State v. Patterson

• Decision Date: 28 January 1994
• Docket Number: No. 29A93,29A93
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Reginald PATTERSON.

Page 578

439 S.E.2d 578

335 N.C. 437

STATE of North Carolina v. Reginald PATTERSON.

No. 29A93.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Jan. 28, 1994.

Appeal of right by defendant pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-27(a) from a judgment imposing a sentence of life imprisonment entered by Allsbrook, J., at the 2 August 1992 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Halifax County, upon a jury verdict finding defendant guilty of first-degree murder. Heard in the Supreme Court 17 September 1993.

Michael F. Easley, Atty. Gen. by David Roy Blackwell, Sp. Deputy Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for State.

Nora Henry Hargrove, Wilmington, for defendant-appellant.

WHICHARD, Justice.

Defendant was indicted for one count of first-degree murder. After a noncapital trial, a jury found defendant guilty thereof, and the trial court sentenced defendant to the mandatory term of life imprisonment. On appeal, defendant brings forward four assignments of error. After a thorough review of the record, we conclude that defendant received a fair trial, free of prejudicial error.

The State presented evidence that tended to show the following:

Sometime in the early morning hours of 29 February 1992, Tonya Renee Mitchell suffered a fatal shotgun wound to her head. She died at Duke University Medical Center on 2 March 1992.

Officer Johnny Manley of the Littleton Police Department testified that shortly after midnight on 29 February 1992, he waited in the New Dixie Mart on Highway 15 while the clerk closed the store and completed the deposit. At about 1:05 a.m. defendant drove into the parking lot, walked to the door and knocked on the window, and motioned to Manley to come outside. Manley did so. Defendant told Manley he had shot his girlfriend through the head and thought he had killed her. Manley asked where the shooting had occurred; defendant replied that it occurred at his residence, adding that he started to leave, changed his mind, and threw the gun in Thelma Lake. Manley arrested defendant at that time and drove defendant to his home.

Manley knocked on the door of defendant's home, but no one responded. Hearing moaning from the back of the house, Manley entered and walked through the living room towards an open door. Entering the room, Manley observed a young woman lying on the floor behind the bed, her face to the dresser and wall and her body in a slumped-over position. A suitcase containing clothes was on the bed. Manley also observed blood all around the woman's head and on the dresser and wall. He later identified the woman as Tonya Renee Mitchell.

On cross-examination Manley noted that he interpreted defendant's statement as a request for assistance for the victim. Manley observed no blood, torn clothes, bruises, scratches, or other evidence that defendant had been in any kind of argument or fight, and defendant was cooperative. Manley did not advise defendant of his rights, but asked him no questions.

Halifax County Deputy Sheriff Robby Hedgepath testified that he arrived at the scene at approximately 1:15 a.m. Hedgepath noticed defendant sitting in Manley's car surrounded by a crowd, and he walked outside to clear the area. He overheard defendant tell the people around the car that he did not mean to shoot the victim. Hedgepath testified on cross-examination that later, during the custodial interview at the police station, defendant said that he threw the gun down on the bed and it went off, the shot hitting the left side of the victim's face.

Detective Henry Whittle, an investigator with the Halifax County Sheriff's Department, testified that he arrived at the scene of the shooting shortly after 1:00 a.m. He observed defendant in the back of a patrol car. Defendant told Whittle he had just killed his girlfriend and wanted to see her. Whittle instructed defendant to calm down and proceeded into the home to complete his investigation there. Whittle later drove to the Littleton Police Department where he met with defendant around 1:50 a.m.

Whittle told defendant he wished to speak with him, and defendant agreed to talk to Whittle. Defendant appeared to be coherent and not under the influence of any narcotic or controlled substance. He did not appear to be confused, sleepy, hysterical, upset or visibly emotional. Whittle advised defendant of his rights from a printed Miranda rights form while defendant read along; at 2:02 a.m. defendant signed the form indicating he understood his rights. Defendant indicated he was not under the influence of any alcoholic beverage or drugs. He never requested any refreshment or break and never asked to stop the conversation. Whittle made no promises.

Defendant gave Whittle the following account of the shooting:

His girlfriend, Tonya Mitchell, left to go to work, and defendant went to the Green Store. Later, she returned from work and went to the Green Store. Defendant was behind the store when she arrived. She came around back, they exchanged words, and she returned to her car and drove back to their residence. Defendant followed her in his vehicle.

