State v. Scott
| Decision Date | 21 January 2020 |
| Docket Number | No. COA19-250,COA19-250 |
| Citation | 269 N.C.App. 457,838 S.E.2d 676 |
| Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. William Lee SCOTT |
| Court | North Carolina Court of Appeals |
Attorney General Joshua H. Stein, by Assistant Attorney General Kathryne E. Hathcock, for the State.
Franklin E. Wells, Jr., Asheboro, for defendant-appellant.
William Lee Scott ("Defendant") appeals from a judgment entered after a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder and felony death by vehicle. The trial court arrested judgment in the felony death by vehicle and entered judgment and sentenced Defendant on the conviction for second-degree murder. We find no prejudicial error.
During the afternoon of 21 June 2013, Jose Munoz ("Munoz") was driving on University Drive in Elon. He observed a green Jeep vehicle pass him in a no-passing zone at a high rate of speed. Munoz depressed his brake pedal to allow the green Jeep "to get in [his lane] and not hit" oncoming traffic. When Munoz arrived at the intersection of Manning Drive and University Drive, he observed the green Jeep had collided with a 2003 white Chevrolet Impala vehicle, which had attempted to make a left turn. Munoz also observed Defendant seated in the driver's seat of the green Jeep with blood on his face and Veocia Warren ("Warren") apparently deceased seated inside the white Chevrolet.
Burlington Police Officer Michael Giroux ("Lt. Giroux") was the first responder to arrive on the scene. Giroux also serves as a part-time volunteer lieutenant with the Elon Fire and Rescue Department. Lt. Giroux observed "an approximately [seventy] year old black female in the driver's seat [of the white Impala vehicle] with her face covered with blood who was unresponsive and did not appear to be breathing."
John Cuthriell ("Cuthriell") of the Alamance County Rescue Department also arrived on the accident scene. Cuthriell observed "significant amounts of trauma to [Warren]." "There was blood visible and the head was essentially cocked at an angle that [he] did not believe that the patient's condition to be sustainable of life."
Both Cuthriell and Lt. Giroux checked Warren and were unable to detect a pulse in her carotid artery by feel or by using an oximeter
used a heart monitor to check for electrical activity in her heart. After they were unable to find an electrical rhythm, Warren was pronounced dead at the scene.
Warren sustained multiple abrasions and lacerations to her head, her upper body and her lower extremities, a possible broken neck, and a fracture to her left arm. Her cause of death was listed as multiple blunt force trauma.
Elon Assistant Fire Chief Charles Walker ("Asst. Chief Walker") arrived on the scene and began assisting Defendant. Asst. Chief Walker observed Defendant, while he was still restrained in the driver's seat of the green Jeep. Defendant was observed to be "in and out" of consciousness. Defendant was removed from his vehicle, placed on a backboard, and transported by ambulance to Moses Cone Hospital ("Hospital") in Greensboro.
After finishing his investigation at the accident scene, Elon Police Lieutenant Jim Giannotti ("Lt. Giannotti") went to the Hospital to speak with Defendant. Upon arrival, he was informed Defendant had already been released from the Hospital. Lt. Giannotti contacted Defendant at his girlfriend's house later that day.
Defendant was described as "really, really upset" and crying when he learned of Warren's death. Defendant stated he remembered seeing the white car as she approached his vehicle, and Defendant further stated he was going "the speed limit or a little over" at the time of the crash.
Lt. Giannotti observed Defendant "didn't seem impaired" but noted "he just seemed different." In his accident report, Lt. Giannotti determined that Warren's vehicle was in Defendant's right-of-way or "in his path of travel" at the time of the collision.
Investigators sought and obtained a court order for release of Defendant's medical records from the Hospital. Lt. Giannotti obtained the order from the Elon Police Department. Five days after the accident Lt. Giannotti returned to the Hospital to determine whether Defendant's blood had been drawn and tested. The Hospital confirmed that Defendant's blood was drawn shortly after his arrival in the emergency department.
In addition to the blood tests and results for the purposes of diagnosing Defendant's injuries incurred in the accident, the Hospital produced three vials of blood. The Hospital did not conduct any toxicology tests on Defendant's blood. Each vial was labeled with Defendant's name (Scott, William) and Medical Record Number: (MRN: 030043599). All three vials were closed, two of them with a red snap and one vial was closed with a purple top, to signify the vial contained an anti-coagulate, but no preservatives.
Lt. Giannotti received the three vials from the Hospital and drove them to the State Bureau of Investigation ("SBI") laboratory in Raleigh. The SBI's laboratory test results showed Defendant's blood alcohol concentration was .22 grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood.
North Carolina Highway Patrol Sergeant Stephen Myers ("Sgt. Myers") was dispatched to the scene of the crash as a member of the Accident Reconstruction Unit. The posted speed limit at the intersection of University Drive and Manning Drive was forty-five miles per hour.
