State v. Moss

• Decision Date: 17 July 1992
• Docket Number: No. 86A90,86A90
• Citation: 332 N.C. 65,418 S.E.2d 213
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Bobby Ray MOSS.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 213

418 S.E.2d 213

332 N.C. 65

STATE of North Carolina v. Bobby Ray MOSS.

No. 86A90.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

July 17, 1992.

Lacy H. Thornburg, Atty. Gen. by Tiare B. Smiley, Sp. Deputy Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for the State.

Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr., Appellate Defender by Staples Hughes, Asst. Appellate Defender, Raleigh, for defendant-appellant.

MITCHELL, Justice.

The State's evidence tended to show the following. On Saturday, 14 January 1989, hunters discovered the body of the victim Pauline Sanderson in a wooded area off Highway 1003 in Duplin County. The hunters immediately called the sheriff.

Sheriff's deputies arrived shortly thereafter and found the victim's body in a clearing. The body was lying against a tree with a navy blue sweater tied around the neck and to the tree. The deputies observed a red jacket, a toboggan hat, an open pocketbook and items apparently from the pocketbook strewn near the body. The victim's body was clothed in a white blouse and red slacks that were unbuttoned at the top. There was an injury to the left side of the victim's head.

Roger Byrd, a resident of the area where the victim's body was found, testified that he gave the victim a ride to the house of Archie Mathis around 9 a.m. on Saturday, 7 January 1989. When they arrived, the victim stated that she had misplaced her purse which had contained about $375. She searched for her purse and found it in Mathis's car. The victim indicated that all the money was accounted for. The purse was big and dark-colored and contained a billfold that was medium-sized and white. Byrd later identified the billfold found at the scene of the killing as the one belonging to the victim. Byrd stayed at the house for twenty to thirty minutes and saw the defendant enter the house as he was leaving.

Archie Mathis testified that Byrd brought the victim to his house on the morning of 7 January 1989. The defendant Bobby Ray Moss arrived shortly afterwards. When the defendant left to go to his brother's residence, the victim said she would walk with him as far as her brother-in-law's trailer. When the victim left with the defendant, she was carrying a pocketbook and was wearing red pants and a light-colored blouse. The defendant was wearing a dark-colored toboggan hat. This was the last time Archie Mathis saw Ms. Sanderson alive.

Kenneth Mathis, a nephew of Archie Mathis, testified that on 7 January 1989, the defendant left Archie Mathis's house with the victim. The defendant was carrying a brown bag that appeared to contain a change of clothes.

Vickie Godwin Baker, an employee at the Rose Hill IGA Store, testified that she saw the victim walking with a younger man along the highway on Saturday, 7 January 1989. Baker recognized the victim as a customer of the store. The man walking with the victim was much younger than the victim and was wearing a toboggan hat.

William R. Woodcock, a high school student, testified that he saw the defendant on Saturday, 7 January 1989, between 3 and 4 p.m. as Woodcock was driving out of his driveway. The defendant was walking with a woman. When Woodcock returned home thirty to thirty-five minutes later, he saw the defendant walking alone. The defendant came into his yard and asked for a ride. Woodcock and his brother took the defendant to Warsaw. The defendant was wearing jeans with white socks pulled up over the outside of the jeans and was not wearing a hat. The defendant was carrying a lot of cash and paid Woodcock five dollars for the ride. The defendant appeared nervous.

The victim's sister, Marleen Pope, testified that the victim received a disability check of $368 on the first of each month. The navy sweater found at the scene of the killing belonged to the victim and had been a gift from the victim's daughter. Pope did not recognize the toboggan hat that was found at the scene.

Detective W.E. Ramsey testified regarding the details of the crime scene. The body of the victim was found clothed in a white blouse and red pants. The body was face up with a navy sweater looped around the neck and tied to a tree. The body was without shoes or socks. A maroon-colored toboggan hat and a maroon purse were found next to the victim's body. The contents of the purse were spilled on the ground. No money was found in the purse or at the scene of the killing. The victim's body bore bruises on the neck and a wound just above the left eye exposing the edge of the skull.

W. Scott Worsham testified for the State as an expert in forensic hair examination and identification. Worsham examined eighty head hairs taken from the toboggan hat found near the body; these hairs were consistent with hair of the defendant. None were consistent with those of the victim. One head hair from the navy sweater and one on a handkerchief found at the scene originated from the defendant. A pubic hair found on the red jacket was consistent with the defendant's pubic hair. A forensic serologist testified that he found sperm inside the victim's vagina.

