions on seven counts of statutory sex offense, three counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor, and one count of delivering a controlled substance to a minor. After careful review, we conclude that defendant received a trial free from prejudicial error with respect to his statutory sex offense and indecent liberties convictions. However, we reverse defendant's conviction for delivering a controlled substance to a minor.
The State presented evidence at trial tending to establish the following facts: In the summer of 2009, “Randy” was 13 years old, living at home with his parents in Banner Elk, North Carolina.1 Defendant, who was in his early forties at the time, was introduced to Randy, and they became friends.
On the first occasion in which they spent time together, defendant picked up Randy and took him to his house near Valle Crucis, where they sat on the back porch and smoked marijuana together. After this incident, defendant and Randy began meeting two to three times a week to smoke marijuana at defendant's house. Fearing his parents' disapproval, Randy told his parents that he was spending time with a friend his own age.
Defendant and Randy subsequently planned to take a trip together. Seeking to invent a false story that would result in his parents allowing him to travel with defendant, Randy told his parents about a fictitious friend's stepfather who worked as a reporter for a television station. Randy then asked if he could go with the friend's stepfather to help film the Highland Games. However, Randy's parents insisted on meeting the friend's stepfather before allowing Randy to go on the trip. When they met defendant, he wore a wedding ring and told them that he was married and had a stepson who also would be going on the trip. When Randy's parents asked to meet defendant's wife and stepson, the trip was cancelled.
Randy's parents did, however, allow him to go on day trips with defendant. The first trip was in October 2009, when defendant and Randy went to Beech Mountain to film “Oz Fest.” After filming the music festival, they drove to Boone where defendant stopped and rented a room at Greens Motel. Once they got into the motel room, defendant and Randy smoked marijuana and snorted crushed up pills. At that point, defendant forced Randy to perform oral sex on him. Defendant then performed oral sex on Randy. Defendant threatened to tell Randy's parents that Randy had impregnated his girlfriend if he did not do as he was told. Upon returning home, Randy did not tell his parents what had happened because he was scared defendant would hurt him.
Randy went out with defendant the next weekend on the pretense of filming the Blue Ridge Parkway. Before doing any filming, defendant drove Randy to the Pineola Inn and rented a room. Defendant and Randy then smoked marijuana and drove up to the parkway. After doing some filming, they drove back to the motel, where they smoked more marijuana and snorted crushed pills. Defendant then pushed Randy onto the bed and threatened to tell his parents if Randy did not have sex with him. Defendant forced Randy to get on the floor and perform oral sex on him while he was sitting on the edge of the bed. He then had Randy lie down on the bed while defendant performed oral sex on him. Defendant then rolled over onto his side and made Randy engage in anal sex with him. Afterward, the two of them smoked more marijuana, ate dinner, and went home. When defendant dropped off Randy at his parents' house, they could tell that Randy was “high” and told him that he could not see defendant anymore.
Approximately one week later, Randy snuck out of his window around midnight and met defendant at the end of the driveway. They drove around for approximately three hours smoking marijuana. After this incident, Randy began sneaking out almost every night to meet up with defendant and take drugs.
On two occasions, defendant engaged in sexual activity with Randy in his vehicle. Each time, defendant pulled down his pants and told Randy to perform oral sex on him, which Randy proceeded to do. Defendant then instructed Randy to pull down his pants, and, once Randy did so, defendant performed oral sex on him.
Defendant also engaged in sexual activity with Randy at defendant's house. Defendant had Randy perform oral sex on him in his bedroom on at least three separate occasions, and defendant performed oral sex on Randy once or twice. On one occasion, defendant had Randy lie down on the bed, take his clothes off, and have anal sex with defendant. While at defendant's house, they would smoke marijuana and take pills, and on one occasion they drank liquor.
