State v. Williams

• Decision Date: 12 August 1986
• Docket Number: No. 175A85,175A85
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Larry Darnell WILLIAMS.

Page 405

346 S.E.2d 405

317 N.C. 474

STATE of North Carolina v. Larry Darnell WILLIAMS.

No. 175A85.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Aug. 12, 1986.

Lacy H. Thornburg, Atty. Gen. by Joan H. Byers and Jane P. Gray, Sp. Deputy Attys. Gen., Raleigh, for the State.

Ann B. Petersen, Chapel Hill, for defendant-appellant.

MEYER, Justice.

Facts pertinent to the guilt-innocence determination phase of the trial are fully discussed in the opinion reported at 304 N.C. 394, 284 S.E.2d 437 (hereinafter referred to as Williams I ). As the issues raised on this appeal relate only to the resentencing, we deem it unnecessary to repeat those facts brought out at the guilt-innocence determination phase of the trial.

The State presented evidence at the resentencing hearing which tended to show that Susan Verle Pierce was employed as a clerk at the Seven-Eleven convenience store located at 807 Church Street in Concord, North Carolina. Ms. Pierce was seen alive by a customer shortly after 6:00 a.m. on 3 June 1979. Upon returning to the store approximately twenty minutes later, the same customer discovered Pierce's bloodstained body lying on the floor. Emergency medical personnel, law enforcement officers, and the store manager subsequently arrived at the scene. An examination ascertained that Pierce was dead. Police observed that a cabinet safe was open and the cover to a floor safe had been removed. The store manager conducted an inventory and determined that $67.27 was missing from the store. The store manager also testified that when a store employee made a roll of coins, the employee would write his name on the roll.

Dr. John Butts, Associate Chief Medical Examiner for the State of North Carolina, performed an autopsy on the body of Ms. Pierce on 3 June 1979. He testified that, in his opinion, Ms. Pierce died as a result of a shotgun wound to the base of the neck which resulted in the perforation of her carotid arteries. Dr. Butts further testified that Ms. Pierce would have died within a minute or two of the shotgun blast. Dr. Butts also opined that the shotgun muzzle was probably within five to six feet from Ms. Pierce when the shot was fired and that it was certainly within the broader range of from three to nine feet when the shot was fired.

The State also presented evidence tending to show that in the spring of 1979, the defendant lived in an apartment with his girlfriend, Linda Massey; her two children; Linda's sister, Annie Brawley; and Brawley's fourteen-year-old son, Darrell. On 4 June 1979, Darrell Brawley was taken into custody on a charge of operating a motor vehicle without an operator's license. At some point, Brawley informed the police that he had information concerning recent shootings which had occurred in Gaston County and Concord. Subsequently, Brawley made statements to the police implicating the defendant in these shootings, and he agreed to testify against the defendant. Brawley's statements concerned four incidents--one in which the possibility of a robbery was foiled by the presence of police officers, one in which the possibility of a larceny of a firearm was abandoned, and two completed armed robberies with a death resulting from each.

Brawley testified that on the evening of 2 June 1979, the defendant, Linda Massey, and he drove to the Freekie Deekie Club in a neighbor's Oldsmobile Delta 88. At some point, the defendant and Massey took some pills and drank beer. They subsequently left the Freekie Deekie Club and drove to a house on Pitts Drive and picked up a man who was introduced to Brawley as Danny Brown. They then returned to the Freekie Deekie Club, staying approximately ten minutes. As they prepared to leave, Brawley stated to the defendant, "Let's go make some money in Gastonia or Concord." The defendant proceeded to load a sawed-off .20-gauge, single-shot shotgun, and they drove off.

Brawley stated that he then went to sleep and did not awaken until they pulled into a service station. Massey and he went into the station to look around, and when they returned, Massey told the defendant that "the lick is sweet." However, the defendant noticed approximately five state troopers parked at an abandoned service station across the road and therefore drove off. They soon stopped at a roadside cafe. The defendant saw a truck parked outside the cafe; there was a rifle on a rack in the back window of the truck. The defendant remarked that he wanted the rifle. However, the owner of the truck soon came out and moved the truck in front of the cafe window. The defendant and the others then drove off.

