State v. Richardson

• Decision Date: 06 October 1995
• Docket Number: No. 126A93,126A93
• Citation: 462 S.E.2d 492,341 N.C. 658
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. James Carl RICHARDSON.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 492

462 S.E.2d 492

341 N.C. 658

STATE of North Carolina v. James Carl RICHARDSON.

No. 126A93.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Oct. 6, 1995.

Michael F. Easley, Attorney General by William B. Crumpler, Assistant Attorney General, for the State.

Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr., Appellate Defender by Benjamin Sendor, Assistant Appellate Defender, for defendant-appellant.

ORR, Justice.

On 28 March 1992, Denny Waters was shot and killed by defendant James Carl Richardson while sitting in the driver's seat of his car. Defendant also shot and wounded Ricky Waters, Denny's brother and a passenger in the car. The shooting was a culmination of a year-long obsessive pattern of behavior by defendant toward his ex-girlfriend, Renee Scherf. At the time of the shooting, Renee Scherf was dating Ronald Waters, the brother of Denny and Ricky.

Defendant was indicted for first-degree murder and for assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. He was tried capitally at the 4 January 1993 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Henderson County, and was found guilty of first-degree murder under the felony murder theory, with discharging a firearm into occupied property and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury as the underlying felonies. He was also found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. After the jury returned its verdicts, the trial judge sentenced defendant to consecutive terms of life imprisonment on the conviction for first-degree murder and ten years' imprisonment for first-degree assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.

Defendant appeals the first-degree murder conviction to this Court, which subsequently granted defendant's motion to bypass the Court of Appeals on the assault conviction. Defendant presents no arguments related to the assault conviction. After reviewing the transcripts, record and briefs, we find no error in defendant's assignments and, accordingly, uphold defendant's conviction for murder in the first degree and sentence of life imprisonment.

The State's evidence leading up to 28 March 1992, the day of the shooting, tended to show the following: Renee Scherf met defendant in December 1990 and began dating him in January 1991. They began living together shortly thereafter and continued to live together for two to three months until she moved into a trailer by herself located in the same trailer park where defendant lived.

In September 1991, Ms. Scherf met and began dating Ronald Waters. In an effort to keep her distance from defendant, who had begun harassing and stalking Mr. Waters, Ms. Scherf started visiting Mr. Waters at his Landrum, South Carolina, home, which was approximately twenty-six miles from where Ms. Scherf and defendant lived in Saluda, North Carolina. In November 1991, Ms. Scherf moved into Mr. Waters' home.

From approximately 22 March 1991 until 28 March 1992, defendant exhibited obsessive, harassing, threatening, stalking, and confrontational behavior towards Ms. Scherf, Ronald Waters, and the Waters' family at their homes, their places of employment, and numerous other locations. Such behavior was evidenced by incidents where defendant "chronically" called Ms. Scherf and followed Mr. Waters. Defendant issued threats to Mr. Waters such as stating that "no one come [sic] between him and his woman," that Mr. Waters "would pay dearly for what [he] [had] done," or asking Mr. Waters if Ms. Scherf was "worth getting killed over." Also during this one-year period, defendant shot out the front windshield and rear window of Mr. Waters' car and broke Mr. Waters' front windshield with a brick.

Specifically, Ms. Scherf testified that, on three occasions, she called defendant to appeal to him to leave her alone and to seek counseling. She testified that defendant responded to her attempts by telling her that "[e]ither [she] would get killed, Ron would get killed, [they] both would die, or [they] would break up." Defendant also stated that he would not stop harassing or following her and the Waters family until "he was satisfied," that his "mind was made up," and that she "can't appeal to [him]. [He's] beyond that now." Further, defendant stated that if any member of the Waters family came to the trailer park, he would "shoot them if they mess with [him]" and that if she and Mr. Waters did not break up, somebody was going to get hurt.

On another occasion, Ms. Scherf testified that defendant came to Mr. Waters' home when Ms. Scherf was there alone. After Ms. Scherf confronted defendant with a shotgun and yelled at him to leave her alone, defendant left a letter on the porch railing and disappeared. At trial, Ms. Scherf identified State's Exhibit No. 5 as the fourteen-page letter that defendant left for her on the evening of 25 March 1992, which she had turned over to the police. Ms. Scherf read the letter from defendant aloud at trial. In the letter, defendant stated:

I guess I'll start by saying this letter is I intended to explain why I feel why I have to do what I'm going to do....

