State v. Porter

• Decision Date: 10 May 1990
• Docket Number: No. 724A86,724A86
• Citation: 391 S.E.2d 144,326 N.C. 489
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. William Howard PORTER.

Page 144

391 S.E.2d 144

326 N.C. 489

STATE of North Carolina v. William Howard PORTER.

No. 724A86.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

May 10, 1990.

Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr., Appellate Defender by Mark D. Montgomery, Asst. Appellate Defender, Raleigh, for defendant-appellant.

MEYER, Justice.

In the early hours of Sunday, 23 March 1986, defendant shot and killed his girlfriend, Jeanie Brooks, inside the Oak Ridge Club, a Lumberton nightclub. A jury convicted defendant of first-degree murder and recommended the death sentence. The trial court sentenced in accordance with the recommendation. We find no error in the guilt phase of the trial. However, for reversible error in the sentencing proceeding, we remand for a new sentencing hearing.

At about 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, 22 March 1986, witnesses saw defendant in the company of Jeanie Brooks. Pointing in the direction of Jeanie, defendant stated, "I spent my money on the s---of-a-b---- and I'll kill her before the nights [sic] over." Carl Locklear noticed at the time that defendant had a small-caliber pistol hidden in his boot.

Later in the evening, around 10:30 p.m., witnesses saw defendant and Jeanie Brooks together at the Oak Ridge Club. When Jeanie left defendant's table to speak with friends, defendant asked a companion, Ventris Brooks, "Now, lookie there, what would you do to somebody like that who plays you for a g--d--- fool." On her return, defendant told Jeanie, "What do you expect you playing me for a g--d--- fool. You don't play me for a g--d--- sucker.... I'll blow your g--d--- brains out." When Jeanie later asked her uncle, Ventris Brooks, to dance with her, defendant told her she was to "dance with no g--d--- body. You're here with me." Defendant again told Jeanie he would "blow her d--- brains out." At the time of the killing, Jeanie was twenty-two years old, and defendant was sixty-one.

Ventris Brooks testified that when he entered the club at 10:30 p.m., employees of the club had searched him for weapons pursuant to club policy. According to club owner Edna Locklear, patrons were asked to take all discovered weapons back to their car.

At about 11:50 p.m., Jeanie left the club in the company of her nineteen-year-old first cousin, Ronnie Revels. They sat in his car for about fifteen minutes, smoking marijuana. Revels and Jeanie reentered Nick Locklear, the club parking lot attendant, testified that defendant came outside seeking help to break into his car. Defendant stated that his keys were locked inside the automobile and that he needed something to knock the window out. Locklear saw defendant knock out a window, open the right front door, and retrieve an unknown object from beneath the car seat. Locklear then saw defendant return in the direction of the club entrance.

the club shortly after they observed defendant step outside and approach his own car, which was parked alongside Revels'. Revels testified that although he had been searched for weapons when he had first arrived at the club at about 11:00 p.m., he and Jeanie were not searched when they reentered the club.

Meanwhile, Jeanie approached Gary Carter and asked if he wanted to dance. Earlier in the evening, Carter had asked Jeanie to dance, but defendant had interrupted and said that she did not want to dance. As Carter and Jeanie danced, defendant went to the dance floor, grabbed Jeanie by the arm, and told her she was not to dance with anyone else but him. Carter left the dance floor. As Carter proceeded to leave the club with his wife, he heard shots fired.

The club owner, Edna Locklear, saw defendant trap the seated Jeanie against a table and pull a pistol from his boot. Defendant threatened Locklear with the pistol, then, placing it three inches from Jeanie's stomach, fired either two or three shots. Immediately, defendant wrapped a hand in his victim's hair, pulling her out of her chair. Backing her against a wall, defendant brandished his pistol at the crowd of 215 to 220 persons, threatening to kill any who came to Jeanie's rescue. After holding the crowd at bay for a period of time (estimates varied), witnesses heard defendant tell Jeanie, "You don't do me like that." Though slumped over, she looked up at him, saying, "I'm sorry." In response, defendant aimed his pistol at her head and pulled the trigger. Jeanie jerked her head backwards, and the pistol round struck her in the shoulder.

At that moment, James Stewart, a club patron, leaped from the crowd and grabbed defendant. Four other patrons joined him and, in the struggle for the pistol, Stewart was shot in the side. Finally, the five were able to trap defendant against a large wooden door until police arrived. When Ms. Locklear asked defendant if he realized that he might have killed the girl, defendant replied, "I meant to kill the s---of-a-b----."