Brawley again dozed off. When he awoke, they were stopped at another service station. The defendant and Brown got out of the car and went into the station. The defendant was carrying the shotgun. Brown knocked the attendant to the floor and proceeded to take money from the cash register while the defendant pointed the shotgun at the attendant. Brawley testified that as Brown was running out of the station, he heard a loud "boom" emanating from the station. The defendant then grabbed the money, ran to the car, and they drove off. ¹

Once again, Brawley fell asleep. He was awakened by a loud "boom" and discovered that they had stopped. He saw Brown and the defendant running out of a store. They drove off as soon as Brown and the defendant got in the car. Brawley asked the defendant if he was going to share with him any of the money that had been taken from the store. The defendant responded that since Brawley had not done any of the "work," he was not going to get any "pay." Brawley identified the Seven-Eleven store where Susan Pierce was shot as the one the group had been to on the morning of 3 June 1979. Brawley also stated that he had entered into a plea agreement with the State under which he was allowed to plead guilty to being an accessory after the fact to murder. He was sentenced to a ten-year term of imprisonment for that offense.

Linda Massey testified that she also entered into a plea agreement whereby she was allowed to plead guilty to being an accessory after the fact to murder and that she received a ten-year sentence. Massey testified to facts which were essentially the same as those testified to by Brawley. Additionally, she was able to give a more detailed recitation of the events which occurred at the Seven-Eleven store where Ms. Pierce was shot. She testified that after they stopped at the Seven-Eleven, the defendant went inside the store carrying the shotgun. The other man went in also. Massey was able to see a heavy-set white lady wearing a red or orange jacket in the store. Massey stated that when the defendant went into the store, she closed her eyes and prayed. Subsequently, she heard a loud noise coming from the store and she opened her eyes. At that time, she saw the lady grab her chest. The defendant and the other man then ran out of the store and got in the car. The group proceeded to drive away. Later that day, the defendant gave Massey some dollar bills and several rolls of quarters. Massey used this money to make a car payment on 4 June 1979. Evidence was introduced showing that these rolls of quarters had the victim's name, "Susan Verle," written on them.

The State also offered the testimony of Robert Kindley, who testified that at approximately 6:10 a.m. on 3 June 1979, he and his wife passed the Seven-Eleven store on Church Street in Concord. Kindley stated that he saw a black male sitting on the passenger seat of an automobile in the store's parking lot. The man appeared to be tying his shoes.

Evidence was also presented tending to show that one of the defendant's fingerprints was found on the inside of the rear passenger window of the Oldsmobile allegedly used by the group at the time in question.

The defendant did not testify at the sentencing hearing. However, a former employer testified that the defendant had been a good worker. Also, a Charlotte attorney testified that he had represented the defendant in a personal injury action and that he had found him to be likable and cooperative. The parties stipulated that the defendant had an IQ of 69.

Based upon the evidence introduced during the sentencing phase of the trial, the trial court instructed the jury on two possible aggravating circumstances: (1) whether the murder was committed for pecuniary gain, and (2) whether the murder was part of a course of conduct in which the defendant engaged which included the commission of other crimes of violence against other persons. The trial court also instructed the jury on four possible mitigating circumstances: (1) whether the defendant was gainfully employed when the offense occurred, (2) whether the defendant had an intelligence quotient of 69, (3) whether the defendant conducted himself in a normal business manner with his attorney in his personal injury case, and (4) whether the defendant was twenty-four years old at the time of the offense. The jury was also instructed as to the statutory "catchall" mitigating circumstance--N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(f)(9). The jury found both of the aggravating factors and each of the mitigating factors which were submitted. The jury found as an additional mitigating circumstance that the credibility of the prosecution's two star witnesses was questionable. The jury went on to find that the mitigating circumstances were insufficient to outweigh the aggravating circumstances and that the aggravating circumstances were sufficiently substantial to call for the imposition of the death penalty when considered with the mitigating circumstances found. We do not here address the correctness of the mitigating factors submitted to and found by the jury. The jury returned a recommendation that the defendant be sentenced to death. Following the recommendation, the trial court entered judgment sentencing the defendant to death.

The defendant presents a number of assignments of error. The dispositive assignment of error, however, concerns...