State v. Locklear, 235A96.

Citation505 S.E.2d 277,349 N.C. 118
Decision Date09 October 1998
Docket NumberNo. 235A96.,235A96.
PartiesSTATE of North Carolina v. Robbie Dexter LOCKLEAR.
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of North Carolina

Michael F. Easley, Attorney General by David F. Hoke, Assistant Attorney General, for the State.

William L. Davis, III, Lumberton, for defendant-appellant.

FRYE, Justice.

Defendant was indicted by a Robeson County grand jury for the first-degree murder of James Charles Taylor. He was tried capitally, and the jury returned a verdict of guilty of first-degree murder. In a capital sentencing proceeding conducted pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000, the jury found as an aggravating circumstance that defendant had previously been convicted of a felony involving the use of violence to the person. No juror found any mitigating circumstance. The jury recommended and the trial court imposed a sentence of death. For the reasons discussed herein, we conclude that defendant's trial and capital sentencing proceeding were free of prejudicial error and that the death sentence is not disproportionate. Accordingly, we uphold defendant's conviction of first-degree murder and sentence of death.

The State's evidence presented at trial tended to show the following facts and circumstances. On 27 January 1994, defendant and the victim, James Charles "Jay" Taylor, were living in the same mobile home in Robeson County. Also living in the home were defendant's mother, Angelina Locklear Taylor, who was the victim's wife; defendant's stepbrother, James Reed "J.R." Taylor, who was the victim's son; and defendant's uncle, James B. Locklear, Jr. That evening, defendant and his stepbrother were inside the bedroom they shared in the home. According to defendant's statement, Jay Taylor came into the room and began "raising hell" with defendant. Taylor invited defendant outside, and a fight ensued. Defendant was "getting the best of him," and Taylor stopped. Taylor moved toward an outside storage shed, telling defendant, "I will be right back you son of a bitch."

Defendant reentered the mobile home, got a twelve-gauge shotgun and shells, and returned outside. Taylor was standing in front of the storage shed, and defendant shot him in the back from a distance of approximately three to eight feet. Defendant reloaded the shotgun and shot Taylor in the neck as he was lying on the ground, then reloaded and fired a third time, missing the victim. Taylor died as a result of the two gunshot wounds inflicted by defendant.

Defendant had been drinking beer and liquor during the day of the shooting. An autopsy showed that the victim had a blood-alcohol level of .02, the equivalent of approximately half a beer.

After the shooting, defendant again entered the mobile home and told his uncle, "You better go check on your brother-in-law." Defendant told his uncle that he had shot Taylor because Taylor "said he was an S.O.B. and his mother was, too." Defendant then went across the street and told his aunt, Vera Lindsey, what he had done. Defendant ran down the road, where he was found by his cousin, James Belton Locklear, about a mile away. Locklear drove defendant back to the scene and summoned police. After being advised of his rights and waiving them, defendant voluntarily gave a statement to Detective Randal Patterson of the Robeson County Sheriff's Department in which he admitted shooting Taylor. Defendant's statement was published to the jury.

The trial court denied defendant's motion to dismiss made at the close of the State's evidence.

Defendant did not testify but did present evidence at trial. J.R. Taylor, the victim's son, testified that his father came into the bedroom he shared with defendant and asked him to go into another room. J.R. heard loud talking and a few minutes later he heard a shot, but did not think anything of it because target shooting was common in the neighborhood. Two of defendant's relatives testified that the victim kept one or more guns in the shed or outbuilding behind the mobile home. Mrs. Taylor, defendant's mother, testified that a week after her husband's death, she found a rifle while cleaning out the shed. She also testified that when she saw defendant at the jail on the night of the shooting he was upset and crying.

At defendant's capital sentencing proceeding, the State presented evidence of defendant's prior conviction for assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury in support of the sole aggravating circumstance submitted to the jury, that defendant had been previously convicted of a felony involving the use of violence to the person. N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(e)(3) (1988) (amended 1994).

Defendant's evidence during the sentencing phase tended to show the following: Defendant's mother had abused alcohol before and during her pregnancy. There was evidence that defendant suffered from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Defendant was an illegitimate child who had no contact with his father. Defendant was cared for by his grandmother from an early age because his mother continued to drink heavily. He was close to his grandmother and cared for her during her final illness, until she died when defendant was approximately nine years old.

