State v. Mercer

• Decision Date: 03 June 1986
• Docket Number: No. 410A85,410A85
• Citation: 343 S.E.2d 885,317 N.C. 87
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Wayne Theodore MERCER.

Page 885

343 S.E.2d 885

317 N.C. 87

STATE of North Carolina v. Wayne Theodore MERCER.

No. 410A85.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

June 3, 1986.

Lacy H. Thornburg, Atty. Gen., by Marilyn R. Mudge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for the State.

Robert D. Kornegay, Jr. and Howard A. Knox, Jr., Rocky Mount, for defendant-appellant.

MEYER, Justice.

The evidence for the State tended to show that shortly after 7:00 p.m. on 3 January 1985, the victim, a 56-year-old female schoolteacher, drove the four blocks from her home in Rocky Mount to the Piggly-Wiggly grocery store. She parked her Honda automobile in front of the grocery store entrance, went inside, purchased a loaf of bread, and returned to her car. Once inside the car, the victim reached over to the left side door to close it but was unable to do so because a man was standing beside the open door. The man held a small handgun to the left side of the victim's head and said, "Woman, I want your money."

The victim was unable to see the man's face because she was seated in the compact car, and the man, whom she described as "reasonably tall," was standing next to the car. The victim handed her assailant her change purse which contained only sixty cents, a small coin inscribed with biblical verses, and her house key. She explained to the man that she had no more money because she had come to the store only for a loaf of bread and had left her pocketbook at home. The man then ordered her to slip up the seat of the two-door Honda, and he slid easily into the back seat. As he entered the car, the man reached forward and knocked the rear view mirror askew. When he did, the victim noticed that the hand "belonged to a black person." The man ordered the victim not to look at him and to begin driving; she complied, and the man directed her to stop the car in the parking lot of the Rocky Mount Senior High School.

The man moved to the front seat of the car, pulled the victim's toboggan cap down over her face so that she could not see him, and engaged in vaginal intercourse with the victim against her will. The victim testified that her assailant held the handgun against her from time to time during the ordeal. While they were at the high school, the man ordered the victim to relinquish her rings and her watch. She gave him her engagement ring, her thin gold wedding band, and her digital Criterion watch. The assailant then had the victim drive him back to the Piggly-Wiggly store, where he got out of the car and left. The victim drove straight home, related the incident to her husband, then went to Nash General Hospital where Dr. Winters conducted an examination and prepared an SBI rape kit.

On 11 January 1985, the defendant appeared at the M&T Pawn Shop where Melvin Corbett was working. Mr. Corbett had known the defendant for four or five years. The defendant brought in a small, thin yellow gold wedding band for which Mr. Corbett paid him five dollars. Mr. Corbett tagged the ring, according to the store's policy, with an identification number and the date. He also completed a form for police records upon which he listed the seller's (defendant's) name, address, "North Carolina I.D. number," date of birth, race, and sex. The defendant signed the form, a copy of which was filed with the police department.

On 15 January 1985, Detective Tommy Thompson of the Rocky Mount Police Department went to the pawn shop with the police department's copy of the pawn ticket and took custody of the fourteen carat gold wedding band defendant had pawned there four days earlier. He displayed the ring to the victim, who identified it as the one her attacker had stolen from her on 3 January. Detective Thompson arrested defendant pursuant to a warrant for possession of stolen goods issued and served on 17 January 1985. The defendant remained in jail until he made bond on the evening of 12 February 1985. The next day, 13 February, Detective Thompson arrested defendant pursuant to warrants for first-degree kidnapping and first-degree rape issued 12 February 1985.

Later in the day of 13 February, defendant's girlfriend, Laura Ann Winstead, spoke with Detective Thompson at his office in the police department. She was wearing a digital watch which she told Detective Thompson defendant had given to her some time before he was incarcerated on 17 January. Ms. Winstead relinquished the watch to Detective Thompson, who took it to the victim for possible identification the same day. The victim identified the watch as the one which had been stolen from her on 3 January. She noted that her watch band had originally been gold in color but that the gold coating had worn off from wear, leaving the band silver in color except where the clasp had covered it. When the victim tried on the watch, it was too small for her wrist. Detective Thompson adjusted the band so that the clasp covered the one-fourth inch yellow gold space. The watch then fit the victim.

