State v. Mettrick
| Decision Date | 30 March 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 150A81,150A81 |
| Citation | 305 N.C. 383,289 S.E.2d 354 |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. Derek Harrison METTRICK and Claude Dalton Vickers. |
Rufus L. Edmisten, Atty. Gen. by Henry T. Rosser, Asst. Atty. Gen. and Steven F. Bryant, Associate Atty., Raleigh, for the State.
Vannoy & Reeves by Wade E. Vannoy, Jr., Jefferson, for defendant-appellee Mettrick.
Moore & Willardson by Larry S. Moore and John S. Willardson, Wilkesboro, for defendant-appellee Vickers.
The defendants in this consolidated appeal contend that two State's witnesses acted as custodians or officers in charge of the jury and that they are entitled to a new trial as a result. We agree and affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals awarding the defendants a new trial.
Only a brief summary of the evidence introduced at trial is necessary for an understanding of the issues giving rise to this appeal. In summary, the evidence for the State tended to show that, on 16 January 1980, a DC-6 airplane piloted by the defendant, Derek Harrison Mettrick, landed at the Ashe County Airport. The crew of the plane unloaded its cargo into two trucks which immediately departed the airport. Although less than five grams of marijuana seeds, stems and other fragments were found by law enforcement officers in or about the airplane, evidence was introduced tending to show that the cargo of the airplane was 5,000 to 10,000 pounds of marijuana in burlap bales. Evidence was also introduced tending to show that the defendant, Claude Dalton Vickers, supervised the loading of the trucks and drove one of them away from the airport.
Prior to trial, the trial court ordered that these cases be consolidated for trial and that a special venire of jurors be drawn from another county. Ashe County Sheriff Richard Waddell and J. D. Parsons, one of his deputies, transported the prospective jurors in two activity buses from Caldwell County to Ashe County on 19 May 1980, the opening day of the defendants' trial. Deputy Parsons also transported the jurors to lunch that day. After the jury was selected on the afternoon of 19 May 1980, Parsons drove one of the buses transporting the jurors on the trip returning them to Caldwell County for the evening. The following day, Sheriff Waddell transported eleven of the fourteen people chosen as jurors and alternates from Caldwell County to Ashe County.
After the opening of court on 20 May 1980, the trial court learned for the first time that these two witnesses for the State had been transporting the jury. Each of the defendants made a timely motion for a mistrial contending that these actions by the witnesses for the State constituted prejudicial error.
The uncontested evidence on voir dire indicated that no one was present on any of the bus trips except the jurors and the named officers. Each juror stated that neither officer mentioned the cases against the defendants. All of the jurors stated that their ability to render an impartial decision would not be impaired in any way by the fact that the two officers who had transported them would be testifying for the State. The trial court made appropriate findings based upon this evidence and denied the motions of the defendants for mistrial.
For purposes of this appeal, we assume, as the uncontested evidence tended to show, that the witnesses for the State who transported the jurors did not discuss the charges against the defendants and that their association with the jurors while transporting them did not enhance the credibility of these witnesses for the State in the jurors' eyes. Whether the charges against the defendants were discussed or the credibility of the officers with the jury enhanced is irrelevant to the issue before us.
We have previously held that, where a witness for the State acts as a custodian or officer in charge of the jury in a criminal case, prejudice is...
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Crump v. Board of Educ. of Hickory Administrative School Unit
...of unfairness should be avoided." American Cyanamid Company v. F.T.C., 363 F.2d 757, 767 (6th Cir.1966); see State v. Mettrick, 305 N.C. 383, 385, 289 S.E.2d 354, 356 (1982). Damages awardable under a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action include mental and emotional distress caused by the due process vi......
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State v. Brown
...is conclusively presumed and he is entitled to a new trial. State v. Bailey, 307 N.C. 110, 296 S.E.2d 287 (1982); State v. Mettrick, 305 N.C. 383, 289 S.E.2d 354 (1982); State v. Macon, 276 N.C. 466, 173 S.E.2d 286 (1970). We have also held that prejudice is conclusively presumed where the ......
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Jenkins v. State
...is determinative." State v. Wilson, 314 N.C. 653, 656, 336 S.E.2d 76, 77 (1985)(some emphasis added). See also State v. Mettrick, 305 N.C. 383, 385, 289 S.E.2d 354, 356 (1982)(holding that prejudice is "conclusively presumed" where a witness was acting as a custodian of a jury because of th......
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State v. Ward, 68A99.
...the jury. State v. Jeune, 332 N.C. 424, 420 S.E.2d 406 (1992); State v. Bailey, 307 N.C. 110, 296 S.E.2d 287 (1982); State v. Mettrick, 305 N.C. 383, 289 S.E.2d 354 (1982); State v. Macon, 276 N.C. 466, 173 S.E.2d 286 (1970). Such dual roles, we have said, give rise to a conclusive presumpt......