State v. Lloyd

• Decision Date: 05 October 2001
• Docket Number: No. 196A00.,196A00.
• Citation: State v. Lloyd, 552 S.E.2d 596, 354 N.C. 76 (N.C. 2001)
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Willie Junior LLOYD.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

552 S.E.2d 596

STATE of North Carolina v. Willie Junior LLOYD.

No. 196A00.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

October 5, 2001.

Roy A. Cooper, Attorney General, by Joan M. Cunningham, Assistant Attorney General, for the State.

Staples Hughes, Appellate Defender, by Danielle M. Carman, Assistant Appellate Defender, for defendant-appellant.

EDMUNDS, Justice.

On 19 October 1998, defendant Willie Junior Lloyd was indicted for the first-degree murder of Cynthia Catherine Woods. He was tried capitally before a jury at the 28 June 1999 Special Criminal Session of Superior Court, Alamance County. On 20 July 1999, the jury found defendant guilty of first-degree murder on the basis of malice, premeditation, and deliberation. Following a capital sentencing proceeding, the jury recommended a sentence of death, and on 23 July 1999, the trial court entered judgment in accordance with the recommendation. Defendant appeals to this Court as a matter of right. For the reasons that follow, we find no prejudicial error in the guilt-innocence phase of defendant's trial, but we vacate the death sentence and remand the case for a new capital sentencing proceeding.

The evidence at trial established that defendant was involved in a romantic triangle with victim Woods. Defendant had been seeing Woods for several years. However, she was living with another boyfriend, William Coltraine, whom she had been dating for fourteen years. At the time of the murder, Woods was attempting to terminate her relationship with defendant. Freddie Woods, the victim's son, who was twenty-six years old at the time of trial and lived at the victim's home, testified that his mother "was trying to break everything off" with defendant. Woods told Freddie that she had obtained a restraining order against defendant and had changed her telephone number as a result of defendant's calls. Woods frequently asked Freddie to tell defendant that she was asleep or not home if defendant telephoned her. Coltraine testified that in 1995, defendant was charged with placing harassing telephone calls to Woods' residence and with second-degree trespass at Woods' residence, and a judge ordered defendant "not to call back at the house and also not to come on our property anymore." Coltraine also stated that if he told defendant that Woods was asleep when defendant telephoned her, defendant would instruct him to "tell the bitch I called."

On 28 September 1998, Woods was at home with Freddie. When defendant telephoned in the late morning, Woods asked Freddie to tell defendant that she was asleep. That afternoon, Woods left home to pick up from school her five-year-old grandson, Jovanta Woods. Defendant called again for Woods while she was gone. After Woods and Jovanta returned, Jovanta began his homework in the kitchen, and Freddie watched television in his bedroom. At approximately 3:00 p.m., defendant went to Woods' home. Jovanta heard a doorbell ring and heard Woods and defendant step into the house and begin arguing. He then heard two loud bangs and went to the front porch, where he saw Woods lying on the porch. Freddie also heard a "loud banging" and went outside to find Woods lying on the porch in a pool of blood. She was bleeding from her nose and mouth, her body was flinching, and her right foot was under the storm door. Freddie saw defendant running toward his car. Defendant stopped to look back at Freddie, then entered his car and drove away "extremely fast." Jovanta also observed defendant drive away quickly from the scene. Freddie ran after defendant's car in an attempt to determine his license plate number, then returned to the porch and called for emergency assistance. Freddie asked Woods if she knew defendant's last name, and she was able to respond that it was "Willie Lloyd." Freddie relayed this information to police and also described defendant's vehicle.

Several witnesses who worked at the Annedeen Hosiery Mill across from Woods' residence observed defendant and Woods on 28 September 1998. Gene Terrill testified that as he left Annedeen at approximately 3:06 p.m., he observed Woods partially inside her house, yelling at defendant to "[g]et the hell out of here." Defendant's hand was on the door at the time. Terrill heard the arguing become louder, followed by a shot. He saw Woods grab the door. As she fell, defendant rapidly fired additional shots at her while yelling "bitch" in an angry tone. Defendant then looked at Terrill and quickly moved toward his car, driving off at a "very fast rate." Terrill went to the porch and saw Woods flinching and bleeding from her ears, nose, and mouth. Terrill saw both Jovanta crying on the porch and Freddie running after defendant's car.

