State v. Price

• Citation: 388 S.E.2d 84,326 N.C. 56
• Decision Date: 07 February 1990
• Docket Number: No. 585A87,585A87
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Ricky Lee PRICE.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 84

388 S.E.2d 84

326 N.C. 56

STATE of North Carolina v. Ricky Lee PRICE.

No. 585A87.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Feb. 7, 1990.

Lacy H. Thornburg, Atty. Gen. by Barry S. McNeill, Asst. Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for State.

Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr., Appellate Defender by Gordon Widenhouse, Asst. Appellate Defender, Raleigh, for defendant-appellant.

WHICHARD, Justice.

Defendant was tried on a true bill of indictment charging him with murder in the first degree. The jury found him guilty as charged and recommended a sentence of death. Our scrutiny of the record of the guilt and sentencing phases of his trial reveals that both were conducted without prejudicial error.

At approximately 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, 21 October 1984, a man later identified as defendant was spotted squatting in the woods near Hurdle Mills by Anne and Tony Wrenn, who had been walking with their son. The couple later testified that the man had jumped up suddenly, snatched a shirt from the ground, and fled. Ray Farrish, a passenger in a car travelling on State Road 1001 near the same woods, testified that at about the same hour he saw a shirtless, white male, whom he later identified as defendant, running towards a light blue car parked on the roadside. Mr. Farrish saw the man fumble with keys and attempt to unlock the car door. When the car in which Mr. Farrish was riding returned twenty minutes later, the blue car was gone.

The Wrenns discovered that the man had been crouched over the body of Brenda Smith, who a forensic pathologist later testified had died of ligature strangulation with "something broad." The victim's hands were tied behind her body with a brown shoestring.

Evidence was introduced at defendant's trial tending to show that he had been responsible for the death by ligature strangulation of Joan Brady in Danville, Virginia, on October 19th, less than three days before Brenda Smith's body was found. The hands and feet of Ms. Brady had been bound similarly with shoelaces. The State's evidence also revealed that defendant had had romantic liaisons with each victim and that he had told a recent female acquaintance that he wanted to move in with her, partly to get away from Joan Brady.

In addition, witnesses for the State who had been in contact with defendant the day after Brenda Smith's body was found described an episode at the house of defendant's uncle, James Hardy, which resulted in defendant's arrest. Around 5:00 p.m. on Monday, 22 October 1984, defendant's cousin Darryl Gammon went to James Hardy's house. Gammon testified that he followed noises to the basement and there found Hardy bound and gagged. Defendant was behind a curtain with a flashlight and a knife. Gammon attempted to restrain defendant with a gun, but defendant threatened him with the knife, then forced Gammon to release the gun by holding the knife to the throat of a fourth man. Police officers arrived, but defendant held them at bay for approximately five and one-half hours before he was arrested. In the interim, he uttered a number of incriminating statements, including the admissions that he had killed two people and would kill again, and that he was good with shoelaces. Both a class ring and a key chain belonging to Brenda Smith were found on defendant's person.

An inmate with whom defendant had been incarcerated pending his trial testified that defendant had admitted to killing Brenda Smith and Joan Brady. Defendant confided that he had been dating too many women, that he had been suffering from too much pressure, and that he had felt he had to eliminate somebody.

JURY SELECTION ISSUES

Defendant's first assignments of error concern the selection of a jury for his trial. Defendant initially complains that the trial court erroneously sustained the State's objection to the question whether a potential juror "[felt] it should be necessary for the State to show additional aggravating circumstances before [he] would vote to impose the death penalty." Defendant argues that his question was proper because its intent was merely to plumb the potential juror's attitudes or prejudices; it did not impermissibly "stake out" the juror as to what his position might be under a given state of facts. State v. Vinson, 287 N.C. 326, 336, 215 S.E.2d 60, 68 (1975), death penalty vacated, 428 U.S. 902, 96 S.Ct. 3204, 49 L.Ed.2d 1206 (1976). He contends that the trial court's action thwarted his statutory right to conduct a voir dire examination of jurors in order "to ascertain whether there exist grounds for challenge for cause; and ... to enable counsel to exercise intelligently the peremptory challenges allowed by law." State v. Allred, 275 N.C. 554, 558-59, 169 S.E.2d 833, 835 (1969) (quoting State v. Brooks, 57 Mont. 480, 486, 188 P. 942, 943 (1920)). We disagree.

