In Re RDL

664 S.E.2d 71
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedAugust 5, 2008
DocketCOA07-1427
StatusPublished

This text of 664 S.E.2d 71 (In Re RDL) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re RDL, 664 S.E.2d 71 (N.C. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

664 S.E.2d 71 (2008)

In the Matter of R.D.L., Juvenile.

No. COA07-1427.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

August 5, 2008.

Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General Alexandra Gruber, for the State.

Carol Ann Bauer, Morganton, for Respondent.

McGEE, Judge.

R.D.L. (Respondent), a juvenile, appeals from adjudication and disposition orders entered 22 August 2007. For the reasons set forth herein, we reverse seven of the nine adjudications and remand for a new disposition as to the two remaining adjudications.

Officer Jackie Stepp (Officer Stepp) of the Asheville Police Department filed nine juvenile petitions on 23 May 2007, alleging that Respondent was a delinquent juvenile, and charging that: (1) on 8 December 2006, Respondent damaged a 2007 black Chevrolet Silverado, owned by Tony Ray Clark, with an "unknown blunt object [that] was thrown and hit the truck in the passenger side"; (2) on 13 January 2007, Respondent broke two windows in a 1994 beige Ford Aerostar owned by Mary Honeycutt MacKintosh, causing damage in excess of $200.00; (3) on 13 January *72 2007, Respondent damaged real property at Braswell Scale and Equipment (Braswell Scale), by breaking "[w]indows on the right side of the building" and damaging the windshield of a commercial box truck; (4) on 15 January 2007, Respondent "smashed out" all the windows in a 1993 Ford Econoline van owned by "Hav A Cup, Karl Lail," causing damage in excess of $200.00; (5) on 22 January 2007, Respondent damaged the back doors and back right side of a 2007 white Chevrolet van owned by Enterprise Leasing, causing damage in excess of $200.00; (6) on 22 January 2007, Respondent broke three windows "in the back of the business" on real property owned by Braswell Scale; (7) on 13 March 2007, Respondent "shot out" the back door window of a 1993 Ford Econoline van owned by "Karl Lail, Hav A Cup"; (8) on 23 April 2007, Respondent broke four front windows of a warehouse owned by "Connie Byrd, Bruner & Lay"; and (9) on 24 April 2007, Respondent broke a glass window on the south side of the Braswell Scale building.

At the start of trial, the State moved for joinder of Respondent's case with the case involving his co-respondent, D.S. Counsel for Respondent and for D.S. objected to joinder arguing that the incidents were diverse and that there was no indication that the same individuals were involved in all of the incidents. The trial court allowed the State's motion for joinder.

John Timothy Farlow, Jr. (Mr. Farlow) testified that he was a salesman at Braswell Scale. Mr. Farlow testified that he told police about damage to personal and real property that occurred at Braswell Scale on 13 January 2007, 22 January 2007, and 24 April 2007. However, Mr. Farlow twice testified that he did not know which damage occurred on which date. Mr. Farlow also testified that he had a video which showed "a busted window and fireworks going off between the vehicles" on 24 April 2007. The video was admitted into evidence. Mr. Farlow testified as follows that he went with Officer Stepp to Respondent's grandmother's house:

Q What, if anything, happened there?
A We basically asked [Respondent] — you know, he didn't say a whole lot. He cried most of the time. Finally he said that he — his grandmother said, "You better tell them what's going on," and [Respondent] told us that he did do it and he told — we asked him who the third person that had been with him — wasn't in the picture, who it was, and he told us it was [D.W.] and he assured us he wouldn't be back.
Q After you spoke with Officer Stepp and met with [D.S.] and his mother and [Respondent] and his grandmother, have you had any problem since then?
A No, ma'am.
Q Have you had any windows broken out?
A No, ma'am.
Q Of vehicles or your building?
A No, ma'am.

On cross-examination, Mr. Farlow testified as follows:

Q And you don't recall what day it was that you went to [Respondent's] house?
A No. I don't. I know I've got a file at work.
Q If Officer Stepp's report indicated that was the 25th day of April, would you have any reason to doubt that?
A No.
Q When you went to the house that day, you were specifically inquiring about the incident that happened the day before?
A No. We were inquiring about all of them.
Q Well, you said that [Respondent] said he did it. Isn't it true that what he said was that he had thrown a rock at someone and had almost hit someone?
A I don't recall. He pretty much basically confessed to being at all —
Q So you don't recall the exact words he said?
A No.
Q And you didn't write them down?
A No.

Tony Clark (Mr. Clark) testified regarding an incident that occurred on 8 December 2006. Mr. Clark testified that as he drove past Hillside Mobile Home Park on Sweeten Creek Road, he "felt and heard [a] wild bang on [his] truck." Mr. Clark pulled over and saw "a big dent on the rear-passenger side of *73 the truck." Mr. Clark further testified that as soon as he heard the thump on his truck, he looked back and saw two or three people running near the road and "up under the trees." Mr. Clark identified D.S. as one of the people he saw running near the road on 8 December 2006, but he could not identify Respondent.

Officer Stepp testified that she showed D.S. a still photograph derived from the video taken on 24 April 2007, and D.S. admitted that he was one of the individuals in the photograph. Officer Stepp also testified that D.S. identified Respondent as the other person in the photograph, and that Respondent admitted that he was the other person in the photograph. Officer Stepp also testified that she went to Respondent's grandmother's house:

We went up there, just talked about what had happened. As he said, [Respondent] was pretty upset about the situation. [Respondent] admitted that he threw the rock. [Respondent] specifically said, "Yeah, it's me in the picture. Yeah, I threw the rock." [Respondent] also stated that back in January, when the most damage was done to the properties, that it was he, [D.S.], and [D.W.]

On cross-examination, Officer Stepp twice clarified that Respondent admitted involvement in only two incidents at Braswell Scale. She testified that Respondent "also stated that he's thrown rocks at vehicles[,]" but that Respondent did not admit to hitting a vehicle with a rock. Officer Stepp further testified that she did not question Respondent about any specific incidents other than the 24 April 2007 incident at Braswell Scale.

At the close of the State's evidence, Respondent's counsel moved to dismiss. Respondent's counsel conceded that the State had offered sufficient evidence of the 13 January 2007 and 24 April 2007 incidents at Braswell Scale. However, Respondent's counsel moved to dismiss the remaining seven petitions for insufficient evidence. The trial court denied the motion. Respondent did not present evidence.

In an adjudication order entered 22 August 2007, the trial court adjudicated Respondent delinquent "by reason of four counts of injury to real property in violation of G.S. 14-127 and five counts of injury to personal property in violation of G.S.

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Related

In Re Heil
550 S.E.2d 815 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2001)
State v. Fink
375 S.E.2d 303 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1989)
State v. Powell
261 S.E.2d 114 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1980)
State v. Gilley
522 S.E.2d 111 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1999)
In Re Brown
562 S.E.2d 583 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2002)
State v. Brown
513 S.E.2d 57 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1999)
State v. Frye
461 S.E.2d 664 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1995)
State v. Slade
229 S.E.2d 921 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1976)
State v. Wood
622 S.E.2d 120 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2005)
In re S.R.S.
636 S.E.2d 277 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2006)
In re R.D.L.
664 S.E.2d 71 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2008)
Banks v. County of San Diego
517 U.S. 1123 (Supreme Court, 1996)

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Bluebook (online)
664 S.E.2d 71, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-rdl-ncctapp-2008.