There was expert testimony that defendant had an IQ of 76, which placed him in the borderline range of intellectual functioning. Defendant had always been small for his age and was "slow" in school. He had been retained in school and, as a teenager, had dropped out. Defendant also began to abuse alcohol as a teenager. He suffered from impulsive behavior and feelings of insecurity, inadequacy, and dependency, in part because of the effects of his exposure to alcohol before birth. At the time of the shooting, defendant was intoxicated from alcohol, Valium, and marijuana.

The jury considered twenty-one mitigating circumstances based on this evidence and the catchall mitigating circumstance. No juror found any mitigating circumstance to exist. The jury unanimously recommended, and the trial court imposed, a sentence of death.

Defendant appeals to this Court as of right from the sentence of death and presents thirty issues based on seventy-three assignments of error.

Defendant first contends that the trial court erred by arraigning him in violation of the procedures mandated by N.C.G.S. § 7A-49.3. Defendant was arraigned on 22 April 1996, at a Mixed Session of Superior Court, Robeson County, one week before he was scheduled for trial. On the day of the hearing, defendant objected on the grounds that his arraignment was not on a calendar published for that session. The trial court continued the proceeding until later in the day, and in the meantime, a calendar containing defendant's arraignment was published. Defendant contends that his constitutional right to due process was violated because the arraignment was scheduled pursuant to an ex parte communication between the trial court and the prosecutor, because he was not given proper notice of the arraignment, and because he was denied the full statutorily required time to file pretrial motions. We reject these contentions.

First, defendant's allegation of an ex parte communication between the trial court and the prosecutor implies that his constitutional right to presence was violated in some manner. At most, the record indicates that the prosecutor requested a hearing on an arraignment. While it is well settled that a defendant has an unwaivable right to be present at every stage of his capital trial, see State v. Payne, 320 N.C. 138, 139, 357 S.E.2d 612, 612 (1987),

a defendant does not have a right to be present when the State makes a routine communication with the court, prior to trial, concerning a scheduling matter. Assuming the State requested a hearing on arraignment outside of defendant's presence, this communication occurred prior to trial and did not constitute a stage of his capital trial. Cf. State v. Buckner, 342 N.C. 198, 228, 464 S.E.2d 414, 431 (1995) (no error where conference between trial judge and counsel was held without defendant's presence prior to commencement of trial), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 117 S.Ct. 91, 136 L.Ed.2d 47 (1996).

Second, defendant's right to due process was in no way impaired by a lack of notice, if any, that the arraignment was to be held on 22 April 1996. An arraignment is "a proceeding whereby a defendant is brought before a judge having jurisdiction to try the offense so that the defendant may be formally apprised of the charges pending against him and directed to plead to them." State v. Smith, 300 N.C. 71, 73, 265 S.E.2d 164, 166 (1980); see N.C.G.S. § 15A-941 (1997). It is clear from the record that defendant was fully aware of the charge against him, and he entered a plea of not guilty to first-degree murder at the arraignment. Further, defendant was not prevented, by the holding of his arraignment on this date, from filing pretrial motions. The trial court eliminated any possibility of prejudice by allowing defendant additional time to file his remaining pretrial motions.

Finally, defendant's contention that the State violated N.C.G.S. § 15A-943, thereby prejudicing him, is also meritless. Defendant was arraigned on 22 April 1996, and his trial began on 29 April 1996. This Court has determined that a defendant's interest in N.C.G.S. § 15A-943 arises under subsection (b), which provides that a defendant may not be tried without his consent in the same week in which he is arraigned. State v. Richardson, 308 N.C. 470, 482, 302 S.E.2d 799, 806 (1983); State v. Shook, 293 N.C. 315, 319, 237 S.E.2d 843, 846 (1977). Thus, defendant's "only interest is in his vested right to a week's interval between his arraignment and trial." Richardson, 308 N.C. at 483, 302 S.E.2d at 807. Assuming, arguendo, that the State violated N.C.G.S. § 15A-943(a) by publishing the calendar for defendant's arraignment on the same day the arraignment was held, there is no reversible error because defendant nonetheless had a full week's interval between arraignment and...

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