State v. Williamson

• Decision Date: 18 December 1992
• Docket Number: No. 117A92,117A92
• Citation: 333 N.C. 128,423 S.E.2d 766
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Ervin WILLIAMSON.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 766

423 S.E.2d 766

333 N.C. 128

STATE of North Carolina v. Ervin WILLIAMSON.

No. 117A92.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Dec. 18, 1992.

Appeal as of right pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-27(a) from a judgment imposing a sentence of life imprisonment upon defendant's conviction of first-degree murder entered by Fullwood, J., at the 26 August 1991 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Columbus County. Heard in the Supreme Court 2 November 1992.

Lacy H. Thornburg, Atty. Gen. by Clarence J. DelForge, III, Asst. Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for the State.

Junius B. Lee, III, Whiteville, for defendant-appellant.

MEYER, Justice.

On 14 May 1990, defendant, Ervin Williamson, was indicted for the first-degree murder of Danny Lee Keel. Defendant was tried noncapitally in the Superior Court, Columbus County, in August 1991 and was found guilty. The trial court thereafter imposed the mandatory life sentence.

The evidence presented by the State at trial tended to show the following. On the afternoon of 3 April 1990, defendant, Tyrone Logan, and Tony Baker drove from Columbus County, North Carolina, to Wampee, South Carolina, in a blue Chevrolet Chevette owned by defendant's brother, Waylon Williamson. While in Wampee, defendant expressed animosity towards Danny Lee Keel, the victim. Defendant told Logan that "he was going to kill [the victim]" because the victim was "messing" with his girlfriend. Just after dark, the three men decided to drive back to Chadbourn, North Carolina, to defendant's family business, Williamson's Arcade ("the Arcade"), located in a part of town called The Tracks.

While defendant, Logan, and Baker were playing pool, the victim walked into the Arcade. Defendant approached the victim, and the two men began arguing. The argument centered around a statement that the victim supposedly made about defendant's engaging in oral sex with someone other than his girlfriend. Defendant told the victim that he was going to "f--- him up" and then "kill him." The victim then left the Arcade and walked across the railroad tracks to a building on the other side of the street. Baker also left the Arcade but returned a few minutes later and told defendant that "Danny over there talking s--- about you." Defendant responded, "Where my gun at? ... I'm going over there and f--- this motherf---er up." After an unidentified person told defendant that his gun was under the seat in the blue Chevette, he jumped in the car and drove across the railroad tracks to where the victim was standing near a building. Logan and Baker followed defendant across the railroad tracks and saw him get out of the car.

Defendant had a 9-millimeter pistol in his hand and said to the victim, "Man, why are you over here talking, running your mouth." At this point, defendant raised the weapon and shot the victim in the chest. The victim fell back against a pole and then ran around the building. Defendant ran after the victim and fired another shot at him. Defendant then returned to the Arcade. After running up to the front yard of a mobile home, the victim knocked on the door and told the owners that he was hurt and to call the police. The victim then died in the front yard. Upon arriving at the scene, investigating officers found a 9-millimeter pistol and a belt pouch containing fifty-eight vials of crack cocaine near the victim's body.

An autopsy of the victim's body revealed that the victim bled to death as the result of a gunshot wound to the chest. The bullet entered the victim's chest approximately two inches from the midline in the left upper-chest area and exited about five inches from the midline in the left shoulder blade area.

Defendant presented evidence directly contrary to that of the State. He testified that he left the Arcade solely to get something to eat and that he coincidentally saw the victim across the railroad tracks. Defendant and a witness for defendant, Kenneth R. McDougald, testified that defendant went across the tracks to make amends with the victim because of their prior argument at the Arcade. Defendant approached the victim and asked him if he were going to let a woman come between them. Both defense witnesses testified that as defendant turned to leave, the victim reached in his pocket and removed a gun. Defendant further testified that at this point, Logan screamed to defendant, "Look out, Ervin, he's fixing to shoot you, man." McDougald also testified that Logan similarly warned defendant. Defendant turned and started to pull his gun, which he testified he carried for protection when he worked at the Arcade. As defendant turned around, he slipped and the pistol fired. He testified that he fired a second time because the victim was pointing a gun at defendant. Defendant fled to safety at the Arcade. McDougald testified that he heard defendant's gun fire twice and that Logan also fired his own gun. McDougald stated that defendant never chased the victim and that the victim had also fired his pistol.

