State v. McHone

• Citation: 348 N.C. 254,499 S.E.2d 761
• Decision Date: 08 May 1998
• Docket Number: No. 148A91-2.,148A91-2.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of North Carolina
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Steven Van McHONE.

499 S.E.2d 761

348 N.C. 254

STATE of North Carolina v. Steven Van McHONE.

No. 148A91-2.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

May 8, 1998.

Michael F. Easley, Attorney General by Valérie B. Spalding, Special Deputy Attorney General, for the State.

Kenneth Rose, Director, Center for Death Penalty Litigation, and Cindy F. Adcock, Duke University School of Law, Durham, for defendant-appellant.

Paul M. Green on behalf of the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, Durham, amicus curiae.

MITCHELL, Chief Justice.

On 4 June 1990, defendant was indicted by the Surry County Grand Jury on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. After a capital trial held at the 25 February 1991 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Surry County, the jury found defendant guilty of both counts of first-degree murder, on the theory of premeditation and deliberation, and guilty of the assault. After a capital sentencing proceeding held pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000, the jury recommended the death penalty for each first-degree murder conviction. The trial court entered judgment sentencing defendant to death for each murder. The trial court also entered judgment sentencing defendant to ten years' imprisonment for the conviction of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. Defendant appealed to the North Carolina Supreme Court, and on 8 October 1993, this Court found no error in the convictions or sentences. State v. McHone, 334 N.C. 627, 435 S.E.2d 296 (1993). Defendant subsequently petitioned the United States Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, which was denied. Van McHone v. North Carolina, 511 U.S. 1046, 114 S.Ct. 1577, 128 L.Ed.2d 220 (1994). It would serve no useful purpose in determining the issues presented here to further review the evidence presented at defendant's original trial.

On 17 January 1995, defendant filed a motion for appropriate relief pursuant to chapter 15A, article 89 of the North Carolina General Statutes. On 20 January 1995, defendant filed a motion seeking discovery and for production by the State of exculpatory information. The State filed its response in opposition to defendant's discovery motion on 14 June 1995. The State filed its answer and motion to deny defendant's motion for appropriate relief on 10 May 1996.

By an order filed 26 August 1996, the trial court denied defendant's motion for appropriate relief without hearing arguments by defendant or the State and without conducting an evidentiary hearing. The trial court made no specific rulings as to defendant's motion for discovery.

On 13 September 1996, defendant filed a motion to vacate the trial court's order denying his motion for appropriate relief. At the same time, defendant filed a supplemental motion for appropriate relief pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 15A-1415(g). A hearing on defendant's motion for appropriate relief as supplemented was held on 9 December 1996. On that same date, the trial court issued an order denying defendant's motion for appropriate relief and denying defendant's discovery motion. We allowed defendant's petition for writ of certiorari to review that 9 December 1996 order of the trial court.

Defendant first contends that under N.C.G.S. § 15A-1420(c), he was entitled to a hearing on questions of law and fact arising from the grounds for relief asserted in his supplemental motion. He argues that this is so because, in his motion as supplemented, he alleged specific errors of constitutional law. For the following reasons, we conclude that the mere fact that some of the grounds for relief set forth by defendant were based upon asserted violations of defendant's rights under the Constitution of the United States did not entitle him to a hearing or to present evidence.

N.C.G.S. § 15A-1420 provides that "[a]ny party is entitled to a hearing on questions of law or fact ... unless the court determines that the motion is without merit." N.C.G.S. § 15A-1420(c)(1) (1997) (emphasis added). Subsection (c)(7) of the statute also provides that if a defendant asserts with specificity in his motion for appropriate relief that his conviction was obtained in violation of the Constitution of the United States, the defendant is entitled to have the trial court make conclusions of law and state its reasons before denying the motion. N.C.G.S. § 15A-1420(c)(7). However, we do not read subsection (c)(7) as an expansion either of defendant's right to be heard or his right to present evidence. Instead, this provision is merely a directive to the trial court to make written conclusions of law and to give its legal reasoning for entering its order, such that its ruling can be subjected to meaningful appellate review. Therefore, summary denial without conclusions and a statement of the trial court's reasoning is not proper where the defendant bases his motion upon an asserted violation of his constitutional rights.

Subsection (c)(7) mandates that "the court must make and enter conclusions of law and a statement of the reasons for its determination to the extent required, when taken with other records and transcripts in the case, to indicate whether the defendant has had a full and fair hearing on the merits of the grounds so asserted." N.C.G.S. § 15A-1420(c)(7). However, this subsection of the statute must be read in pari materia with the other provisions of the same statute. Therefore, when a motion for appropriate relief presents only questions of law, including questions of constitutional law, the trial court must determine the motion without an evidentiary hearing. N.C.G.S. § 15A-1420(c)(3); State v. Bush, 307 N.C. 152, 166-67, 297 S.E.2d 563, 574 (1982). Further, if the trial court can determine from the motion and any supporting or opposing information presented that the motion is without merit, it may deny the motion without any hearing either on questions of fact or questions of law, including constitutional questions. N.C.G.S. § 15A-1420(c)(1). Therefore, it does not automatically follow that, because defendant asserted violations of his rights under the Constitution of the United States, he was entitled to present evidence or to a hearing on questions of fact or law. For example, when a motion for appropriate relief presents only a question of constitutional law and it is clear to the trial court that the defendant is not entitled to prevail, "the motion is without merit" within the meaning of subsection (c)(1) and may be dismissed by the trial court without any hearing. Id. Likewise, where facts are in dispute but the trial court can determine that the defendant is entitled to no relief even upon the facts as asserted by him, the trial court may determine that the motion "is without merit" within the meaning of subsection (c)(1) and deny it without any hearing on questions of law or fact. Id. Defendant's contention that he was entitled to a hearing and entitled to present evidence simply because his motion for appropriate relief was based in part upon asserted denials of his rights under the Constitution of the United States is without merit.

However, defendant also contends in the present case that he was entitled to an evidentiary hearing before the trial court ruled on his motion for appropriate relief as supplemented because some of his asserted grounds for relief required the trial court to resolve questions of fact. We find this contention to have merit. N.C.G.S. § 15A-1420(c)(1) mandates that "[t]he court must determine ... whether an evidentiary hearing is required to...