Although it is proper under appropriate circumstances to inquire of jurors whether they can follow the law as charged by the court, Adams v. Texas, 448 U.S. 38, 45, 100 S.Ct. 2521, 2528, 65 L.Ed.2d 581, 589 (1980), it is neither analogous nor proper to ask questions designed to gauge jurors' approval or to test their comprehension of the law. Moreover, while counsel may inquire diligently into a juror's fitness to serve, the extent and manner of that inquiry rests within the sound discretion of the trial court. State v. Parks, 324 N.C. 420, 423, 378 S.E.2d 785, 787 (1989). Defendant has failed to show either a clear abuse of discretion on the part of the trial court or resulting prejudice.

Defendant next raises the issue that his constitutional rights under the sixth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution and under article I, section 19 of the Constitution of North Carolina were violated by the State's use of peremptory challenges to purge the jury of prospective jurors expressing reservations about the death penalty. This Court, cognizant of arguments to the contrary, such as that articulated in Brown v. Rice, 693 F.Supp. 381 (W.D.N.C.1988), has consistently rejected this position. See, e.g., State v. Quesinberry, 325 N.C. 125, 142-43, 381 S.E.2d 681, 692 (1989). Defendant presents no new reason for this Court now to question the soundness of its prior holdings in this regard.

Defendant also contends that his right to conduct a voir dire of potential jurors was abridged when two jurors who In State v. Quesinberry, 325 N.C. at 139, 381 S.E.2d at 690, we held that there was no error in asking prospective jurors whether their views about the death penalty would "prevent or substantially impair" their "ability to sit on [the jury.]" This inquiry effectively mirrored the words of the United States Supreme Court in Wainwright v. Witt, 469 U.S. 412, 424, 105 S.Ct. 844, 852, 83 L.Ed.2d 841, 851-52 (1985) (quoting Adams v. Texas, 448 U.S. at 45, 100 S.Ct. at 2526, 65 L.Ed.2d at 589), that such a juror may be removed for cause if his views about the death penalty would "prevent or substantially impair the performance of his duties as a juror in accordance with his instructions and his oath."

                had expressed reservations about the death penalty were excused for cause without being asked whether, despite such objections, they could "conscientiously apply the law as charged by the court."  Adams v. Texas, 448 U.S. at 45, 100 S.Ct. at 2526, 65 L.Ed.2d at 589.   Both jurors expressed their opposition to the death sentence in unequivocal terms, even after defendant's attempt to rehabilitate them.  In both instances the jurors answered in the affirmative to the State's question whether the jurors' feelings about the death penalty "would prevent or substantially impair" their ability to vote for or to impose the death penalty
                

In this case the State's similar narrowing of the Wainwright inquiry in order to determine whether jurors' reservations might inhibit their consideration of the death penalty reiterates the essential language set out in Adams and Wainwright. Further, it is apparent from the responses of both prospective jurors here that they could not have considered the death penalty objectively under any circumstances, even under the guidance of the trial court's instructions. The trial court did not err in concluding that these jurors fit the profile of jurors appropriately excludable for cause as described in Adams and its progeny.

GUILT PHASE ISSUES

Defendant assigns error to the admission of witnesses' testimony describing two instances of defendant's prior misconduct--the murder of Joan Brady and the incident of holding his uncle hostage. The first offense was recounted through the testimony of Joan Brady's sister, who discovered the body, and that of an investigating officer. This testimony was admitted, accompanied by the trial court's repeated instruction to the jury that such evidence was before it for the sole purpose of showing defendant's knowledge. Each witness described the appearance of the victim's body, found on Friday, 19 October 1984, face-down in bed, her limbs bound with shoelaces. The admission of the pathologist's testimony, which added that the victim had died as the result of a "soft ligature," like the handkerchief found knotted around her neck, was similarly restricted to the purpose of showing preparation, plan, or knowledge of the defendant. Defendant contends that this testimony was only "minimally relevant" and that its prejudicial effect outweighed any probative value.

Defendant restates this contention with regard to the testimony of his cousin Darryl Gammon and others, who recounted the details of defendant's act of holding his uncle hostage the day after Brenda Smith's death. Defendant assigns error as well to the admission of statements he made in the presence of officers who were summoned to the scene. These statements included defendant's admission that he was "good with shoelaces" and that he had "already killed two and one or two more wouldn't make any difference."

Upon defendant's motion to suppress evidence of both occurrences, the...