State v. Smith

• Decision Date: 02 September 2003
• Docket Number: No. COA02-945.,COA02-945.
• Citation: 584 S.E.2d 830,160 NC App. 107
• Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Ronald Lee SMITH.

584 S.E.2d 830

160 NC App. 107

STATE of North Carolina v. Ronald Lee SMITH.

No. COA02-945.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

September 2, 2003.

Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General Allison S. Corum, for the State.

Parish & Cooke, by James R. Parish, Fayetteville, for defendant-appellant.

EAGLES, Chief Judge.

Defendant, Ronald Lee Smith, appeals from multiple convictions arising out of a series of events which included felonious breaking and entering and the kidnapping and robbery of Frank and Teri Little. The State's evidence tended to establish the following: On 23 March 2001, Frank and Teri Little left their home located at 4502 Briargrove Court in Greensboro, North Carolina at approximately 12:00 p.m. Frank Little went to meet a client for lunch. Teri Little went for a walk in an adjacent neighborhood. At approximately 1:10 p.m., Teri returned home alone. Teri parked her car in the driveway, entering the house by walking through the garage and into the kitchen. Once inside the door, Teri immediately noticed defendant, who was standing partially inside the sliding glass door located on the opposite side of the kitchen. When Teri asked defendant what he was doing in the house, defendant, a door-to-door sales representative for Omega Meats, mumbled that he was in the "wrong place." Defendant then said he was "with" someone else and began pointing outside. When Teri looked outside to see who defendant was referring to, defendant grabbed her, "swung [her] around," and handcuffed her hands behind her back. Defendant then demanded Teri's money and purse. After Teri told defendant that she left her purse under the seat of her car, defendant led Teri into the master bedroom where he blindfolded her with a pair of sweat pants. Defendant then led Teri back into the kitchen, pushed her to the floor and instructed her not to move. Defendant left the house and went outside to retrieve Teri's purse. Defendant returned a few moments later, led Teri back into the master bedroom and removed the blindfold. Defendant emptied the contents of Teri's purse on the bed, removed both cash and credit cards and demanded the personal identification numbers for each credit card.

Frank Little returned at approximately 1:25 p.m. As Frank pulled into the driveway, he noticed a white truck parked with its engine running, in his next-door neighbor's driveway. The truck had a meat freezer in the back and was sitting approximately five yards away from the sliding glass door that led into the Littles' kitchen. As Frank went into the house, he called for Teri, walked toward the bedroom and called for her again. This time, both defendant and Teri appeared in the hallway. Teri's hands were still bound behind her back and defendant was standing behind her. When Teri tried to warn Frank of defendant's presence in the house, defendant punched Teri in the face, causing her eye to bleed. Defendant ordered Frank to his knees and then ordered Frank into the bedroom. When Frank failed to respond, defendant "reached into his left pocket" and said, "I'll shoot you both right here right now." After this, Frank complied with defendant's instructions.

Defendant ordered both Frank and Teri to lie face down on the bedroom floor. Defendant tied Frank's hands behind his back with a piece of nylon cord, took Frank's wallet and again demanded money. After Frank explained that he and Teri did not keep a lot of cash in the house, Frank directed defendant to a jewelry box where he kept a small amount of cash. Defendant took the money from the jewelry box. Defendant then covered Frank's head with a plastic shopping bag and tied it so that Frank was unable to breathe. When Teri saw Frank struggling to breathe, she began screaming: "You're killing him. You're killing him." Defendant turned to Teri and asked: "Do you want to do something about it?" Teri replied: "Yes." Defendant ordered Teri to "[g]et up," "[p]ull [her] pants down" and "bend over." Although Teri complied, once defendant discovered that Teri was menstruating, defendant abandoned any further attempt to have sexual intercourse with her. During this time, however, Frank managed to free himself from his restraints and tear the bag off his head. Frank also found a knife lying in the bedroom.

