State v. Ward, 68A99.

• Decision Date: 09 November 2001
• Docket Number: No. 68A99.,68A99.
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Michael Lemark WARD.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

555 S.E.2d 251

354 N.C. 231

STATE of North Carolina v. Michael Lemark WARD.

No. 68A99.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

November 9, 2001.

Roy A. Cooper, Attorney General, by David Roy Blackwell, Special Deputy Attorney General, for the State.

Elizabeth G. McCrodden, Raleigh, for defendant-appellant.

BUTTERFIELD, Justice.

Defendant Michael Lemark Ward was indicted on 21 January 1997 for first-degree murder of Patricia Smith King; conspiracy to commit first-degree murder; robbery with a dangerous weapon; felonious breaking and entering; felonious larceny; felonious possession of stolen goods; and conspiracy to commit breaking, entering, and larceny. Following a capital trial, the jury found defendant guilty of first-degree murder under the theory of felony murder. The jury also convicted defendant of conspiracy to commit murder; robbery with a dangerous weapon; felonious breaking or entering; felonious larceny; felonious possession of stolen goods; and felonious conspiracy to commit breaking or entering and larceny.

In a separate capital sentencing proceeding conducted pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000, the jury found as aggravating circumstances that the murder was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest, N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(e)(4) (1999); that the murder was committed for pecuniary gain, N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(e)(6); and that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(e)(9). In mitigation, the jury found the existence of one of the four statutory mitigating circumstances submitted: that defendant committed the offense while under the influence of a mental or emotional disturbance, N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(f)(2). One or more jurors also found to exist ten of the nineteen nonstatutory mitigating circumstances submitted. The jury recommended and the trial court imposed a sentence of death for the conviction of first-degree murder. Additionally, the trial court sentenced defendant to terms of imprisonment for his convictions for conspiracy to commit breaking, entering, and larceny; conspiracy to commit murder; felonious breaking and entering; and felonious larceny. The trial court arrested judgment on defendant's convictions for felonious possession of stolen goods and robbery with a dangerous weapon.

For the reasons hereinafter discussed, we discern no prejudicial error in the guilt-innocence phase of the trial. Accordingly, we uphold defendant's conviction of first-degree murder. However, for errors committed during the sentencing proceeding, we remand for a new capital sentencing proceeding.

At trial, the State presented evidence tending to show that the victim, Patricia Smith King, suffered a brutal beating and sustained a fatal shotgun wound to the chest while in her home on the morning of 18 December 1996. The primary witnesses for the State were codefendants Edward Kenta Settles and Craig McKee Williams, who testified pursuant to plea arrangements. Settles testified that he came to know the King family through his girlfriend, Sharon Brown. According to Settles, Brown performed housekeeping work for the victim, and he periodically helped Brown with her duties. He stated that on one such occasion, while they were cleaning windows in an upstairs bedroom of the King home, he stole some money, and Brown stole several of the victim's checks. Brown subsequently forged the checks and was arrested when the Kings learned of her activities. At the time of the murder, the charges against Brown were still pending.

Settles further testified that he telephoned defendant on 17 December 1996 about a plan he had devised to steal money and guns from the King residence. Defendant told Settles that he was interested and later recruited the participation of his friend, Craig Williams.

The following morning, defendant and Williams met Settles and Roshene Mills at Settles' apartment. Defendant then drove the four men toward the King house. He parked the car—a blue Honda Accord belonging to his wife, Felicia—in a field beyond the house and tied a white rag on the passenger's door to give the impression that the car had stalled. The four men then walked along a wooded trail to a pond situated on the King property. From that locale, they had a clear view of the house and saw that the victim's car was parked at the front entrance. Settles, who insisted on remaining out of sight, told defendant and Williams to go to the door to determine whether the victim was at home. They did, and when the victim answered the door, they asked her for permission to fish in the pond, which she gave them. Defendant and Williams thanked her and returned to the pond, where Settles and Mills were waiting.