I still feel every bit of the love I had for you then, and now even more so. I know I had a lot to do with the way our relationship turned out and I'll accept most of the blame, but I know it was marred badly by the people who had influence on you. And when you told me the other night [w]hat my stepmother told you that infuriates me also, as hard as I was trying to win you over and getting your respect and trust everyone around us was blowing me out of the water. That's one of the reasons I'm doing what I'm doing. I'm going to teach them not to get involved and to leave people alone. I really was trying hard, Renee.

....

... You said that the fellow has a big heart. No he doesn't, not unless it's only for women. He's never loved anyone as much as I love you, because if he did, his conscience would allow him enough compassion to know how I feel and he'd back out. All these things and more than I can stand to write are the reason for why I will do what I feel I have to do. These things, these feelings have haunted me ever since we've been apart and it's more than I can stand any more. It's enough to know that my faults were poison, but everyone else's involvement was totally unnecessary and it has kept me from the opportunity of redeeming myself to you. Well, when it's all finally done and over, maybe then everyone will know how much I loved you. I love you more than life itself and I hope you will always remember that. All my love, Jim.

The State also presented extensive witness testimony tending to show that, at various times, defendant harassed the Waters family by following or positioning himself near them. Sometimes children were in the vehicles that were followed. Specifically, on one occasion, Melinda Waters, Ronald Waters' sister, testified that she saw the barrel of a gun in defendant's hand during one of her encounters with defendant.

On the day of the shooting, 28 March 1992, Melinda informed Ricky and Denny, two other brothers, that she had seen defendant's car parked up the street from their mother's house. Ricky got into Denny's car, and they went to check on defendant. Defendant's car was gone, so they drove uptown. Shortly thereafter, Melinda spotted defendant. Ricky and Denny followed Melinda to a Food Lion parking lot at the edge of Columbus. Ricky testified that the purpose in following her was to see where defendant went. They were concerned because defendant had been close to their mother's house when he had no business being there.

Denny and Ricky saw defendant come into the parking lot toward Melinda's car, so they pulled between defendant's car and Melinda's car. Ricky testified that they did not block defendant in, but rather, pulled between the two cars because it looked as though defendant was headed toward Melinda's car. Denny stopped, and he and Ricky exited the car. Denny told defendant that he wanted to talk to him. Defendant drove off suddenly, and Denny and Ricky followed.

Defendant proceeded onto Interstate 26 towards Hendersonville, North Carolina, with the Waters brothers following. Denny and Ricky discussed giving defendant "a dose of his own medicine." The vehicles subsequently left I-26 and got onto Highway 64, making a U-turn on the highway, and headed towards downtown Hendersonville. Defendant made another U-turn and went all the way through Hendersonville, running several red lights in the process. Denny and Ricky continued to follow him. Ricky testified that the drive through Hendersonville was not a high-speed chase and that Denny did not tailgate defendant.

Ricky further testified that eventually, at approximately 8:50 p.m., defendant stopped at a red light, and Denny stopped his car four or five feet behind defendant's car. Defendant got out of his car with a rifle in his hand; he walked towards the rear of his car and towards the front of Denny's car, pointing the gun at Denny and Ricky. As defendant approached them, nothing was said by anyone. Suddenly, defendant started firing the rifle straight towards Ricky and Denny. Ricky testified that defendant's first shot burst the windshield and that Denny was hit somewhere around his eye. Ricky testified that he reached for Denny and saw another shot coming from defendant's direction. Three shots were fired quickly with just a couple of seconds between shots. Defendant returned to his car and drove off. Ricky was shot in his left shoulder, and Denny was fatally wounded. The front windshield had three bullet holes in it.

Defendant's version of the events surrounding the shooting contrasts with Ricky's. According to defendant, on the day of the shooting, he was being harassed and threatened by Melinda, Denny and Ricky. At one point, according to defendant, Denny ran up to defendant's car, tried to open defendant's door and told him to get out of the car. Then defendant testified that he "floored" the car. As he...