Frank picked up the knife, stood up and tried to assist Teri. Defendant attacked Frank and the two men began wrestling for control of the knife. The altercation spilled into the hallway where defendant broke an empty wine bottle over Frank's head. As the struggle continued, defendant hit Frank twice in the head with a brass lamp. Defendant then picked up a heavy "glass vase" and "started pounding Frank in the back of the head." Teri began kicking defendant and begging him to stop, but defendant continued hitting Frank with the vase. Ultimately, Frank instructed Teri to "run." Teri, handcuffed and naked from the waist down, ran to a neighbor's house and called police. Shortly thereafter, defendant fled in the truck that was parked outside the sliding glass door. Frank required thirty-six surgical staples to close the wounds in the back of his head. Teri received stitches over her right eye as well as treatment for a broken finger that she sustained while being handcuffed.

After Frank and Teri identified defendant from a photo array, Greensboro police began surveillance on defendant's home. At approximately 9:00 p.m., defendant drove up to a house located three doors down from defendant's house. Defendant was driving a dark colored Dodge Neon and was followed by a woman who was driving defendant's truck. After stopping in front of the house, defendant got out of the Neon, walked back to the truck and sat in the truck's passenger seat. When police converged on the two vehicles, defendant escaped by fleeing into the woods on foot. Upon searching the Dodge Neon, police discovered a 9 millimeter pistol lying in the front passenger's seat. Defendant was arrested several days later, near his mother's home in White Plains, New York.

On 7 May 2001, while defendant was being held in the Guilford County Jail, Detective Timothy Sizemore of the Greensboro Police Department served defendant with an "order to hold without bond" from the Conover Police Department. While the two men were in the holding area of the magistrates's office, defendant began "questioning" Detective Sizemore about whether defendant's mother would be arrested as an accessory after the fact. When Detective Sizemore answered affirmatively, defendant became "extremely irate" and said: "Look, man, my mom is innocent. Just because I attacked two innocent people in Greensboro doesn't mean you have to charge innocent people." Defendant had not been advised of his Miranda warnings prior to making this statement.

On 17 July 2001, defendant's probation, which stemmed from a 16 September 2000 conviction for possession of a firearm by a felon, was revoked. Consequently, the suspended portion of defendant's sentence was activated and defendant began serving a sentence of 16 to 20 months in the North Carolina Department of Correction. On 16 January 2002, the second day of defendant's trial, defendant attempted to escape from the Guilford County Jail.

Defendant testified in his own defense that he went to the home of Frank and Teri Little on 23 March 2001 in an attempt to sell meat. Defendant testified that he knocked on the door and spoke to Teri Little, who told defendant that her husband was not home and that she did not make decisions without her husband. Teri instructed defendant to come back in twenty to thirty minutes. Defendant left and returned as instructed. This time, defendant spoke to Frank Little. When Frank refused to buy any meat, defendant hit Frank with his fist and a physical altercation followed. Defendant admitted hitting both Frank and Teri Little before leaving their residence, but denied all other alleged misconduct.

Defendant was convicted of: (1) first-degree kidnapping of Frank Little; (2) seconddegree kidnapping of Teri Little; (3) assaulting Frank Little with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury; (4) common law robbery of Teri Little; (5) common law robbery of Frank Little; (6) felonious breaking or entering; and (7) possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. After the jury returned its verdict, the State presented a bill of indictment alleging one count of committing a felony after having attained habitual felon status and a bill of information alleging one count of attempted felonious escape and one count of committing a felony after having attained habitual felon status. Defendant pled guilty to all three remaining charges and now appeals.

I.

Defendant first contends that the trial court erred by denying the motion to suppress his 7 May 2001 statement to Detective Sizemore. Defendant argues that because Detective Sizemore should have known that his comments concerning potential charges against defendant's mother were reasonably likely to illicit an incriminating response, defendant was "interrogated" within the meaning of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Defendant further argues that because Detective Sizemore never advised him of his Miranda warnings, his statement was taken in violation of Miranda and inadmissible at trial. We disagree.

We first note that "[i]n superior court, the defendant may move to suppress evidence only prior to trial unless the defendant did not have reasonable opportunity to make the motion before trial or unless a motion to suppress is allowed during trial under [G.S. § 15A-975](b) or (c)." G.S. § 15A-975(a). Here, defendant did not move to suppress his statement prior to trial; rather, defendant only objected during trial and he objected only generally to the admission of the testimony. Notwithstanding defendant's apparent failure to comply with G.S. § 15A-975, the trial court conducted an evidentiary hearing...