At the house defendant removed his shotgun from the rear floor of his vehicle. When he got to the bedroom, the victim was packing her clothes to move. Defendant threw the shotgun onto the bed and the shotgun went off. He then took the shotgun, drove to Thelma Lake, and threw the gun into the water. While driving back to Littleton on the way to Washington, D.C., defendant saw Officer Manley at a convenience store.

Whittle testified that he told defendant he was going to take a written statement and he wanted defendant to tell him the truth and sign the statement when they finished. Defendant made the following statement to Whittle:

On the 28th of February, 1992, I, Reginald Patterson, and my girlfriend, Tonya Renee Mitchell, was at our house around 11:15 p.m., and she, Tonya, went to work at the Bibb Company in Roanoke Rapids, N.C. Before she left she told me, "Don't stay out to [sic] long Reginald." So, I went down to the Green Store like you are going toward Hollister on Highway # 4 and then she came up while I was behind the store taking a leak. My brother came up and told me she was here at the store and then I told my brother, Earnest, to take my keys to my brother, William, and when he came back around the store to tell me that she already knew I was behind the store she followed my brother back and when she got there told me, "You sorry mother f---- you," and then she left and I got into my car and I followed her to my house. When I got to the house she was getting her clothes, I guess to leave. When I got out of my car I got my 20 gauge shotgun out of the floor of the rear of my car and went into the house and she was getting her clothes and I saw her getting her clothes and I had the shotgun in my hands and I had the gun up in the air and had it with one hand. I brought the gun down to throw the gun down and the gun went off and shot her. I didn't mean to shoot her cause I love her. Then, I walked back through the house and told my mother that I have just shot Tonya and then I went on out the house and got into my car and took the shotgun with me and drove to Littleton. I was leaving to go to Washington, D.C., and I drove to Thelma to the Thelma Bridge where I threw the shotgun into the river. Then, I started to leave and go to D.C. but I turned around and drove back to Littleton, N.C. When I got to Littleton I saw Officer Manley at the New Dixie Mart and I stopped and told him what had happen.

Willie McWilliams testified that, while in the Halifax County Jail with defendant, defendant asked him to destroy the gun--melt it down--if McWilliams got out. Defendant told McWilliams he could find the gun in the left hand side ditch near Faison Store Cleaners. Defendant told him that without the murder weapon there might not be a case. McWilliams told certain detectives about defendant's request.

Captain Charles E. Ward, Halifax County Sheriff's Department, testified that based on McWilliams' directions, he found a sawed-off shotgun in a clearing near the ditch beside Faison Store Cleaners. The shotgun was identified by other witnesses as belonging to defendant.

S.B.I. Special Agent William Turner, Jr., of the Firearm and Tool Mark Section, testifying as an expert in firearms' identification, stated that he examined the shotgun and 20 gauge shotgun shell found in the ditch, as well as the pellets removed from the victim's body. Turner identified the shell as 20 gauge number 6 shot, which would have contained 197 pellets.

Turner test-fired the shotgun using 20 gauge shells. It fired in the normal manner, by chambering the shell, closing the bridge latch, pulling the hammer back, and releasing it by pulling the trigger. The trigger pull force on the shotgun ranged from three to four pounds. Turner attempted to fire the weapon by other than normal means. It would sometimes fire when Turner pulled the hammer back almost until the gun cocked and then released it, or when he pulled the trigger and struck the hammer with a moderate blow from a heavy object. Hitting the shotgun on the floor with hard force produced no discharge, nor did any other blows or drops.

Dr. Robert L. Thompson, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy, testified as an expert in the field of forensic pathology. Thompson observed a shotgun wound to the left temporal area, or left ear area, into the brain. He observed no other wounds on the face or head. Based on the spread of the shotgun pellets, Thompson concluded the wound was from a shotgun fired at close range. In his opinion, the victim died of a shotgun wound to the head.

Defendant did not testify or present evidence.

In his first assignment of error, defendant contends that the trial court erred by giving a reasonable doubt instruction that reduced the State's burden of proof below the standard required by the Due Process Clause. At the charge conference defendant tendered a written request for the following...