State v. Reid

Decision Date04 March 1994
Docket NumberNo. 150A93,150A93
Citation335 N.C. 647,440 S.E.2d 776
PartiesSTATE of North Carolina v. Derek Lajuan REID and Fred Poitier Adams.
CourtNorth Carolina Supreme Court

Appeal as of right pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-27(a) from judgment entered by Johnston, J., at the 28 September 1992 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Mecklenburg County, sentencing defendant Fred Poitier Adams to life imprisonment upon his conviction of first-degree murder. Defendant Derek Lajuan Reid's motion to bypass the Court of Appeals as to a conviction for assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury was allowed by the Supreme Court on 16 April 1993.

Michael F. Easley, Atty. Gen. by Ralf F. Haskell, Sp. Deputy Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for the State.

Isabel Scott Day, Public Defender, by Julie Ramseur Lewis, Asst. Public Defender, Charlotte, for defendant-appellant Reid.

Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr., Appellate Defender, by Janine M. Crawley, Assistant Appellate Defender, Charlotte, for defendant-appellant Adams.

MEYER, Justice.

On 27 January 1992, a Mecklenburg County grand jury indicted defendants, Fred Poitier Adams and Derek Lajuan Reid, for the first-degree murder of Delancey Wilkes and for the assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury of Antwane Drakeford. Defendants were tried jointly and noncapitally at the 28 September 1992 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Mecklenburg County. On 6 October 1992, the jury returned verdicts finding defendant Adams guilty of the first-degree murder of Delancey Wilkes and defendant Reid guilty of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury upon Antwane Drakeford. The trial court sentenced defendant Adams to life imprisonment for the murder conviction and imposed a six-year sentence on defendant Reid for the assault conviction. Defendant Adams appeals to this Court as of right from the judgment sentencing him to life imprisonment. Defendant Reid was allowed to bypass the North Carolina Court of Appeals on his conviction of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.

The evidence presented at defendants' trial tended to show the following. On the night of 8 January 1992, defendant Fred Adams, defendant Derek Reid, Brian Moore, Brian White, and Chris Roach went to the Casanova Club. At some point in the evening, Chris Roach and Bernard Wilkes, the decedent, got into an argument. The testimony of numerous witnesses as to what happened after this initial argument between the decedent and Chris Roach is not clear. What is uncontradicted is that at the end of the evening, Bernard Wilkes had been shot and killed by a bullet from a .357 Magnum revolver, and Antwane Drakeford had been seriously wounded by two gunshots.

Some time after Chris Roach argued with Bernard Wilkes, defendant Adams talked with Roach; Adams and defendant Reid then left the club, returning a few minutes later. Adams, Reid, Roach, and some other men then approached Drakeford, Wilkes, and some others. Drakeford said, "I thought this was over with," to which Roach replied, "we're going to settle this." At this point, someone in the Drakeford/Wilkes group picked up a bar chair and wielded it toward the Adams/Reid group. Chris Roach then shouted, "shoot the mother f---er," and Adams and Reid pulled guns and began shooting.

Officer Stith, a security guard on duty outside the club, testified that he ran into the club and saw a chair in the air and Adams and Reid with guns. The security guard stated that he shot his .40-caliber handgun one time in the general direction of Adams and told everyone to freeze and drop their weapons. Stith testified that Reid followed his instructions, but Adams ran into the men's bathroom. A .38-caliber revolver was found on the floor close to where Reid was standing when Stith first observed him. A .357 Magnum revolver, later identified as the murder weapon, was found in a toilet in the bathroom into which Adams had run.

It was determined that the bullet that killed Bernard Wilkes came from the .357 Magnum revolver found in the toilet. It was not possible to determine what type of bullet struck Drakeford nor from what gun the bullets came, as doctors were unable to remove the bullets from Drakeford's body. Drakeford believed Adams shot him, but there was also testimony that Drakeford had his back to his assailant when he was shot and thus could not have actually seen who shot him.

There was expert testimony that three bullets were fired from the .357 Magnum revolver, two from the .38-caliber revolver, and one from the security guard's .40-caliber handgun. Three bullets from the .357 Magnum found in the bathroom were recovered; a bullet and casing from Officer Stith's .40-caliber handgun were also recovered. No bullets that were identified as coming from the .38 were recovered.

Additional facts will be discussed as necessary for the proper disposition of the issues raised by defendants.