Sgt. Myers utilized a data retrieval tool to download information from the computer of Defendant's vehicle. The data Sgt. Myers retrieved indicated the Jeep's speed five seconds prior to the crash was seventy-eight miles per hour with a fifty-three percent accelerator pedal and a forty-seven percent engine throttle. The data also indicated that a tenth of a second before impact, Defendant's green Jeep was traveling at seventy-three miles per hour, with zero percent accelerator pedal, and the brake pedal was depressed.
Two months after the crash, Elon Police Lieutenant Kelly Blackwelder and Detective Brian Roof conducted a follow-up interview with Defendant at his home in Burlington. Defendant stated that on the day of the crash he visited several construction sites, traveled back to his house to retrieve a tool, and to a pharmacy to buy some ear drops. Defendant further stated he was "maybe going 58, maybe 60 miles per hour" at the time of the crash and that he was
Defendant stated he had seen Warren's Impala in the roadway on Manning Avenue but noted "it happened so quickly." Defendant thought Warren had probably run a stop sign. The last thing Defendant recalled from the incident was slamming on his brakes and trying to stop his car to avoid Warren's vehicle in his lane of travel. Defendant denied consuming alcohol or medication prior to the crash.
Defendant was indicted for second-degree murder, felony death by vehicle, and misdemeanor death by vehicle on 3 September 2013. On 13 April 2018, Defendant filed a motion to suppress and memorandum of law seeking to exclude the results of the blood samples obtained from the Hospital. The same day, Defendant also filed a motion in limine and memorandum of law seeking to exclude the same blood evidence. Defendant's motion to suppress was heard on 6 July 2018 and denied by order on 16 July 2018. On 16 July 2018 the State dismissed the misdemeanor death by vehicle charge. Defendant's trial began 17 July 2018.
The jury's verdict found Defendant was guilty of second-degree murder and felony death by vehicle. The trial court sentenced Defendant in the mitigated range to an active term of 120-156 months and arrested judgment on the conviction for felony death by vehicle. Defendant gave written notice of appeal.
This Court possesses jurisdiction pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 7A-27(b) and 15A-1444(a) (2017).
Defendant argues the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress blood evidence obtained pursuant to a court order.
Our review of a trial court's denial of a motion to suppress is "strictly limited to determining whether the trial judge's underlying findings of fact are supported by competent evidence, in which event they are conclusively binding on appeal, and whether those factual findings in turn support the judge's ultimate conclusions of law." State v. Cooke , 306 N.C. 132, 134, 291 S.E.2d 618, 619 (1982). "The trial court's conclusions of law ... are fully reviewable on appeal." State v. Hughes , 353 N.C. 200, 208, 539 S.E.2d 625, 631 (2000).
Defendant asserts the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress blood evidence was error. He argues the court order authorizing blood evidence to be collected and tested was insufficient under the statutes.
The trial court issued its order requiring the Hospital to release Defendant's medical records under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 8-53 (2017), which provides:
No person, duly authorized to practice physic or surgery, shall be required to disclose any information which he may have acquired in attending a patient in a professional character, and which information was necessary to enable him to prescribe for such patient as a physician, or to do any act for him as a surgeon, and no such information shall be considered public records under G.S. 132-1. Confidential information obtained in medical records shall be furnished only on the authorization of the patient, or if deceased, the executor, administrator, or, in the case of unadministered estates, the next of kin. Any resident or presiding judge in the district, either at the trial or prior thereto, or the Industrial Commission pursuant to law may, subject to G.S. 8-53.6, compel disclosure if in his opinion disclosure is necessary to a proper administration of justice. If the case is in district...
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State v. Scott
...that the trial court erred by denying defendant's motion to suppress and by not excluding the blood test results. State v. Scott , 269 N.C. App. 457, 465, 838 S.E.2d 676 (2020). The Court of Appeals’ decision stated in pertinent part:Here, no allegation or indication of Defendant's purporte......
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State v. Scott
...of the United States. This Court unanimously agreed Defendant's constitutional rights were violated. State v. Scott , 269 N.C. App. 457, 465, 838 S.E.2d 676, 681 (2020), rev'd , 377 N.C. 199, 2021-NCSC-41, 856 S.E.2d 507 (2021). See U.S. Const. amend. IV ; State v. Welch, 316 N.C. 578, 587,......
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State v. Scott
...A divided panel of this Court found no prejudicial error in defendant's conviction by opinion filed 21 January 2020. State v. Scott, 269 N.C. App. 457, 838 S.E.2d 676 (2020). By opinion filed 16 April 2021, the Supreme Court of North Carolina remanded to this Court "to apply the proper stan......