State v. Roope

• Decision Date: 04 August 1998
• Docket Number: No. COA97-1087.,COA97-1087.
• Citation: 503 S.E.2d 118,130 NC App. 356
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. William Lee ROOPE. STATE of North Carolina v. William David COOKE. STATE of North Carolina v. James Lawrence OVERTON, Jr.
• Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals

503 S.E.2d 118

130 NC App. 356

STATE of North Carolina v. William Lee ROOPE.

STATE of North Carolina v. William David COOKE.

STATE of North Carolina v. James Lawrence OVERTON, Jr.

No. COA97-1087.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

August 4, 1998.

Attorney General Michael F. Easley by Special Deputy Attorney General Ellen B. Scouten, for the State.

Appellate Defender Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr. by Assistant Appellate Defender Constance H. Everhart, Durham, for defendant-appellant William Lee Roope.

Smallwood and Hayes, P.C. by Teresa L. Smallwood, Windsor, for defendant-appellant William David Cooke.

Ronnie C. Reaves, P.A. by Lynn Pierce, Weldon, for defendant-appellant James Lawrence Overton, Jr.

GREENE, Judge.

Defendant William Lee Roope (Roope) appeals his convictions for first-degree burglary, robbery with a dangerous weapon, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, larceny of a firearm, and felonious larceny. Defendants William David Cooke (Cooke) and James Lawrence Overton, Jr. (Overton) appeal their convictions for first-degree burglary, robbery with a dangerous weapon, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, larceny of a firearm, and felonious larceny.

The evidence revealed that N.L. Braswell, Jr. (Mr. Braswell), his wife Dorothy Elaine Braswell (Mrs. Braswell), and their adult son Robert L. Braswell (Robert Braswell) sustained life-threatening stab wounds during a break-in of their home on 12 November 1995.

Stephanie Raye Childers (Childers) testified that she and Cooke decided "to steal [Cooke's parents'] car [on 12 November 1995] and we were going to leave town, just trying to buy time to spend together before the police caught up with me [for a probation violation]." That afternoon, Childers, Roope, Overton, James Smith [Smith], and two other boys went to an abandoned house. While there, Childers told Roope that she and Cooke were planning to steal his parents' car and money and leave town that night. Roope told her that "the police were looking for him ... and [for] ... Overton and ... Smith, and they wanted to get out of town, too, so when I told him that [Cooke] and I had planned to leave town, he said that they were going to go as well." After Cooke arrived at the abandoned house, Childers, Cooke, and Roope discussed "various places that we could get money, get a car." They considered stealing Cooke's parents' car, Childers' next-door neighbors' car, or Childers' parents' car. Childers testified that Roope told them that they "should just go in [Childers' parents'] house and just take the money and car keys, whatever we wanted, and he would kill my parents." Childers further testified that after leaving the abandoned house, she, Cooke, Roope, Overton, and Smith were walking and she "told them that I thought it would be better if we went to my grandparents' [(Mr. and Mrs. Braswell) ] house instead of mine." Childers, Roope, Cooke, Overton, and Smith then walked to Childers' grandparents' house. Once they arrived at her grandparents' house, Childers, Roope, Cooke, Overton, and Smith "huddled together in a circle ... a few inches apart at the most" and discussed what they were going to do. Childers told the others the layout of her grandparents' house, and that her uncle, Robert Braswell, also lived there. All five then went quietly into the unlocked house. Once inside the house, the group decided that "[Roope] and ... Smith would go into the room with my grandparents. [Roope] said [Cooke] was going to, too.... Overton was suppose to go into the back bedroom with my uncle and that I was suppose to go back there with him. And then I was to get the money." Childers testified that it was her understanding that the five of them would rob and kill her grandparents and her uncle. Roope then stated that "he, ... Smith, and ... Cooke were going to kill my grandparents." Childers and Overton went down the hallway to her uncle Robert Braswell's bedroom. "The door opened and [Robert Braswell] came out and he didn't make it all the way out the door and [Overton] attacked him ... [with a] knife." During Overton's struggle with Childers' uncle, Childers stabbed her uncle in the leg.

I backed out of the room and ... went [back] down the hall ... and at that time... Roope and ... Overton had gone into the family room where my grandparents were, and I went to the doorway and I looked in and [Roope] was standing beside my grandfather and James was standing behind my grandmother and she was beside her chair bent over and there was blood all over her chair.... She was bleeding, I couldn't tell exactly from where....