Their plan thwarted by the victim's presence, the four men started back toward the car. Williams, not ready to abandon the idea, made a comment to the effect that "there was no need for [them] to come down here to high society for nothing." In light of this remark, the participants revised their plan. Williams testified that he and defendant were supposed to "break in and rob [King], knock her down or out, tie her up and open the backdoor for [Settles] and [Mills] so they could come in." Once all four men were inside, they were going to comb through the premises for items of value. Settles, however, expressed continued concerns about being identified by the victim. In response, defendant suggested, "a dead person can't talk." Taking the initiative, Williams stated, "I'd kill her, I'd kill her."

Defendant and Williams returned to the house, again leaving Settles and Mills waiting by the pond. When the victim answered the door this time, Williams said that they needed a bucket for their catch. As the victim was directing them to where they could find such a bucket, Williams kicked in the door. He then knocked the victim to the floor and hit her several times with the vacuum cleaner that stood next to the door. Defendant had also entered the house, and he too began pummeling the victim with a nearby piano stool. Defendant struck the victim with such force that the legs of the stool broke away from the seat bottom. He then picked up one of the legs and resumed his attack by striking the victim repeatedly on the head. Williams testified that when he left the room to search for valuables, defendant was still attacking the victim. Williams stated that the victim fiercely fought for her life and that she struggled with her attacker as he bludgeoned her with the wooden leg. Williams said that he then went to the kitchen to get a knife, which he intended to give defendant "to do whatever [he had] to do" to take the victim's life. As he was returning to the front room with the knife, however, he heard two shotgun blasts. He dropped the knife and ran back into the front room, where he observed defendant standing over the victim with a double-barreled shotgun taken from the Kings' gun case. According to Williams, the victim was lying on the floor moaning and moving around.

Shortly thereafter, defendant and Williams fled the house carrying three guns that belonged to the Kings—the murder weapon, a single-barreled shotgun, and a .22-caliber rifle. The two men also absconded with the victim's purse and a few Christmas presents. When they reached the car, they discovered that Settles and Mills were gone. Settles testified that when he and Mills heard the victim's high-pitched screams, they ran all the way back to his home.

Defendant and Williams piled their loot into the car and drove toward Warrenton. Along the way, they hid the guns under an abandoned sofa off the highway. Williams threw the Christmas presents out the window after discovering that they contained only kitchenware. He then removed the wallet and money from the victim's purse and discarded it as well.

Luke King, age seventeen, and his brother, Robbie, age thirteen, left Halifax Christian Academy at or near 12:00 noon on Wednesday, 18 December 1996, to begin their Christmas break. They arrived home at approximately 12:30 p.m. and saw that the front screen door was detached from the structure, lying a couple of feet away from the entrance. Luke and Robbie also noticed that one of the glass panes in the front door was broken and that the bottom of the door was smeared and spattered with blood. When Luke opened the door, he saw the vacuum cleaner and piano stool lying near the entrance. Both items, he testified, were "busted up really good." He stated that he pushed the door open a little further and discovered his mother, Patricia Smith King, lying on the floor in a pool of blood. He said, "there was blood everywhere." He then dialed 9-1-1 while Robbie attempted to perform CPR on his mother. At the instruction of the 9-1-1 operator, Robbie rolled his mother onto her right side and saw a large gaping wound just under her left armpit that exposed her internal organs. After several futile attempts to revive his mother, Robbie covered her lifeless body with a blanket and waited for help to arrive.

Dr. Susan Phillips, a forensic pathologist at Nash General Hospital, performed an autopsy of the victim's body. The autopsy revealed that the victim had sustained "multiple lacerations over the top of the scalp that extended to the calvarium with avulsion of the scalp." Simply put, "there were lacerations on the skin of the scalp that extended all the way to the surface of the bone," and "[t]he injuries had caused the scalp to be detached from the skull." Dr. Phillips concluded that the victim's head injuries were caused by a blunt-type instrument.

The autopsy further disclosed multiple lacerations, bruises, and contusions on the victim's left shoulder, right and left lower arms, left thigh, and left breast. Her right little finger was lacerated to the bone, and her left wrist was broken. A shotgun entrance wound, 6.5 centimeters in diameter, was noted along the left lateral chest. The internal examination revealed that the shotgun projectile...