State v. Womble
| Decision Date | 20 April 2021 |
| Docket Number | No. COA20-364,COA20-364 |
| Citation | 858 S.E.2d 304 |
| Court | North Carolina Court of Appeals |
| Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. Willie Henderson WOMBLE |
Attorney General Joshua H. Stein, by Special Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey B. Welty, for the State.
Patterson Harkavy LLP by Narendra K. Ghosh, Chapel Hill, and Bradley J. Bannon, Raleigh, and Thomas, Ferguson & Beskind, L.L.P., Durham, by Jay H. Ferguson, for defendant-appellee.
¶ 1 The State appeals from an order granting Willie Henderson Womble's ("Defendant") motion to suppress DNA evidence. We reverse and remand.
¶ 2 Roy Brent Bullock was shot two times during a robbery and murdered while working at a Food Mart grocery store in Butner on 18 November 1975, as his thirteen-year-old daughter watched through a glass cooler. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation ("SBI") and Police Officers investigating Bullock's murder developed a list of suspects known to be involved with suspected robberies in the area. Joseph Perry, Albert Willis, and Defendant's names were on that list of suspects.
¶ 3 Durham Police Detective Lorenzo Leathers ("Detective Leathers") interviewed Defendant on matters unrelated to the Bullock homicide on 6 December 1975. Defendant made a statement to Detective Leathers about an "incident that happened over in Butner." Defendant allegedly named Perry as the shooter and corroborated the victim's statements before he died, and Bullock's daughter's testimony, that the shooter had worn, "a red and black or red and blue bandanna over the lower portion of his face." Defendant's statement was written down by Detective Leathers and was signed by Defendant. Later, Defendant's statement was typed and was again signed by Defendant. Defendant independently corroborated and acknowledged his statements the following day to SBI Agent Joseph Momier, without Detective Leathers present.
¶ 4 Detective Leathers testified Defendant was presented with three documents during the 6 December 1975 interrogation and the following day: a rights wavier form, a detailed confession handwritten by Detective Leathers, and the typewritten copy of the confession. Defendant's trial counsel did not challenge his waiver, move to suppress his confessions or Detective Leathers’ testimony, nor objected when Detective Leathers testified at trial.
¶ 5 Defendant's statement and confession indicated his involvement with Perry, Willis, and another individual, James "Boo Boo" Frazier with the robbery and Bullock's murder. Defendant stated Perry had given him twenty dollars to act as the "lookout" during the robbery and Bullock's murder.
¶ 6 Defendant testified on his own behalf at trial. He stated he had felt pressured to make the statements because the officers were "trying to blow their breath all in [his] face." Defendant also stated he was "high off beer" or under the influence when he made the confessions. Defendant presented two alibi witnesses. However, Defendant's purported alibi lost credibility after evidence of local television programming showed the testimony of his two alibi witnesses could not have been accurate.
¶ 7 The jury unanimously found Defendant guilty of first-degree felony murder and he was sentenced to life imprisonment on 7 July 1976. The Supreme Court of North Carolina unanimously found no error in his conviction. See State v. Womble , 292 N.C. 455, 233 S.E.2d 534 (1977) (Moore, J.).
¶ 8 Joseph Perry was tried for first-degree murder of Roy Brent Bullock on 3 and 4 November 1976. The State presented eyewitness testimony that Perry had shot a convenience store clerk in Durham two weeks before Bullock's murder. Shell casings recovered from both murder scenes were fired from the same gun. Perry was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment on 4 November 1976.
¶ 9 In State v. Bowden , 193 N.C. App. 597, 600, 668 S.E.2d 107, 109 (2008), this Court held the Fair Sentencing Act, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-2 (1974), "treats [a] defendant's life sentence as an 80-year sentence for all purposes." Offenders sentenced pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-2 between 1974 and 1978 argued they were entitled to sentence reduction and "good time" and "gain time" credits, which rendered them eligible for immediate or imminent release. Id.
¶ 10 In preparation for this possible release of inmates affected by the ruling in Bowden , the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction ("DAC") took blood samples of all inmates. The blood samples were taken in compliance with N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-266.4 (2009) (). Defendant's blood sample was drawn without recorded objection on 28 October 2009 and was used to develop his DNA profile. Defendant's DNA profile was uploaded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Combined DNA Index System ("CODIS") on 2 February 2010.