Police found five spent shell casings near the dance floor. The pistol, identified as a .25-caliber automatic, contained no live rounds. Two of the three projectiles removed from Jeanie's body were examined and found to have been fired from defendant's pistol. Despite emergency surgery, Jeanie died of massive bleeding resulting from two abdominal wounds and a third wound to the shoulder. Stewart suffered a single wound to the abdominal area. Surgeons were unable to remove the bullet lodged in Stewart's body.

Defendant was seen drinking prior to the shooting, but witnesses testified that he was not intoxicated. Defendant offered no evidence during the guilt phase of the trial. After deliberating only a short period of time, the jury returned a verdict finding defendant guilty of first-degree murder.

Following a sentencing hearing, the jury found two aggravating circumstances: that defendant had previously been convicted of a felony involving the use of violence to the person, N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(e)(3) (1988), and that the murder was part of a course of conduct that included crimes of violence against other persons, N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(e)(11) (1988). Of ten mitigating circumstances submitted, the jury found six to be present. On finding that the mitigating circumstances were not sufficient to outweigh the aggravating circumstances and that the aggravating circumstances were sufficiently substantial to call for the death penalty, the jury recommended a sentence of death.

JURY SELECTION ISSUES

The prosecutor tried this case at a time when racial tensions in Robeson County Defendant further asserts that the prosecutor impermissibly exercised peremptory challenges to exclude potential jurors on the basis of race. See Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). Under Batson, a defendant makes out a prima facie case of purposeful discrimination in the selection of the petit jury if he shows: (1) he is a member of a cognizable racial minority, (2) members of his racial group have been peremptorily excused, and (3) racial discrimination appears to have been the motivation for the challenges. Id. at 96, 106 S.Ct. at 1723, 90 L.Ed.2d at 87-88. When a defendant makes out a prima facie case, the burden of production "shifts to the State to come forward with a neutral explanation" for each peremptory strike. Id. at 97, 106 S.Ct. at 1723, 90 L.Ed.2d at 88. This rebuttal of the prima facie showing must be a " 'clear and reasonably specific' " explanation "related to the particular case to be tried." Id. at 98 & n. 20, 106 S.Ct. at 1724 & n. 20, 90 L.Ed.2d at 88 & n. 20 (quoting Texas Dept. of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 258, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 1096, 67 L.Ed.2d 207, 218 (1981)).

                were particularly high due to the recent shooting by a Robeson County Sheriff's Deputy of a man known locally as an "Indian activist."   Defendant assigns as error questions directed by the prosecutor to Indian prospective jurors regarding their perceptions of racism in the criminal justice system.  Though the prosecutor informed the prospective jurors that the victim, as well as the defendant, was Indian, these jurors indicated that racism might be motivating this prosecution.  The prosecutor peremptorily challenged[326 N.C. 497]  those Indian jurors who expressed this view and others who indicated they might have adopted it.  The State, as well as defendant, is entitled to a fair trial.  State v. Artis, 325 N.C. 278, 295, 384 S.E.2d 470, 479 (1989),cert. granted and judgment vacated on other grounds, 494 U.S. 1023, 110 S.Ct. 1466, 108 L.Ed.2d 604 (1990).  The challenged line of questioning was a permissible effort to determine whether prospective jurors' perceptions of the trial process would affect their ability to render a fair verdict.  See, e.g., United States v. Mitchell, 877 F.2d 294, 302 (4th Cir.1989) (no impermissible use of peremptory challenge where juror had strong negative reaction to press reports of previous racist comments regarding case)
                

Following the prosecutor's rebuttal, the defendant has a right of surrebuttal to show that the prosecutor's explanations are a pretext. State v. Greene, 324 N.C. 238, 240, 376 S.E.2d 727, 728 (1989); see also Stanley v. State, 313 Md. 50, 62, 542 A.2d 1267, 1272-73 (1988); State v. Antwine, 743 S.W.2d 51, 64 (Mo.1987) (en banc), cert. denied, 486 U.S. 1017, 108 S.Ct. 1755, 100 L.Ed.2d 217 (1988). Of course, the defendant has no right to examine the prosecuting attorney in the effort to show that the prosecutor's explanations are a pretext. State v. Jackson, 322 N.C. 251, 258, 368 S.E.2d 838, 842 (1988), cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1110, 109 S.Ct. 3165, 104 L.Ed.2d 1027 (1989).

Courts have analyzed closely the use of Title VII cases cited in Batson, 476 U.S. at 95, 98, 106 S.Ct. at 1722, 1724, 90 L.Ed.2d at 87, 88-89, to conclude that the ultimate burden of persuading the court that intentional racial discrimination has guided the use of peremptory challenges rests on the defendant. United States v. Mathews, 803 F.2d 325, 330 (7th Cir.1986), rev'd on other grounds, 485 U.S. 58, 108 S.Ct. 883, 99 L.Ed.2d 54 (19...