Childers then went to her grandparents' bedroom, and then "Overton came in there and he grabbed me by my shoulders and he said..., `I can't kill him.' And he said something about he saw his brother die and he said he couldn't kill [Robert Braswell], and I told him it was okay, he didn't have to." Childers then went through the drawers in her grandparents' bedroom and took a wallet containing a few hundred dollars and some rings out of her grandmother's jewelry box. Childers, Roope, Overton, Cooke, and Smith then left her grandparents' house in her uncle's truck.

Robert Braswell testified that he woke up after going to bed on the night of 12 November 1995 and saw Overton, who he was able to identify in court, holding a knife. Overton proceeded to stab Robert Braswell several times. Robert Braswell stated that he next remembers lying on his bed and "gasping for breath." He "heard a voice behind me say, `Finish him' and another voice said, `I can't do him again with him lying there already hurting like that.'" Then Robert Braswell testified:

[T]he first voice said it again after that, says, "You remember when we were out front, we decided no witnesses" and that's when I looked back and ... Overton and... Roope were standing there. And then... Overton said again, "I can't do him again." And that's when Roope said, "Cover him" and Roope walked around to the other side of the bed and Overton tried to cover my head with a blanket, but like I said, I couldn't—I mean with a pillow, and I couldn't breathe anyway, so, I was struggling, and the next thing I know I'm standing up in the middle of the floor between the two of `em.

Robert Braswell testified that the voice that said "remember ... we decided no witnesses" belonged to Roope, and he identified Roope in court. Robert Braswell stated that Roope then asked him if he had any guns in the house, and he told Roope and Overton that he had a gun in the closet. Overton got the gun. Roope then "asked me like, `If you have anymore money,' he said, `don't lie to me, if you have, cause if I find it, I'm gone kill you.' And I told him there was some money in a envelope on the top shelf of the shelving unit in a birthday card." Roope then "turned around and stuck me—stabbed me in my navel." Robert Braswell heard Roope getting the money as he fell back on the bed, and then Roope walked over and asked where the keys to the truck were. Robert Braswell testified that "this is when I saw ... Cooke, like over my shoulder, all I saw was his head and face, and Roope picked the keys up and walked [out of the room]." Robert Braswell identified Cooke in court.

Mrs. Braswell testified that she and her husband (Mr. Braswell) were watching television when someone behind her started "cutting on my throat." Mrs. Braswell could not see her attacker, but heard him state: "I'm sorry, ma'am, but I have to do this." Mrs. Braswell looked over at her husband, and saw Roope "stabbing him over and over and over." Mrs. Braswell identified Roope in court. Mrs. Braswell also "got a glimpse" of a girl in her kitchen, who she later learned was her granddaughter, Childers. After Roope left the room where Mrs. Braswell and her husband lay, she attempted to move; Roope came back into the room and "stabbed me in my leg and crippled me for life probably and a place on my back right back there...."

Mr. Braswell testified that while he and his wife were watching television on 12 November 1995, "Roope ... got me right in the stomach with a knife, said, `I got you old man.'" Mr. Braswell testified that Roope continued to stab him repeatedly. After stabbing Mr. Braswell, Roope said "I'm Scarecrow," and then left the room. Mr. Braswell saw Smith stabbing his wife, and then saw Roope return to the room and stab his wife as well. Mr. Braswell identified Roope in court.

Sergeant Bruce Temple (Sergeant Temple) of the Roanoke Rapids Police Department testified that when he arrived at the Braswell residence following the stabbings, he asked Mrs. Braswell "if she knew who did this to her and her response was `no.'" Sergeant Temple then asked Mrs. Braswell "if she saw the person who did this to her, she said that there were more than one and she didn't know exactly who cut her." Mrs. Braswell also told Sergeant Temple that "she did see a boy and she gave me the description of black hair, wearing a long trench coat. She said that she thought that the kids called him `Scarecrow.'" Sergeant Temple further testified that he knew an individual nicknamed "Scarecrow" whose name was "Willie Roope," that he had spoken with Roope earlier on the day of the stabbings about an unrelated matter, and that Roope was wearing a long black trench coat and jeans at that time. It was later discovered by the police that Roope has the word "Scarecrow" tattooed on his left shoulder.

On 13 November 1995, Detective William Davis (Detective Davis) of the Louisiana State Police noticed a Toyota truck with North Carolina license plates driving erratically. Detective Davis stopped the truck and apprehended the occupants. Detective Davis identified Roope in court as the driver, and identified the other occupants of the truck as Childers, Smith, Overton, and Cooke.

On 13 November 1995, Overton made a statement to the police which was read into evidence at trial. The names of both...