State v. Murrell

• Decision Date: 27 August 2008
• Docket Number: No. 484A06.,484A06.
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Jeremy Dushane MURRELL.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

665 S.E.2d 61

362 N.C. 375

STATE of North Carolina v. Jeremy Dushane MURRELL.

No. 484A06.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

August 27, 2008.

Appeal as of right pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-27(a) from a judgment imposing a sentence of death entered on 17 February 2006 by Judge William Z. Wood, Jr. in Superior Court, Forsyth County, following a jury verdict finding defendant guilty of first-degree murder. On 26 March 2007, the Supreme Court allowed defendant's motion to bypass the Court of Appeals as to his appeal of additional judgments. On 21 September 2007, defendant filed a motion for appropriate relief with the Supreme Court. Heard in the Supreme Court 6 May 2008.

Roy Cooper, Attorney General, by Amy C. Kunstling, Assistant Attorney General, for the State.

Staples S. Hughes, Appellate Defender, by Benjamin Dowling-Sendor, Assistant Appellate Defender; and Paul M. Green for defendant-appellant.

BRADY, Justice.

Late in the evening on 21 August 2003, defendant approached Lawrence Matthew Harding, who was seated in his own vehicle in a parking lot adjacent to his place of employment. Defendant fatally shot Harding twice in the head and neck with a firearm and, after transporting him to Durham in the vehicle, placed his body inside the trunk and took from him a watch and approximately $130.00. Three days later, defendant abandoned the vehicle—along with Harding's body—near a bus station in Richmond, Virginia. The victim was not discovered until 29 August 2003, more than one week after the murder. Defendant was apprehended and subsequently convicted of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, and robbery with a dangerous weapon and was sentenced to death for the murder. We find no error in defendant's convictions or sentences and deny defendant's contemporaneously filed Motion for Appropriate Relief.

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On 6 July 2004, the Grand Jury of Forsyth County returned true bills of indictment charging defendant with first-degree kidnapping, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and first-degree murder of Lawrence Matthew Harding. Defendant was tried capitally and, on 10 February 2006, was found guilty by a jury on all charges. With respect to the jury's verdict on the murder charge, the jury found defendant guilty of first-degree murder on the basis of both the theory of malice, premeditation, and deliberation and under the felony murder rule.

On 17 February 2006, following the statutorily required sentencing hearing, the jury returned a binding recommendation that defendant be sentenced to death for the first-degree murder conviction, and judgment was entered accordingly by the trial court. Defendant was also sentenced within the presumptive range for the robbery with a dangerous weapon and first-degree kidnapping convictions.

Defendant now appeals his first-degree murder conviction and sentence of death as of right pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-27(a) and has asserted several assignments of error in a Motion for Appropriate Relief filed on 21 September 2007, during the pendency of his appeal. Defendant also moved to bypass the Court of Appeals in appealing his non-capital judgments, and this Court allowed the defendant's motion on 26 March 2007.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

I. GUILT PHASE EVIDENCE

The State's evidence presented during the guilt phase of defendant's trial tended to show the following: That late in the evening on 21 August 2003, the victim, Matthew Harding, completed his regular food preparation shift at the restaurant where he was employed, South by Southwest in Winston-Salem. He received a paycheck for $331.00, left the restaurant, and entered his red Mitsubishi Lancer automobile, which was parked in an adjacent lot. He was last observed by a fellow employee in the same parking lot at approximately 10:30 p.m., seated in his stationary vehicle with the interior light turned on and the stereo playing at a high volume.

A missing person report was filed with the Winston-Salem City Police Department on 22 August 2003 after the victim did not report for his scheduled shift at work and his father and stepmother were unable to contact him. Officer W.E. Kelsey, who took the report from the victim's parents, canvassed the restaurant's parking lot for evidence later the same day and retrieved a shell casing. On 29 August 2003, a red Mitsubishi Lancer with a North Carolina license plate number matching that of the victim's vehicle was discovered on Altamont Street in Richmond, Virginia, by the Richmond City Police Department.