The medical examiner noted that there were minor injuries on the victim's abdomen and wrists. Near the victim's left eye was a laceration measuring one-quarter inch in length that exposed the victim's skull. This injury was probably caused by blunt force. The medical examiner determined that the cause of the victim's death was strangulation but could not determine the time of death. The medical examiner stated that the changes in the body's condition were consistent with the death occurring on 7 January 1989.

The defendant did not testify at trial, but did introduce evidence. Robert Wiggins, the defendant's employer, testified that the defendant was not at work on Saturday, 7 January 1989. The defendant was paid $200 per week and had been paid on the 6th or 7th of January 1989.

The defendant's sister, Betty Ann Beddingfield, testified that the defendant was drunk on Saturday, 7 January 1989, when she dropped him off near Archie Mathis's house about 1 p.m. At that time the defendant asked his sister for three dollars to play cards. The defendant came back to Beddingfield's house at 5:30 p.m. by taxi and paid for the taxi with cash. The defendant had a "wad" of money on him and was not wearing the toboggan hat she had seen him wearing earlier. Beddingfield identified the toboggan hat found at the scene as belonging to the defendant. Timothy Beddingfield, Betty Ann Beddingfield's husband, corroborated his wife's testimony.

Other evidence introduced at trial is discussed at other points in this opinion where pertinent to the issues raised by the defendant.

At the close of the State's evidence, and again at the close of all evidence, the defendant moved to dismiss all of the charges against him for insufficiency of the evidence. The trial court denied the motions.

The defendant assigns as error, inter alia, the trial court's denial of his motions to dismiss the first-degree murder charge and the common law robbery charge for insufficiency of the evidence. The defendant argues that the State presented insufficient evidence to support a reasonable finding that the defendant killed the victim with premeditation and deliberation, killed the victim during a common law robbery, or committed any robbery or killing at all.

In State v. Small, 328 N.C. 175, 400 S.E.2d 413 (1991), we described the appropriate standard for appellate review of such questions as follows:

"On a motion to dismiss on the ground of insufficiency of the evidence, the question for the court is whether there is substantial evidence of each element of the crime charged and of the defendant's perpetration of such crime." State v. Bates, 309 N.C. 528, 533, 308 S.E.2d 258, 262 (1983).

[T]he trial court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, giving the State the benefit of every reasonable inference to be drawn from it.... If there is substantial evidence--whether direct, circumstantial, or both--to support a finding that the offense charged has been committed and that the defendant committed it, the case is for the jury and the motion to dismiss should be denied.

State v. Locklear, 322 N.C. 349, 358, 368 S.E.2d 377, 382-83 (1988) (citations omitted). Further, "[t]he defendant's evidence, unless favorable to the State, is not to be taken into consideration." State v. Jones, 280 N.C. 60, 66, 184 S.E.2d 862, 866 (1971). The determination of the witnesses' credibility is for the jury. See Locklear, 322 N.C. at 358, 368 S.E.2d at 383. "[C]ontradictions and discrepancies do not warrant dismissal of the case--they are for the jury to resolve." State v. Earnhardt, 307 N.C. 62, 67, 296 S.E.2d 649, 653 (1982).

State v. Small, 328 N.C. at 180-81, 400 S.E.2d at 415-16, quoted in State v. Quick, 329 N.C. 1, 19, 405 S.E.2d 179, 190-91 (1991). " 'The trial court's function is to determine whether the evidence will permit a reasonable inference that the defendant is guilty of the crimes charged.' " Quick, 329 N.C. at 19, 405 S.E.2d at 191 (quoting State v. Vause, 328 N.C. 231, 237, 400 S.E.2d 57, 61 (1991)).

Under this standard, we conclude that the State presented substantial evidence to support the defendant's conviction of first-degree murder, both on the theory of premeditation and deliberation and the theory of felony-murder. N.C.G.S. 14-17 (Supp.1991). The evidence, taken in the light most favorable to the State, tended to show that the defendant went to Archie Mathis's house on 7 January 1989 about 1 p.m. When the defendant's sister let him off near the house, the defendant borrowed three dollars from her. Later that day, the defendant and the victim left Mathis's house and were seen walking together along the highway near the scene of the killing. At that time, the victim was wearing the same clothes as when her body was found. When seen walking with the victim, the defendant was wearing a toboggan hat that was later found at the crime scene. Several of the defendant's head hairs were on the...