State v. Robbins

• Citation: 356 S.E.2d 279,319 N.C. 465
• Decision Date: 02 June 1987
• Docket Number: No. 599A83,599A83
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Phillip Thomas ROBBINS, Jr.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of North Carolina

Page 279

356 S.E.2d 279

319 N.C. 465

STATE of North Carolina v. Phillip Thomas ROBBINS, Jr.

No. 599A83.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

June 2, 1987.

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

Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr., Appellate Defender, and Louis D. Bilionis, Asst. Appellate Defender, Raleigh, for defendant.

MARTIN, Justice.

For purposes of this opinion the evidence may be summarized as follows. Additional evidence is set forth with respect to the various issues.

The state's evidence tends to show: In early June 1982, Ernest Thompson owned a .22-caliber nine-shot pistol. He kept it with bullets on his bedside table beside the telephone. Thereafter, defendant, Phillip Thomas Robbins, Jr., who went by the name of "Jackie," visited Thompson in his home. When Thompson got up to go to the bathroom, defendant said that he was going to get another six-pack of beer. When Thompson came out of the bathroom, defendant was gone. Thompson then discovered that his gun was missing from its holster.

According to Earlie Mae Williams, at about 12:30 p.m. on 17 June 1982, Anna Quick, Ms. Williams' longtime friend and co-worker, drove to the Dobbs House Restaurant at Raleigh-Durham Airport to pick up the women's paychecks. After Mrs. Quick returned to Durham, she went by the liquor store and purchased a bottle of Smirnoff vodka, and she and Ms. Williams went over to Mrs. Quick's house to talk and have dinner. Later, at about 6:30 p.m., they went to Ms. Williams' sister's house. They sat on the porch and talked and drank with Ms. Williams' sister and some other people. While they were sitting on the porch, Mrs. Quick said, "That's him." Ms. Williams The next day, Friday, 18 June 1982, Mrs. Quick was supposed to pick up Ms. Williams as they were scheduled to be at work between 4:30 and 5:00 a.m. When Mrs. Quick, who had been late several times but who had failed to show up altogether only once in over ten years, did not arrive at Ms. Williams' house, Ms. Williams had her sister take her by Mrs. Quick's house. When they got there at about 4:45 a.m., they saw that the front-porch light was on and Mrs. Quick's car was gone. Ms. Williams testified, "it was a strange feeling, you know, and we went on to work and I told my bossman about it." At around 3:00 p.m., Ms. Williams went by Mrs. Quick's house. The house was neat. Mrs. Quick's youngest son, Bernard, who lived there, said he had not seen any sign of his mother. Ms. Williams contacted Mrs. Quick's cousin in an effort to locate her friend, but no one had seen her. In response to a telephone call she received from a cousin early on Saturday, 19 June, Anna Quick's daughter, Phyllis Melton, began searching for her mother. She was unable to locate her and on 19 June Ms. Melton called in a missing persons report to the Durham Police Department. She described her mother and the red 1975 automobile with a black top which one Clarence Holland had loaned Mrs. Quick.

                not recognizing defendant as he approached, inquired, "Him, who?" and Mrs. Quick replied, "That's Jackie Robbins, Beverly's [Quick's daughter] boyfriend."   Defendant said, "Hey, Mrs. Quick," and joined the conversation.  Mrs. Quick and defendant then went to sit in Mrs. Quick's black-over-red Dodge Dart and continued their conversation.  Later, after Mrs. Quick had gone into the house to use the bathroom, Ms. Williams came out and saw defendant, who was seated in the back-seat, going through Mrs. Quick's green pocketbook.  Ms. Williams testified that Mrs. Quick kept "money, that little bit of money she had and other little items that she had" in her pocketbook.  [319 N.C. 472]  When Ms. Williams asked defendant what he was looking for, defendant said he was looking for a cigarette, so Ms. Williams took the bag and gave him a cigarette and a match from it.  Then Ms. Williams, Mrs. Quick, and defendant left in Mrs. Quick's car and proceeded to the ABC store at Lakewood Shopping Center to buy some more liquor.  When they arrived at the liquor store, Mrs. Quick asked defendant to go in to buy the bottle, and she gave him some money from her pocketbook.  At that point, Ms. Williams testified, defendant got out of the car, hesitated, said that he "couldn't go in like this," and pulled a "long gun" out of his belt and threw it into the front seat between Ms. Williams and Mrs. Quick.  Defendant then went into the liquor store.  Defendant returned with a pint of Relska vodka.  They then went to Ms. Williams' home.  At about 8:30 p.m., after defendant had poured some of the vodka into a plastic cup for Ms. Williams, he and Mrs. Quick got back in Mrs. Quick's car.  Ms. Williams said she "talked to Anna about drinking and driving, because, you know, the police were kinda hot, so I told her to go home, you know and, of course, she said she was."   Mrs. Quick told Ms. Williams, "I got to take him home and I'm going to get Bernard to wash my uniforms and I'm going back."   Defendant said, "You ain't got to take me home.  I can get out anywhere."  "They drove off," Ms. Williams testified, "and that was the last time I seen her."
                

