State v. McCarty
| Decision Date | 21 September 2022 |
| Docket Number | Appellate Case No. 2021-000062,Opinion No. 28116 |
| Citation | 437 S.C. 355,878 S.E.2d 902 |
| Parties | The STATE, Respondent, v. John W. MCCARTY, Petitioner. |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
Appellate Defender Susan Barber Hackett, of Columbia, for Petitioner.
Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson, Deputy Attorney General Donald J. Zelenka, Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General Melody Jane Brown, Assistant Attorney General Michael G. Ross, and Assistant Attorney General Julianna E. Battenfield, all of Columbia; and Solicitor William Walter Wilkins III, of Greenville, for Respondent.
John W. McCarty ("Petitioner") was charged with murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Petitioner maintained he acted in defense of another and filed a motion seeking immunity from criminal prosecution pursuant to the South Carolina Protection of Persons and Property Act ("Act").1 After a pretrial hearing, the circuit court denied the motion, and Petitioner was subsequently tried and convicted as charged. On appeal, Petitioner challenged the circuit court's ruling as to immunity, and the court of appeals affirmed in State v. McCarty , 2020-UP-269 (S.C. Ct. App. filed Sept. 23, 2020). This Court has granted a petition for a writ of certiorari to consider Petitioner's arguments that (1) the court of appeals erred in failing to hold the circuit court abdicated its role as the fact-finder by ruling a jury, not the court, must decide whether the individual Petitioner was defending was without fault in bringing on the difficulty; and (2) this Court should conclude Petitioner is entitled to immunity. We agree with Petitioner as to the first issue, but hold the issue of immunity should be decided in the first instance by the circuit court. As a result, we reverse the decision of the court of appeals and remand the matter to the circuit court to make the necessary findings.
The charges against Petitioner arose from the July 15, 2015 shooting death of Mitchell Bradley. Petitioner moved for immunity under the Act on the basis he acted in defense of Randy Wilson, his partner of nearly thirty years. The circuit court held a pretrial hearing on the motion on February 23, 2017, at which Petitioner, Wilson, Jacob Kirk, and two deputies from the Pickens County Sheriff's Office testified. As the circuit court ultimately noted in its ruling on the motion, many of the core facts were not in dispute.
Petitioner and Wilson shared a mobile home owned by Wilson in Liberty, South Carolina. Less than two years before the 2015 altercation, they allowed Bradley's brother, Jacob Kirk, to begin living with them rent-free in exchange for Kirk helping Wilson with household chores and errands. Wilson had recently stopped working due to increasing pain and physical impairment from injuries suffered as a teenager in 1980, including a broken neck, and Petitioner still worked full-time, so Wilson wanted assistance with activities around the home. Wilson knew Kirk and his family because he had worked for Kirk's grandfather until his physical condition deteriorated.
On the evening of July 15, 2015, Bradley, who was in his twenties, was at the home visiting his brother. Petitioner testified Kirk appeared to come home from work in a bad mood, and Kirk acknowledged that he began drinking as soon as he got home from work, sometime between 5:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Later in the evening, Bradley and Kirk were drinking together on the porch, and Kirk came inside to get something to eat. By that time, Wilson and Petitioner had already eaten and Petitioner had gone to bed, so Wilson placed several plates of leftovers for Bradley and Kirk in the microwave. Wilson was on the phone talking to his niece when Kirk came in.
An argument began between Kirk and Wilson when Kirk interrupted Wilson several times to ask about the leftovers while Wilson was on the phone. Kirk, who was admittedly intoxicated (Kirk conceded that he and his brother, Bradley, had consumed "at least" ten or more beers each and were "drunk"), began talking loudly to Wilson, asking him questions about how to "divvy up" the plates of food.
According to Wilson, he told Kirk, "[C]an't you see I'm on the phone[?]" Kirk then got angry and hit or bumped Wilson on the shoulder. Kirk began yelling at Wilson and allegedly stated during their argument that he "was going to slice [Wilson] up." Kirk began packing his belongings, but Bradley also "started getting mouthy," so Wilson told Bradley that he needed to leave the home, as he did not live there, and Bradley refused. Wilson called 9-1-1 for assistance. While waiting on law enforcement, Wilson went outside to repair Kirk's truck so Kirk would have a way to carry all of his belongings.2
Kirk's recollection also was that his statements to Wilson over the food are "what sparked everything." Kirk acknowledged that he "was furious" with Wilson and that he could be heard screaming in the background during the recording of Wilson's 9-1-1 call. Kirk testified he was screaming at Wilson because he "was trying to do more of an intimidating type of thing showing him [Wilson] that I'm not afraid of him ...."
