State v. White

• Decision Date: 25 June 1992
• Docket Number: No. 468A90,468A90
• Citation: 331 N.C. 604,419 S.E.2d 557
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Clifton Allen WHITE.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 557

419 S.E.2d 557

331 N.C. 604

STATE of North Carolina v. Clifton Allen WHITE.

No. 468A90.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

June 25, 1992.

Lacy H. Thornburg, Atty. Gen. by Debra C. Graves, Asst. Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for State.

Thomas K. Maher, Chapel Hill, for defendant-appellant.

MEYER, Justice.

Defendant was indicted for the first-degree kidnapping and first-degree murder of Kimberly Ewing as well as second-degree burglary, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and larceny of an automobile. Defendant was tried capitally and was found guilty of first-degree murder on the theories of murder committed with premeditation and deliberation and murder perpetrated by lying in wait; the jury also found defendant guilty of first-degree kidnapping, second-degree burglary, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and felonious larceny of an automobile. Following a sentencing proceeding conducted pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000, the jury recommended a sentence of death for the first-degree murder conviction. In accordance with the jury's recommendation, the trial court sentenced defendant to death for the murder of Ewing and imposed consecutive sentences of imprisonment of forty years each for first-degree kidnapping, second-degree burglary, and robbery with a dangerous weapon, as well as a consecutive sentence of ten years' imprisonment for felonious larceny of an automobile.

The evidence presented at trial tended to show that defendant had known Ewing for two weeks before her death. They met through Wendy Gibson, Ewing's roommate, whom defendant had met at a bar around the same time. Defendant and Gibson became friends, and defendant often visited Gibson at Ewing's home. Ewing had seen defendant on three or four occasions during the two-week period.

On the evening of Friday, 5 May 1989, defendant was visiting Gibson at Ewing's home when Angela and Teddy Owens, friends of Ewing and Gibson, came to visit. They decided to go dancing, and Gibson unsuccessfully attempted to get off work. Defendant went with Ewing and the Owenses so that Ewing would have someone with whom to dance. While at a party late in the evening or early the next morning, Ewing became upset with defendant and accused him of giving some syringes to one of her friends who had a serious drug problem.

Around 3:00 a.m., defendant left the party and went to visit Gibson at the Waffle House where she worked. He explained to her that he had gotten into an argument with Ewing over the syringes. About an hour later, Ewing came to the Waffle House. Defendant and Ewing again began arguing but eventually stopped. When Gibson completed her work shift at 7:00 a.m., the three then left and went back to Ewing's house. Gibson and Ewing went to their respective bedrooms, and defendant slept on the couch.

Upon awakening at 11:00 a.m., Ewing told defendant to leave. Gibson testified at trial that Ewing and defendant talked and that Gibson thought that the argument had been resolved. Defendant apparently stayed at the house until defendant, Gibson, and Ewing left to go to a bar around 2:00 that afternoon. The three drank at several bars and returned to Ewing's home at 8:00 that evening.

Around 10:00 p.m., Ewing, Gibson, and defendant left the house in Ewing's car, with Ewing driving. At defendant's request, Ewing left defendant at a convenience store about two miles from the house. Ewing then drove Gibson to work at the Waffle House. Ewing left the Waffle House for about ten minutes, then returned to eat dinner. Ewing stayed at the Waffle House until 11:30 p.m. or 12:00 midnight, when she left to go home.

Sometime before 11:00 that evening, defendant took a taxi cab from the convenience store to the street where Ewing's house was located. Defendant, who had been drinking, told the cab driver that his wife had left him and had taken everything and that she was not home but that he would wait for her to "kick her ass" and kill her. Defendant then told the cab driver that he would take her VCR and obtain some cocaine to pay him for the cab fare. The cab driver declined defendant's offer and left.

Around 11:00 a.m. the next morning, Gibson returned home to find the house in disarray. She walked into Ewing's room where she found Ewing dead, naked and lying on the floor. Her head was covered in blood, and her hands were tied behind her back with an electrical cord. Ewing had been cut and stabbed in the neck and beaten over the head with a blunt object. Two brass fireplace tools lay on the floor above Ewing's head. Her legs were spread apart, and blood and excrement covered her legs. One investigating officer noticed a "white matter" around Ewing's vaginal area, and excrement was also found on Ewing's bed. Several items, including Ewing's car, a stereo, a television, a VCR, a microwave, and a paring knife, were missing from the house. The paring knife was later found, stained with blood matching Ewing's blood type, in the vicinity of Ewing's home.