At about 8:00 a.m. on Monday, 21 June 1982, Marvin Mangum was performing general road maintenance and cleaning ditches on Wilkins Road in north Durham County. In an isolated area about a mile and a half north of the Bahama and Wilkins Roads intersection he came across a body of a black female, which was lying generally facedown on its left side, in a ditch on the west side of the road. Mangum walked up to the body, ascertained that she was dead, and immediately called the sheriff's department. Investigators who arrived at the site discovered a partial dental plate underneath weeds in the ditch, under the head of the partially decomposed body. Other physical evidence at the scene included an empty pint bottle of Relska vodka.

An autopsy performed on the body of Anna Quick on 21 June 1982 by Dr. Page The evidence presented by the state also tended to show that on Friday, 18 June 1982, eighteen-year-old Darryl Wade Williams left his house between 8:15 and 8:30 p.m. in his light blue 1970 Plymouth Duster with gold racing stripes. At the time he was last seen by his father, an analytical chemist, Darryl was wearing brown slacks, a white shirt, a brown necktie, brown shoes, a tie clip from Garner High School which he had received for being manager and statistician of the basketball team, a Garner High School ring with the initials "D.W.W." engraved inside, and a gold watch. He had just been paid that afternoon and had deposited some of his earnings in the bank. His father estimated that Darryl had between $30 and $80 in his wallet, in which he also carried his driver's license, his high school identification card, his Social Security card, and some photographs of his two sisters. Darryl was described by his father at trial as "quiet ... religious, mannerable, and just a good kid. He had an interest in drama, sports, church, religion and stuff like this." Mr. Williams testified that he had instructed Darryl and his two daughters that "if they were ever confronted by any one with a knife or a handgun or any type weapon that could do them some harm that they should obey the orders that were given. Their life was more important than a car, money or whatever." Mr. Williams said he had last told Darryl that about two months previously.

Hudson, Chief Medical Examiner for the state of North Carolina, revealed that Mrs. Quick had been shot five times. In his opinion, Anna Quick died of multiple gunshot wounds. In addition to the three bullets which Dr. Hudson recovered from the body, a loose bullet found in the victim's clothing was recovered at the time of the autopsy and turned over to the state as evidence.

On the late night of 18 June 1982 and the early morning of 19 June, Leonard Hawes and his girlfriend were visiting Hawes' sister, Cynthia Webb, and her boyfriend at Ms. Webb's apartment in Durham County. Hawes and Ms. Webb had known the defendant since childhood. Between midnight and 12:30 a.m. according to Ms. Webb, Jackie Robbins arrived at Webb's apartment. They invited him in, and he was given a beer. About five minutes later, defendant went back outside and returned with a "young dude" who was neatly dressed and wearing tinted glasses. The stranger was offered a seat and, after thanking them, he sat down. Then defendant told Hawes he wanted to talk to him, and the two men went into the bathroom. At that time, defendant pulled a black .22-caliber nine-shot target pistol out of his belt and showed it to Hawes. When Hawes asked defendant if he wanted to sell the gun, defendant said no, that it was hot, and he returned the gun to his belt. Defendant also asked Hawes if he wanted to go to Greensboro with him. Hawes asked defendant how he was going to get to Greensboro, and defendant told Hawes that "the guy was going to loan him his car." Hawes replied that he was too high to drive to Greensboro but that he would go with defendant the next morning. Defendant came out of the bathroom, announced that he would be back, and he and the young man left. Ms. Webb testified that during the fifteen to twenty minutes defendant and the young man were in her apartment, the young man had a set of keys in his hand. Hawes testified that the young man did not appear to be either frightened or nervous while he was there.

According to Ms. Webb, at about 2:30 a.m. defendant returned, alone. He and Hawes again went into the bathroom to talk. Defendant told Hawes that it was important that he go to Greensboro the next morning if he didn't go that night. Defendant and Hawes looked at the gun again; Hawes decided to unload it, and he removed four bullets from the gun. When he took the bullets out, he noticed that the gun was warm. Hawes testified, "Yeah, I asked him about it. He said he had just shot it." They drank beer a while longer, and Hawes finally said he had to go...