Defendant denied starting the argument at the Arcade and testified that the victim actually started an argument with Logan. Defendant stated that the argument was about Logan's girlfriend, not his own, and that he only became involved as the argument became more heated.

Additional facts will be discussed as necessary for the proper disposition of the issues raised by defendant.

Defendant first argues that the trial court erred in submitting a possible verdict of first-degree murder to the jury because there was no showing of premeditation and deliberation. According to defendant, the evidence that defendant made statements to Logan regarding his intent to kill the victim had no causal relationship with the events leading up to the victim's death and were separated in time to such a degree as to make their relevance suspect. We disagree.

In reviewing challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence, this Court views the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, and any contradictions or discrepancies are properly left for the jury to resolve. State v. Benson, 331 N.C. 537, 544, 417 S.E.2d 756, 761 (1992). To establish premeditation, the State must prove that the killing was thought out beforehand for some length of time, however short, but no particular length of time is necessary. State v. Small, 328 N.C. 175, 181, 400 S.E.2d 413, 416 (1991). To establish deliberation, the State must prove that the defendant intended to kill, that the killing was carried out in a "cool state of blood" in furtherance of a fixed design for revenge, or that the killing was carried out to accomplish an unlawful purpose, not under the influence of a violent passion suddenly aroused by lawful or just cause or legal provocation. Id. However, in determining whether deliberation was present, the term "cool state of mind" does not require a total absence of passion or emotion. State v. Vause, 328 N.C. 231, 238, 400 S.E.2d 57, 62 (1991).

The evidence presented in this case was clearly sufficient to allow the jury to find that defendant killed the victim with premeditation and deliberation. Several hours before the killing, when defendant, Logan, and Baker were in Wampee, South Carolina, defendant repeatedly expressed his intent to kill the victim because he was "messing" with defendant's girlfriend and because of statements the victim had made about the defendant having oral sex with another girl. After the three men returned to the Arcade in Chadbourn, North Carolina, the victim walked into the Arcade; when defendant saw the victim, he told him that he would "f--- him up" and then "kill him." Baker and Logan broke up the argument, and the victim then left the Arcade. Defendant also told Baker and Logan that he was going to "end up killing [the victim]." Baker then left the Arcade and returned a few minutes later and told defendant that the victim was "over there talking s--- about [him]." The defendant asked where his gun was and stated that he was going over to The Tracks and "f--- this motherf---er up." Someone told defendant that his gun was under the seat in the blue Chevette. Defendant proceeded to get into the Chevette and drive across The Tracks to where the victim was standing. Defendant jumped out of the car, with the gun in his hand, and asked the victim why he was "running [his] mouth." The victim, who was not armed, told the defendant that he had not said anything. Defendant then cocked the 9-millimeter, raised it, and shot the victim in the chest. The victim fell back against a pole, regained his balance, and ran around the building; defendant ran behind him and shot at him again.

This evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to the State, is more than sufficient to support the jury's findings of premeditation and deliberation. Defendant's contention to the contrary is without merit.

In his second assignment of error, defendant argues that the trial court erred in allowing the State to introduce, over defendant's objection, two photographs of the victim's body. During oral arguments, defendant conceded that this assignment was groundless and waived this assignment of error.

Defendant next assigns as error that the trial court committed prejudicial error in allowing the State to introduce lay testimony by the paramedic as to the location of the "entry" and "exit" wounds on the victim's body. Defendant contends that the paramedic's testimony identifying the wounds on the body of the deceased as an entrance and an exit wound was clearly beyond the purview of admissible opinion for that witness. Defendant waives this assignment of error by admitting in his brief that "[s]ince this same evidence was ultimately introduced, correctly, on the testimony of Dr. Robert Leslie Thompson, at a later point in the trial, this error cannot, in good faith, be said to be prejudicial." In addition, defendant also waived this assignment during oral arguments.

Defendant next argues that the trial court committed reversible...