David J. Spittle, SBI forensic chemist in the field of serology, compared body fluid samples of defendant and the victim. He concluded that the blood grouping reactions from the semen stains on the victim's underpants were consistent with those of the defendant and approximately fourteen percent of the general North Carolina population. The blood group type of defendant was consistent with reactions detected on the underpants and different from the victim's.

Detective Wayne Sears of the Rocky Mount Police Department testified at trial that he examined a latent fingerprint removed from the rear-view mirror of the victim's car, but that the print did not have sufficient detail for comparison because the ridges were not distinct and could not be matched to any set of fingerprints. He sent the latent print to the SBI laboratory where Examiner Robert Duncan also concluded that the latent print was not of value for identification.

The defendant was convicted of first-degree rape, second-degree kidnapping, and felonious possession of stolen goods.

Defendant first assigns as error the trial court's denial of his pretrial "motion to suppress" the introduction of the wedding ring and digital watch pursuant to N.C.G.S. §§ 15A-974 and -977. ¹

During the hearing upon defendant's motion, defense counsel stated as grounds for suppression that

the most a jury could draw from the introduction of these items would be an inference that they in fact were the stolen items involved in this matter that were stolen from the prosecuting witness at the time of the sexual assault and at the time of the alleged kidnapping. From that inference there could only be another inference that in fact he was the assailant.

The trial judge denied defendant's motion in open court following a voir dire examination of the victim.

Defendant contends that, because the State's case was entirely circumstantial as to the identity of the perpetrator, admission into evidence of the watch and ring, both admittedly in defendant's possession after their theft, would prejudice the defendant because the jury would infer that defendant was the perpetrator of the sexual assault and kidnapping. We cannot quarrel with defendant's assessment of the purpose and intended effect of the introduction of the jewelry. Without doubt, the State intended that the evidence link the defendant with the offenses for which he was charged.

The State contends that the very simplicity of the trial court's ruling on defendant's motion manifests its correctness. The ruling, in pertinent part, was:

The facts, based upon the evidence before me, appear to be ... that [the victim] was the victim of a sexual assault and robbery on January 3, 1985; that certain property was taken from her including a wedding band and a digital watch; ... that she believes State's Exhibit No. 1 to be the wedding band that was taken from her[;] and that she believes State's Exhibit No. 2 to be the watch that was taken from her. Based upon those findings of fact, the Court concludes as a matter of law that State's Exhibit No. 1 and State's Exhibit No. 2 are admissible into evidence, and that the motion to suppress is DENIED.

This Court has stated that

[t]he well established rule in a criminal case is that every object that is calculated to throw light on the supposed crime is relevant and admissible. State v. Woods, 286 N.C. 612, 213 S.E.2d 214 (1975) [, death sentence vacated, 428 U.S. 903, 49 L.Ed.2d 1208 (1976) ]; State v. Arnold, 284 N.C. 41, 199 S.E.2d 423 (1973); State v. Hamilton, 264 N.C. 277, 141 S.E.2d 506 (1965), cert. denied, 384 U.S. 1020, 16 L.Ed.2d 1044, 86 S.Ct. 1936 (1966); 1 Stansbury, N.C. Evidence § 118, p. 356 (Brandis Rev.1973).

State v. Hedrick, 289 N.C. 232, 235, 221 S.E.2d 350, 352 (1976). See also State v. Wilson, 313 N.C. 516, 330 S.E.2d 450 (1985) (victim's wristwatch missing when his body discovered; defendant's girlfriend in possession of the watch two to three weeks after murder and armed robbery; defendant in possession of the watch one week later); State v. Newman, 308 N.C. 231, 302 S.E.2d 174 (1983) (attacker took bag of groceries just purchased by victim; defendant caught holding the bag shortly after attack); State v. Oliver, 302 N.C. 28, 274 S.E.2d 183 (1981) ("football candies" and "football candy wrappers" found in pocket of jacket located in truck used by defendants matched appearance of candy in store where murder took place); State v. Young, 16 N.C.App. 101, 191 S.E.2d 369 (1972) (two rings stolen from victim by her attacker identified by victim at trial; State's witness properly allowed to testify that the defendant attempted to sell the rings to her).

Rule 402 of the North Carolina Rules of Evidence states a simple rule of admissibility:

Rule 402. Relevant evidence generally admissible; irrelevant evidence inadmissible.

All relevant evidence is admissible, except as otherwise provided by the Constitution of the United States, by the Constitution of North Carolina, by Act of Congress, by Act of...