On 31 December 2009, Randy snuck out of the house and went with defendant to a friend's house to watch television and smoke marijuana. Before Randy got back home, his parents went to check on him and discovered that he was not in bed. Randy's father called Randy's cell phone and told Randy that if he was not home in 10 minutes he was calling the police. When Randy got home, he refused to tell his parents who he had been out with that night. Following this incident, Randy's mother found a picture of Randy, along with satanic symbols, on defendant's Facebook page. Randy's parents subsequently obtained a restraining order prohibiting defendant from having any further contact with Randy.
Despite the restraining order, defendant and Randy communicated regularly through email and text messaging. Defendant would put marijuana and pills in prescription bottles and drop them off near Randy's house. Randy would then ride his bike to the prearranged location, obtain the drugs, and return home.
On 14 February 2010, Randy's mother found pills near his computer and confronted him about them the next day. Randy refused to tell her how he had obtained them. He became angry and punched several holes in the wall, hit his mother with a telephone, and threatened her. That afternoon, Randy's mother contacted John Troy Autry (“Autry”), a juvenile court counselor, who filed a juvenile petition charging Randy with assault and injury to property.
On 1 March 2010, the district court held a hearing on the petition and adjudicated Randy delinquent on both counts and placed him on probation for 12 months. As conditions of probation, Randy was required to give up his cell phone and computer, submit to random drug tests, and allow his room to be searched. Prior to searching his room later on the day of the hearing, Autry asked Randy whether he had any items that he was not allowed to possess while on probation. Randy gave Autry at least 20 prescription bottles with the labels removed. When asked by Autry about defendant, Randy denied that defendant had given him the drugs or that he had approached him sexually.
In early March 2010, defendant, who had traveled to Florida because he was concerned that he was being watched, arranged to have some drugs delivered to Randy through friends. On 12 March 2010, Randy received from defendant 14 pills hidden in a Game Box console. That night, Randy and his girlfriend snorted two crushed up pills before going to a movie. When Randy got home that night, he took two more pills and went to sleep.
After Randy's father found him nonresponsive the next morning, Randy was taken to the hospital, where he was admitted for post intentional overdose of opiate medication, requiring intubation. He spent at least 10 days in the pediatric intensive care unit and was subsequently moved to a psychiatric facility. Randy was then moved to a residential treatment facility in Tennessee. While he was there, Randy was interviewed by Autry and Detective Frank Catalano with the Avery County Sheriff's Office. He told them that defendant had provided him with drugs, including the pills on which he had overdosed. He also explained that defendant had fondled his genitals, kissed his penis, and put his tongue on it. In a follow up interview, Randy described other sexual acts involving defendant.
Defendant was arrested and charged with, among other things, seven counts of statutory sexual offense, three counts of indecent liberties with a child, and one count of delivering a controlled substance (Oxycodone) to a minor.2 Defendant pled not guilty, and the case proceeded to trial, where defendant neither testified nor presented any evidence.
The jury convicted defendant of all the charges submitted, and the trial court imposed presumptive range sentences on each count. For two of the statutory sex offense counts, the court sentenced defendant to a minimum of 259 months and a maximum of 320 months imprisonment. For each of the remaining five statutory sex offense counts, the court sentenced defendant to 248 to 307 months imprisonment. For the indecent liberties charges, the court sentenced defendant to 17 to 21 months imprisonment for each count. The court ordered that the terms of imprisonment for the sex related offenses run consecutively. With regard to the charge of delivery of a controlled substance to a minor, the court sentenced defendant to 66 to 89 months imprisonment, running concurrently with the other charges. Defendant gave notice of appeal in open court.
Defendant first argues that the trial court erred in admitting—over his objections—evidence of his belief in, and practice of, Satanism. Prior to trial, defendant filed a motion in limine to...
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Klinger v. Joyner
...sex offenses and indecent liberties charges, but vacating the conviction for delivery of a controlled substance. State v. Klinger, 739 S.E.2d 627 (N.C. Ct. App. 2013). On June 12, 2013, the Supreme Court of North Carolina denied Petitioner's petition for discretionary review. (Doc. No. 5-3)......