State v. Tate
| Decision Date | 04 November 1936 |
| Docket Number | 291. |
| Citation | 188 S.E. 91,210 N.C. 613 |
| Parties | STATE v. TATE. |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Appeal from Superior Court, Pitt County; J. Paul Frizzelle, Judge.
Willie Tate was convicted of murder, and he appeals.
No error.
Evidence that witness told sheriff outside presence of defendant that defendant was man who murdered her companion and assaulted her held admissible to corroborate her testimony identifying defendant at trial.
This is a criminal action in which the defendant, Willie Tate, was tried on an indictment for the murder of Alexander Warren.
There was a verdict that the defendant is guilty of murder in the first degree.
From judgment that he suffer death by means of asphyxiation, as prescribed by statute, the defendant appealed to the Supreme Court, assigning errors in the trial.
S. O Worthington, of Greenville, for appellant.
A. A F. Seawell, Atty. Gen., and Harry McMullan, Asst. Atty. Gen for the State.
At the trial of this action, the evidence showed that at about 11 o'clock on the night of February 28, 1936, as he sat in his automobile which was parked on a public road near the city of Greenville, in Pitt county, N. C., Alexander Warren was shot and killed by a man who had suddenly opened the right-hand door of his automobile, and after shooting the deceased, had assaulted a young woman, who was sitting beside him at the time he was shot, with intent to commit rape.
Miss Helen Phelps, a witness for the state, testified as follows "I live in Greenville and am nineteen years of age. I knew Alexander Warren. He and I were engaged to be married to each other.
I saw him on the night of February 28, 1936. Caswell Brown and Miss Margaret Hardy came to my home at about 8:30 o'clock that night. I went with them to Dal Coxe's Filling Station, where we met Alexander Warren. We rode around together in an automobile until about 10:30 o'clock, when Caswell Brown and Miss Hardy left us. Alex and I then drove in his automobile out on the road leading from the Falkland Highway to the Fair Grounds. He parked his automobile on this road, and turned on the radio. I was sitting beside him, on his right. As he was dialing the radio, the right-hand door of the automobile was opened suddenly, and a man put his arm around my shoulder. As he did so, I cried out, and Alex started to rise from under the wheel. At that moment, a pistol was fired. The man then dragged me from the automobile, and assaulted me. He did not succeed in his attempt to rape me. I attempted to escape from him, and he kept saying to me, An automobile drove up, while he was attempting to rape me, and he ran off. I returned to the automobile, and found Alex unconscious. I did not know that he was dead. I got into the automobile and pushed Alex from under the wheel. I then drove to Dal Coxe's filling station. I there discovered that Alex was bleeding. Some one took me first to the Sheriff's office, and then to the hospital. I showed the Sheriff the scratches and bruises on my person and told him what had occurred.
Several days after that night, at his request, I went to the Sheriff's office. When I got there he told me to stand outside the door. The door was cracked. As I stood there I heard the voices of two persons who were talking in the office. I recognized the voice of one of these persons as the voice of the man who had shot Alexander Warren and assaulted me on the night of February 28, 1936, and so informed the Sheriff. It was the voice of the defendant. I then saw the defendant and identified him by his voice and by his physique as the man who shot Alexander Warren and assaulted me. I am positive that the defendant is the man."
S. A. Whitehurst, sheriff of Pitt county, a witness for the state, testified as follows:
"I was called about 11:40 o'clock on the night of February 28, 1936. I went to the door and found Miss Phelps and some gentlemen in an automobile near the jail. She was very nervous. She told me that she had been assaulted. I went to Dal Coxe's filling station, and there found the dead body of Alexander Warren. He had been shot in the right shoulder. The pistol ball had cut the artery above his heart, and had lodged in his ribs. I turned the body over to the undertaker, and went back to the hospital, where I talked with Miss Phelps. I then went to the place where she said she had been assaulted. I found where an automobile had been parked on the road. I saw tracks of a man and a woman leading from the place where the automobile had been parked for a distance of about 126 yards. There were signs of a struggle along the path made by the tracks. I found articles of underclothing which appeared to have been torn from the person of a woman. When I saw Miss Phelps in the automobile that night at the jail, there were scratches and bruises on her person. Her clothing had been torn.
A few days later-within a week-I arrested the defendant, Willie Tate, in Greenville, and took him to my office. I sent for Miss Phelps. When she came to my office, I requested her to stand outside the office near a door which was cracked or partly opened. While she stood there, I questioned the defendant and another man in my office. The defendant denied any knowledge of the crime. After she had heard his voice through the door, Miss Phelps told me that she recognized his voice as the voice of the man who had shot Alexander Warren and assaulted her on the night of February 28, 1936. She said, 'Sheriff, that's the man.' I said 'Let's be sure.' She replied, 'I am positive.' She was then taken...
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