One of the deputies who responded to the 9-1-1 call testified that he noticed all three men involved in the dispute, Wilson, Kirk, and Bradley, appeared to be grossly intoxicated. Petitioner, however, was asleep in his bedroom. The deputy concluded the men had been involved in an argument over food and that Wilson wanted Bradley to leave, but Kirk wanted him to stay. The deputy informed Wilson that, because Kirk was a resident, he did not believe he could make his invited guest (Bradley) leave.3 Although the deputy testified everyone appeared to be "chill" during their conversation, he recalled that as he left, he heard Wilson shout out to him that he was going to have to come back to the home.
The evidence at the hearing indicates the argument resumed within minutes after the deputies left and turned into a physical altercation between Wilson and Bradley. Kirk acknowledged that after the officers left, he went over to Wilson while Wilson was working on his (Kirk's) truck and told him, "[S]ee, just because it's your property doesn't mean that you get to control everything that goes on here." Kirk testified that this upset Wilson, who then threw down the tool that he was using and began "shuffling" through Bradley's cigarettes and cigarette tubes. According to Kirk, Bradley became upset and grabbed Wilson and told Wilson to "stop f'ing with my S, Randy," and Wilson allegedly grabbed Bradley at the same time. However, Bradley then shoved Wilson down the outside stairs leading to the porch and the back door of the home. The force broke several of the steps and Wilson's foot.
Kirk testified he noticed Wilson held onto the hand railing and appeared to struggle to go back up the stairs to the home after he was pushed down, but at that time he did not realize Wilson had sustained any broken bones and thought his gout was hurting him. Kirk contended Wilson "smacked" a beer off of the hand railing as he made his way up the steps and that this angered Bradley, who began "popping [Wilson] in the face" with his hand as Wilson screamed for help from Petitioner. Kirk stated he did not believe Bradley struck Wilson with "serious force," and opined that his brother "was slapping [Wilson], trying to ... incite him to throw the first punch." Kirk recalled Bradley "kept on popping" Wilson and said to Wilson, "What you hollering for [Petitioner] for?" At that point, he saw Petitioner come to the door, and he (Kirk) yelled to his brother that Petitioner had a gun. Kirk stated Petitioner fired a shot at the floor once and pushed on the door but did not come outside. Petitioner then shot at Bradley twice, striking him.
Wilson testified he was working on Kirk's truck after the officers left and at one point he accidentally knocked over Bradley's beer that was sitting near the engine.4 Wilson stated Bradley grabbed him by the arm but then went and got another beer, so he thought the interaction was over. When Wilson finished working on the truck, he proceeded to go up the steps to the home's porch, but Bradley shoved him down the stairs, breaking two of the steps and bones in his foot. Wilson testified he tried to get back up the stairs by gripping the hand railing and, in doing so, he knocked over a beer left sitting on the hand railing. Wilson stated he was trying to get back inside the home, but Bradley pushed him down and he could not get inside the home, so he started screaming for help from Petitioner. Wilson testified Kirk did not try to stop the altercation and instead was inciting his brother with his comments, which intensified Bradley's anger. Wilson acknowledged that he had some liquor that evening, but he stated he was not drinking heavily like the two younger men.
Wilson testified that he was concerned for his life and safety as his neck was fragile due to both his prior surgery for a broken neck and his osteoporosis condition, and his neck was being twisted roughly by Bradley during the altercation. Wilson recalled Petitioner ran to the kitchen and fired a warning shot at the floor, but Bradley did not stop, so Petitioner fired again, striking Bradley. Wilson then administered CPR to Bradley. Wilson stated he believed Petitioner prevented him from sustaining serious bodily injury or death. Wilson's testimony was supplemented with photographs taken at the scene showing him with blood running down both of his legs and one leg that was badly swollen from the break he sustained from being pushed down the stairs.
As outlined above, Kirk's testimony substantially tracked Wilson's, but he indicated Wilson intentionally tossed around Bradley's beers and cigarettes. Kirk stated he did not view Wilson as fragile and would have stepped in if he thought the fight was getting serious. Kirk stated he thought Wilson and Bradley ...
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