State v. Ross, 166
| Decision Date | 29 March 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 166,166 |
| Citation | 269 N.C. 739,153 S.E.2d 469 |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE, v. Bobby ROSS. |
Atty. Gen. Bruton and Staff Atty. Andrew A. Vanore, Jr., Raleigh, for the State.
C. B. Cash, Jr., Shelby, for defendant appellant.
There was no error in the denial of the defendant's challenge to the array and motion to dismiss the special venire. The burden was upon the defendant to show the discriminatory exclusion of Negroes from the jury list, which he alleges as the basis for his motion and challenge. State v. Corl, 250 N.C. 258, 108 S.E.2d 615. This he failed to do. On the contrary, his evidence is to the effect that there was no such discrimination. The Supreme Court of the United States has held that to select a jury panel from a list composed of persons whose names appear on the county tax lists, without discrimination as to race, does not violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Brown v. Allen, 344 U.S. 443, 73 S.Ct. 397, 97 L.Ed. 469. In addition, the evidence offered by the defendant shows that the county officials, by inquiries to school principals and police officers, and by use of telephone and city directories, sought to obtain the names of Negro residents of the county whose names were not included upon the tax books. Furthermore, the record does not disclose the racial composition of the jury by which the defendant was tried.
There was no error in overruling the defendant's objection to the introduction in evidence of the trousers taken from the defendant while he was in custody. These trousers were not obtained by a search of his mother's residence. They were selected and put on by the defendant when the officers aroused him from the couch and told him to get dressed. After he was placed under arrest and given other clothes to wear, these trousers were taken and examined for blood stains. It is not an unlawful search or seizure for officers to take from the person under arrest and to examine an article of clothing worn by him. See: 47 Am.Jur., Searches and Seizures, § 53; 5 Am.Jur.2d Arrest, § 73; 6 C.J.S. Arrest § 18. It is not error, nothing else appearing, to admit in evidence, over objection, testimony as to the condition or contents of such garments discovered by such examination or to admit in evidence the garment itself.
The defendant is, however, entitled to a new trial because of the admission in evidence, over his objection, of testimony by the police officer concerning the alleged statement by the defendant as to his ownership of the hat found on the floor of the Patterson residence following the flight of the intruder. The testimony that the defendant, upon being shown the hat, stated it was his was obviously prejudicial since it tended to identify the defendant with the intruder and thus to incriminate him.
In Miranda v. State of Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, the Supreme Court of the United States said:
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State v. Sanders
...the two remaining were challenged peremptorily. Defendant had the burden of proof of establishing racial discrimination. State v. Ross, 269 N.C. 739, 153 S.E.2d 469. The absence of Negroes from a particular petit jury is insufficient, in and of itself, to raise a presumption of discriminati......
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State v. Vickers, 739
...and voluntary.' (Emphasis ours) This language has been approved in the cases of State v. Gray, 268 N.C. 69, 150 S.E.2d 1; State v. Ross, 269 N.C. 739, 153 S.E.2d 469; State v. Bishop, 272 N.C. 283, 158 S.E.2d Here, defendant's general objection made it clear that he challenged the admission......
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... ... State v. Moore, 275 N.C. 141, 166 S.E.2d 53 ... It has long been the rule in this jurisdiction that the admissibility of a confession is determined by the facts ... Thorpe, 274 N.C. 457, 164 S.E.2d 171; State v. Vickers, 274 N.C. 311, 163 S.E.2d 481; State v. Pike, 273 N.C. 102, 159 S.E.2d 334; State v. Ross, 269 N.C. 739, 153 S.E.2d ... 469. Now, in order to be admissible, a confession must be volunatry in two aspects: (1) It must be made of a ... ...
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State v. Cobb
...clothing as well as the clothing itself are admissible at trial. State v. Shedd, 274 N.C. 95, 161 S.E.2d 477 (1968); State v. Ross, 269 N.C. 739, 153 S.E.2d 469 (1967); 5 Am.Jur.2d, Arrest, Section 73 (1962). Moreover, the Fifth Amendment prohibition against self-incrimination does not prec......