Tim Guffey, also an employee with Annedeen, left work shortly after 3:00 p.m. When he heard two gunshots, he approached Woods' home, where he saw

a guy running down the steps towards his car. And then he slammed the door. And he took off real fast, you know. He was fish tailing down the street.... Looked like he was going to wipe the side of the street out on both sides, you know, the way he was going.

He added that defendant did not stop at a stop sign as he drove away. Guffey also saw Jovanta crying on the porch while Freddie knelt over Woods with a telephone in his hand, and observed Woods flinching and bleeding from the mouth.

Katie Poole, another Annedeen employee, was waiting for her husband at the shipping dock. She noticed defendant on Woods' porch. Woods, who was behind her storm door, yelled at defendant to "[g]et the hell away from here." Shortly afterwards, Poole heard more than four gunshots and heard a car "spinning off, like tires were hollering." She also observed Jovanta and Freddie on the front porch after the shooting. Similarly, Mike Long, a neighbor of Woods, heard five to six gunshots shortly after 3:00 p.m. and then "heard somebody take-off squeeling [sic] tires a little bit."

When emergency personnel arrived on the scene, Woods' breathing was labored, and she appeared to be unconscious. Her shirt, on which bullet holes and powder burns could be seen, was cut from her body to facilitate CPR. Woods apparently died before she reached the hospital.

As defendant fled the scene, he passed an automobile driven by Jason McPherson, who testified that defendant was "going around two lanes of traffic on the wrong side of the street, and through an intersection, which about hit me in the process." Defendant drove to Culp Weaving where Coltraine, his rival for the victim's affections, had just gotten off work. Coltraine, who was talking with Tim and Wayne Crutchfield in the parking lot, testified that defendant approached the men and calmly stated,

I'm pretty sure you don't know me do you?... Well, I'm the guy that y'all tried to have locked up one time.... I was man enough to come by and tell you that I had killed Catherine, and she's laying over there on the porch. Maybe you better go on home. Maybe you better go on home.

Defendant also told Coltraine, "I did come to kill both of you." Tim Crutchfield similarly testified that defendant approached the men in the parking lot and stated to Coltraine, "[Y]ou don't know who I am, but I just shot Cathy.... She's laying on the porch. You might ought to go check on her. She's dead." Wayne Crutchfield testified that defendant approached the three men in the parking lot and stated, "I know you all don't know me.... She's laying on the porch." Wayne Crutchfield also heard defendant say that he was going to turn himself in.

After leaving Culp Weaving, defendant drove to a convenience store to buy a soft drink. He called the Burlington Police Department at 3:26 p.m., identified himself, and told police he would turn himself in. He added, however, that he first needed to drive around for half an hour to clear his head because "after something like this, you are just not in the state of mind that you're used to," and requested that an officer meet him at his residence. Defendant next drove to another convenience store where he purchased cigarettes and another soft drink and called his mother to tell her that Woods was hurt. He then drove home, where Detective Tye Fowler of the Burlington Police Department and Lieutenant Eddie Sheffield of the Alamance County Sheriff's Department arrested him and charged him with murder. Defendant was calm and cooperative, and he appeared to be uninjured. Lieutenant Sheffield retrieved a .380 caliber semiautomatic handgun, a magazine, and loose rounds of ammunition from inside defendant's residence.

Dr. John Butts, Chief Medical Examiner for the State of North Carolina, performed an autopsy of Woods. He testified that she suffered four bullet wounds. One wound was to her left breast, another was to her right shoulder, a third was to her lower right shoulder, and a fourth was to her lower abdomen. The shot that struck the victim's breast was fired at such a close range that Dr. Butts stated, "[T]he muzzle of the gun in my opinion was up against her body at the time it was discharged." Although at least two of the wounds were not individually fatal, all of the shots would have caused painful injuries and collectively were the cause of death. Dr. Butts testified that the shot to her lower right shoulder, which was fired from behind and above and penetrated several vital organs, was "rapidly, relatively rapidly, fatal," suggesting that this wound was the immediate cause of death. Dr. Butts also stated that, depending on the relative positions of the shooter and the victim, the wounds could have been inflicted by someone who was standing above Woods and that the wounds on the front of her body were somewhat inconsistent with her standing upright. He detected a powder deposit on Woods' right wrist, which was consistent with a defensive gesture. Eugene Bishop, a special agent with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, testified that three projectiles retrieved from Woods' body and a...