¶ 11 The North Carolina Supreme Court later held the DAC's denial of a prisoner's "good time, gain time, and merit time for the purpose of unconditional release" from life sentences imposed under Fair Sentencing has a rational basis. Jones v. Keller , 364 N.C. 249, 259-60, 698 S.E.2d 49, 58 (2010). Defendant remained in the custody of DAC under the judgment and sentence for life imprisonment entered on the jury's conviction for the Food Mart robbery and Bullock's murder.
¶ 12 In 2013, Defendant's co-defendant, Joseph Perry, wrote the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission ("Commission") admitting his own participation with Albert Willis in Bullock's murder, but asserted Defendant had not been involved. Perry told Commission staff that Willis was the only person with him during the murder and Defendant was not involved in any way. Commission staff interviewed Defendant, who asserted his innocence and applied to the Commission to review his case. Defendant repeated his rejected claims from trial that his confession was false, and he had an alibi.
¶ 13 The Commission gathered records indicating DAC had assessed Defendant's Intelligence Quotient ("IQ") at various levels between a 66 in 1977 to a 74 in 1998. Defendant was documented as having left school when he was 17, unsure of what grade he had completed "since he was in special education classes throughout his schooling." Defendant's records were inconsistent to the level of education attained, stating variously the 8th, 9th, or 11th grade. Defendant was diagnosed with a form of paranoid schizophrenia
, was developmentally disabled, and has borderline intellectual functioning. Defendant admitted he can read, write, perform simple mathematics, and "spell some five letter words."
¶ 14 Based upon Defendant's, Perry's, and the alibi witnesses’ statements, the Commission unanimously found sufficient evidence of Defendant's innocence to merit judicial review. No member of law enforcement, the prosecution or Bullock's family testified before the Commission. The three-judge panel held a hearing to review Defendant's claim of innocence on 2 and 3 June 2014. See N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1469(a) (2019). Before the three-judge panel, the current district attorney of Granville County, who had no previous connection to Defendant's trial, conceded the unconstitutionality of his confession. Defendant's counsel argued his client was mentally handicapped, had been forced by Detective Leathers to sign a confession he did not understand, and asserted Detective Leathers had committed perjury during Defendant's trial.
¶ 15 Detective Leathers had testified at the original trial he did not "have any idea about" the Bullock murder prior to Defendant's interview on 6 December 1975. Regarding the 6 and 7 December 1975 interviews, Detective Leathers testified Defendant could read and write, had waived his rights, and had read and understood the confession before he knowingly signed it.
¶ 16 Evidence was produced during the Commission's hearing tending to show Detective Leathers had met with SBI Agent Joseph Momier and Butner Public Safety Officer Nelson Williams on 19 November 1975 to develop possible suspects.
¶ 17 The Commission found Defendant was "illiterate" "for all practical purposes." The three-member panel of superior court judges was appointed by Chief Justice Sarah E. Parker, consisting of Judges Vance Bradford Long, Phyllis M. Gorman, and J. Carlton Cole. Relying on the Commission's record and without taking additional evidence, the panel unanimously concluded Defendant had proven his innocence by clear and convincing evidence and ordered his immediate release on 17 October 2014. Defendant was freed by the DAC pursuant to the 17 October 2014 order.
¶ 18 Two and one-half years later, a social worker assisting Pittsboro resident, Donna Todd, reported to the Pittsboro Police Department on 11 April 2017 that she had not heard from Todd in over a week. Officer Franks and Detective Clarence Johnson went to Todd's apartment at the Creekside Apartments to conduct a well-being status check.
¶ 19 Upon opening the door, the police officers found Todd's partially decomposed body lying face-down on the floor of the apartment, approximately four feet from the door. A pair of scissors were protruding from the back of Todd's head near her left ear. She had been stabbed at least seven times and cut more than five times in her head, neck, and upper back. Todd had also suffered two broken ribs
. The autopsy concluded she died from "multiple sharp and blunt force injuries."
¶ 20 The apartment was in disarray and had papers strewn throughout. A large spot of blood was observed on the floor near the couch in the living room, a tray had been knocked over, and bi-fold doors going toward the bedroom were knocked down. A woman's wallet with blood on it was found on top of an ottoman. Officers observed a broken lamp on the floor near the couch with stains that...
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