Defendant Reid first argues that the trial court erred in failing to dismiss the charge of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury because the evidence was insufficient to convict defendant of the charge, first, on the basis that it failed to show that he was the one who actually shot Drakeford and, second, that it failed to show that he and defendant Adams were acting in concert. The State argues that there was sufficient evidence from which the jury could find either that defendant was guilty of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury or that defendant was guilty of the crime on the theory that Adams shot Drakeford and that Reid was acting in concert with Adams.

We note that the principles that guide us when we consider a defendant's motion to dismiss based on the insufficiency of the evidence are well settled.

The evidence is to be viewed in the light most favorable to the State. State v. Thomas, 296 N.C. 236, 250 S.E.2d 204 (1978). All contradictions in the evidence are to be resolved in the State's favor. State v. Brown, 310 N.C. 563, 313 S.E.2d 585 (1984). All reasonable inferences based upon the evidence are to be indulged in. Id. Our cases also establish that defendant's evidence may be considered on a motion to dismiss where it clarifies and is not contradictory to the State's evidence or where it rebuts permissible inferences raised by the State's evidence and is not contradictory to it. State v. Bates, 309 N.C. 528, 308 S.E.2d 528 (1983); State v. Bruton, 264 N.C. 488, 142 S.E.2d 169 (1965). The same principle obtains where, as here, the defendant's statement is introduced by the State. State v. Todd, 222 N.C. 346, 23 S.E.2d 47 (1942). Finally, while the State may base its case on circumstantial evidence requiring the jury to infer elements of the crime, that evidence must be real and substantial and not merely speculative. Substantial evidence is evidence from which a rational trier of fact could find the fact to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Pridgen, 313 N.C. 80, 326 S.E.2d 618 (1985); State v. Jones, 303 N.C. 500, 279 S.E.2d 835 (1981).

State v. Reese, 319 N.C. 110, 138-39, 353 S.E.2d 352, 368 (1987).

Defendant was charged and convicted of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, in violation of N.C.G.S. § 14-32(a). The essential elements of the crime are (1) an assault, (2) with a deadly weapon, (3) with intent to kill, (4) inflicting serious injury, (5) not resulting in death. State v. Meadows, 272 N.C. 327, 331, 158 S.E.2d 638, 640 (1968); State v. Cain, 79 N.C.App. 35, 46, 338 S.E.2d 898, 905, disc. rev. denied, stay denied, 316 N.C. 380, 342 S.E.2d 899 (1986). "Before the issue of a defendant's guilt may be submitted to the jury, the trial court must be satisfied that substantial evidence has been introduced tending to prove each essential element of the offense charged and that the defendant was the perpetrator." State v. Barts, 316 N.C. 666, 686, 343 S.E.2d 828, 841 (1986). We conclude that there was substantial evidence from which the jury could reasonably infer that defendant Reid shot Antwane Drakeford with a deadly weapon, with the intent to kill, inflicting serious injury.

Evidence was presented that three guns were fired that night, a .38-caliber revolver, a .357 Magnum revolver, and a .40-caliber handgun. There was testimony that three bullets were fired from the .357, two from the .38, and one from the .40. Derek Reid testified that he was holding the .38 and that he fired the .38. There was evidence that he shot in response to Roach's instruction to "shoot the mother f---er." The club was thoroughly searched by the crime scene technicians immediately after the incident occurred; three bullets identified as coming from the .357 Magnum were recovered, and one bullet fired from Officer Stith's .40-caliber handgun was recovered. No bullets were recovered that were identified as being shot from the .38. One bullet and bullet fragments of another bullet remained unidentified in Drakeford's body. Drakeford sustained near fatal injuries but survived.

From this evidence, a rational trier of fact could have determined that Reid assaulted Drakeford by shooting him; that the assault was with a deadly weapon, a .38-caliber revolver; that he had the intent to kill as he responded to Roach's instruction to shoot; and that Drakeford suffered serious injury not resulting in death.

There is also evidence that defendant Reid is guilty of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury on the basis that he acted in concert with Adams, who was the other potential gunmen.

In State v. Joyner, 297 N.C. 349, 255 S.E.2d 390 (1979), we concluded:

It is not ... necessary for a defendant to do any particular act constituting at least part of a crime in order to be convicted of that crime under the concerted action principle so long as he...

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