Earlier, around 5:00 a.m. that same morning, defendant drove Ewing's car to a friend's house. In the car, defendant had a microwave, a stereo, some clothing, and jewelry. He explained to his friends that he had broken up with his girlfriend and had taken some of her belongings. Defendant traded the microwave and VCR for some cocaine, which he smoked, then left driving Ewing's car.

A few weeks after Ewing's death, defendant was arrested in Florida for breaking and entering. He told an officer, "I got something to tell you that's driving me crazy." In a tape-recorded interview, defendant then told the officers that he "got drunk ... and got messed up on some drugs," that he went to Ewing's house to wait for her, and that he "jumped on her and ... tied her hands behind her back and killed her." Defendant explained that he did not know what caused him to kill her, that he was "stoned" and "mad" and that his "mind just snapped."

Defendant later gave another statement to two Charlotte police officers. Defendant told the officers that he was angry and went to Ewing's house to "slap the girl," that the door was locked so he walked around the house and climbed in an open window. Defendant stated:

When she came in, I was standing in the living room and it startled her at first. And I grabbed her and ... I started cussing her out. I ... called her a sorry bitch for blaming everything on me, making me look like a fool in front of everybody and I was mad and drunk. And she kept telling me ... that she was sorry she done it and everything.

Then she started playing with my chest and messing with me and picking with me and I guess trying to calm me down....

According to defendant, Ewing took her clothes off and performed fellatio. Defendant began thinking about their prior argument, became angry, and told Ewing, "[p]ut your hands behind your back," "I'm just gonna tie your hands behind your back and beat your ass and I'm gonna leave." Defendant stated that he then tied Ewing's hands, got a shovel, and

popped [Ewing] in the back of the head with it.... [T]here was a knife on the dresser and I grabbed her knife and I come down. I know I cut her.

....

... I hit her and I come back again.... [S]he rolled back over ... [a]nd when she did that's when I stuck the knife in the back of her neck and she quit moving.

Throughout the trial, defense counsel proceeded on the theory that defendant did not lie in wait or act with premeditation and deliberation in the killing. Defendant admitted killing Ewing but maintained that he did so "in a frenzy and a passion and in a drug induced, alcohol induced, kind of furry [sic]" that came about when an argument erupted between defendant and Ewing. Defendant testified that he had been on a "cocaine binge" for three or four days prior to the weekend of Ewing's death and that he was "pretty wrecked" the night of the killing. He went to Ewing's house to make sure Ewing was not mad at him and to ask if he could sleep on her couch because he was drunk and did not think he could make it home. Defendant testified that he waited on the back porch for a period of time, then walked up a flight of stairs outside the house to Gibson's room and opened the door with a key Gibson had given him. Once inside, he walked downstairs to the living area, sat on the couch listening to music, smoked some marijuana, and began thinking about the argument he had with Ewing. Defendant stated that he became angry and decided to get even with Ewing by taking her television. Defendant had moved the television to the floor when Ewing walked in, and the two began to argue.

Defendant testified that he slapped Ewing, that they began hitting each other, and that he followed Ewing into her bedroom and they calmed down. According to defendant, Ewing changed into a robe and the two began talking. Defendant testified that Ewing performed fellatio, that they again talked, and that he killed Ewing when another argument erupted and Ewing swung and hit defendant in the head with a roller skate. Defendant testified, "And that's when I grabbed the knife. The knife was sitting right there on the night stand. And I grabbed the knife and I cut her." Defendant stated that he did not know if he "passed out or ... just blacked out or what," but everything after that point was a "blur." Defendant testified that he did not remember tying Ewing's hands, hitting her with any object, or taking and disposing of Ewing's belongings.

I.

Defendant assigns error to several rulings made by the trial court concerning evidence of prior bad acts allegedly committed by defendant. We agree with defendant that the trial court's rulings with regard to this evidence were erroneous in two respects. Although neither of the trial court's errors, when considered in isolation, might have been sufficiently prejudicial to warrant a new trial, we are of the opinion that cumulatively they are sufficiently prejudicial that we are unable to say that defendant received a fair...