State v. Locklear, 114PA83
Decision Date | 27 September 1983 |
Docket Number | No. 114PA83,114PA83 |
Citation | 306 S.E.2d 774,309 N.C. 428 |
Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. Philip James LOCKLEAR. |
Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Rufus L. Edmisten, Atty. Gen. by Donald W. Grimes, Asst. Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for the state.
Adam Stein, Appellate Defender by Lorinzo L. Joyner, Asst. Appellate Defender, Raleigh, for defendant.
We find prejudicial error with respect to defendant's first assignment of error and, therefore, reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals. In this assignment defendant argues that he was deprived of due process of law by the actions of the trial court regarding the state's principal witness.
The state's evidence tended to show that defendant and the state's witness Mary Hunt Campbell were friends and that they occasionally lived together in Ms. Campbell's mobile home. On the night in question they had an argument, and Ms. Campbell called the Fairmont police because defendant threatened her. Later in the night she heard "something" hitting her house. She again called the police. She went to a window and saw defendant's car parked down the road and defendant standing in the road with something in his hands. The officers testified that they saw defendant in his car on the highway after the first call. They advised him that he should go home. After the second call one officer in the vicinity of the Campbell home saw defendant in his car coming from the direction of the trailer park. The next day Ms. Campbell pointed out to an officer the spot where she saw defendant, and the officer found sixteen .22-caliber shell casings in the road. An examination of the house disclosed that some bullets had penetrated the wall and windows.
Defendant and his witnesses testified that although he had been at the trailer park about dark, he had left and did not return that night. One witness said he heard shots and looked out the window at Ms. Campbell's home but did not see defendant in his car.
Ms. Campbell in her testimony was very hesitant and appeared to be trying to help defendant. This brings us to the actions by the trial court about which defendant now complains. The trial court sent the jury out of the courtroom, and the following took place:
"THE COURT: Let the record reflect the following occurs in the absence of the Jury. Miss Campbell, I'm going to ask you to sit up close to the microphone, that you take your hand away from your mouth and that you put your hands in your lap, please, and speak up and answer the questions that are asked of you. I a, you're in the process of leading a witness. My observation is that the witness is being a, recalcitrant and hesitant and because of that I'm going to allow you to explore this matter in the absence of the Jury at this time, so we'll have an idea of about what's going to be coming.
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"THE COURT: You need to speak up, Ma'm. Remember I asked you to take your hand down from your mouth. Slip up to that microphone and speak into it, about three or four inches away, well, the electric is not on now. Speak up so we can all hear you.
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Later, after some testimony by Ms. Campbell before the jury, the following took place in the absence of the jury:
THE COURT: Miss Campbell, in order for this trial to proceed, everyone must be able to hear. I have directed you to speak up and you continue to fail to speak up. Those of us who are responsible for the trial of this case and the Jury must hear. I must make notes about it; the court-reporter must take down every word that you say, and all thirteen Jurors must be able to hear. I'm a patient man but my patience is running out. Is that clear to you?
A. Yes, sir.
THE COURT: You are to answer the questions and you are to answer them in a way that everyone can hear. That microphone is there for the purpose of aiding you in doing that. I instruct you to answer the questions when they are asked of you, directly into the microphone so that everyone can hear. Are you prepared to do that?
A. Yes, sir.
THE COURT: The next time we have to do that ... this, you're going to be in the custody of the Sheriff. Call the Jurors back in.
The jury returned, and Ms. Campbell continued her testimony:
Q. Miss Campbell, whose car was it that you saw there in the trailer park at that time?
A. Phillip's.
Q. And that's Phillip Locklear?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And you saw it stop, didn't you?
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A. (Pause.) Yes, sir.
Q. And you saw Phillip get out of it, didn't you?
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A. Yes, sir.
Q. And you saw Phillip point the rifle at your house, didn't you?
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A. I couldn't tell what he had.
Q. And a, you could tell he had something, couldn't you?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And at that point, something began hitting against your house again, didn't it?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And Phillip was on the same side of the trailer where the bullets were striking, wasn't he?
A. Yes, sir.
The foregoing does not constitute all of the problems the trial judge had with this witness. Truly, her testimony and behavior on the witness stand would have sorely tried the patience of Job. However, the trial judge must not let himself be goaded into such responses as took place in this case.
With respect to this assignment of error, we reaffirm the principles stated by this Court through Chief Justice Sharp in State v. Rhodes, 290 N.C. 16, 224 S.E.2d 631 (1976):
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