The vehicle was seized and subsequently towed to the Virginia Medical Examiner's Office, where skeletal remains later identified as the victim's were discovered in the trunk. Investigators also recovered two projectile fragments from the floor of the rear passenger area of the vehicle and detected the presence of metal particles around a hole in the front passenger seat. An autopsy of the victim's remains conducted on 30 August 2003 revealed that he had suffered two gunshot wounds to the head and neck areas. The head wound would have been immediately incapacitating and fatal, whereas the wound traced from under the left side of his chin down through the soft tissue of his neck and into his spine might have been survivable but would have been painful and likely caused some paralysis; however, the autopsy did not reveal the order in which these wounds were inflicted.

One additional projectile was recovered during the autopsy. A ballistics expert tendered without objection from defendant testified that this projectile was consistent with a "caliber .380 auto full metal jacketed bullet" and that the shell casing retrieved by Officer Kelsey from the South by Southwest parking lot in Winston-Salem was a fired Winchester caliber .380 auto cartridge case.

The State also presented the testimonies of several acquaintances of defendant. Mangus Daniels, at whose apartment defendant resided during the summer of 2003, testified that before the night of 21 August 2003, defendant had occasionally mentioned the possibility of robbing someone to obtain money. Daniels further testified that on 21 August 2003 he received a telephone call from defendant, who indicated that he had robbed someone. After a few days, defendant returned to Daniels' apartment, at which point defendant described having forced someone into a trunk at gunpoint and taken the vehicle to Virginia. Defendant further described the victim as "a white guy" and stated that he left him in good health, although defendant had shot into the trunk of the vehicle to keep the victim from making too much noise. In October 2003, prompted by a Winston-Salem newspaper account of a body discovered in Virginia, Daniels first confronted defendant during a telephone conversation and then initiated contact with Crime Stoppers, the victim's family, and law enforcement concerning the murder.

Defendant also related to his girlfriend, Stacy Whitson, before 21 August 2003 that he wanted to rob someone for money. Defendant lived temporarily at Whitson's residence from 17 August 2003 until he was ultimately apprehended by law enforcement in October 2003. One day during October 2003, while at Whitson's residence, defendant returned a telephone call in response to a message he had received from Daniels. After speaking with Daniels, he said to Whitson, "I didn't want to get that phone call." Defendant then borrowed a vehicle belonging to Whitson's roommate in order to obtain a newspaper. Whitson later witnessed defendant balling up a newspaper and discarding it in the trash. Defendant also asked Whitson whether investigators could detect fingerprints on clothing.

Another of defendant's acquaintances, Bennie Cameron, testified that he was aware defendant possessed a firearm sometime before 21 August 2003 and that defendant had stated his intention to rob someone, put the individual in the trunk of his or her own vehicle, and take the vehicle to Durham. Defendant also indicated to Cameron that he knew of a "chop shop" in Durham.¹ In August 2003, defendant visited Cameron's apartment and indicated he had robbed someone and put the individual in the trunk. Defendant further indicated that he had obtained approximately $130.00 from the victim, whom he had transported to Virginia.

At about 11:00 p.m. on 21 August 2003, Alonzo Dingle, a friend of defendant who resided in Durham at the time, left work and returned to his apartment. Dingle heard a knock on the door as he was showering, and when he opened the door he observed defendant standing outside, smiling and wearing no shirt. According to testimony from Dingle, defendant requested his assistance in placing a dead body in the trunk of a vehicle. Defendant made several similar requests as he and Dingle spent some time inside the apartment, but Dingle did not believe defendant was serious.

Eventually, defendant convinced Dingle to follow him to the parking lot outside his apartment, where Dingle observed a white male inside a Mitsubishi Lancer with his head positioned on the floor of the front passenger area, one leg across the driver's seat and the other between the two front seats extending into the rear of the vehicle. Dingle testified that he observed no blood at this time and that he thought defendant and the other man were playing a joke on him.

Defendant subsequently drove the vehicle to a nearby neighborhood, with the victim's body situated in the same manner and Dingle seated in the rear. Defendant parked the vehicle on the street, moved around to the front passenger side, opened the door, and dragged the body out of the vehicle. At this point, Dingle observed the man's face was covered with blood and that he was not moving. Dingle then refused defendant's request for assistance and watched as defendant placed the body inside the trunk of the vehicle. When Dingle asked defendant what had happened, defendant explained that he needed to eat.

Additionally, the State introduced into evidence a...