State v. Campbell

CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedJanuary 21, 2020
Docket18-998
StatusPublished

This text of State v. Campbell (State v. Campbell) 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
State v. Campbell, (N.C. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF NORTH CAROLINA

No. COA18-998

Filed: 21 January 2020

Columbus County, No. 15 CRS 50590

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

v.

ANTIWUAN TYREZ CAMPBELL

Appeal by defendant from judgment entered 2 August 2017 by Judge Douglas

B. Sasser in Columbus County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals

19 September 2019.

Attorney General Joshua H. Stein, by Assistant Attorney General Peter A. Regulski, for the State.

Geeta N. Kapur for defendant-appellant.

ARROWOOD, Judge.

Antiwuan Tyrez Campbell (“defendant”) appeals from judgment entered

against him for first-degree murder. On appeal, defendant argues that the trial court

erred by concluding that he failed to establish a prima facie case of racial

discrimination in jury selection, as set forth by Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 90

L. Ed. 2d 69 (1986). The State has filed a motion to dismiss defendant’s appeal. We

deny the same and review defendant’s appeal on the merits. For the reasons that

follow, we find no error. STATE V. CAMPBELL

Opinion of the Court

I. Background

On 15 April 2015, defendant was indicted for the first-degree murder of Allen

Wilbur Davis, Jr., as well as the second-degree kidnapping of K.J.1 The case came on

for trial in Columbus County Superior Court before the Honorable Douglas B. Sasser

on 24 July 2017. On that date, the trial court addressed several pretrial motions filed

by defense counsel, including “a motion for a complete recordation of all the

proceedings.” Counsel specifically noted that she was “not requesting that [complete

recordation] include jury selection,” and that her motion was “[j]ust for appeal

purposes.” The trial court granted the motion for recordation. Jury selection

commenced the following day. However, as requested by defense counsel, those

proceedings were not recorded.

On the second day of jury selection, as the parties were seating alternate

jurors, defense counsel objected to the State’s use of peremptory challenges, alleging

that they were exercised in a racially discriminatory manner in violation of Batson.

By this point in the proceedings, the State had exercised four peremptory challenges,

three of which were used to strike African American prospective jurors: Ms. Vereen,

Ms. Holden, and Mr. Staton. Defense counsel asserted that “the State . . . has tried

extremely hard for every African-American, to excuse them for cause[,]” adding that

“the last two alternate [African American] jurors . . . excused showed no leaning one

1 A pseudonym is used to protect the juvenile’s privacy.

-2- STATE V. CAMPBELL

way or the other or indicated that they would not be able to hear the evidence, apply

the law, and render a verdict.” Defense counsel further noted that

[w]e had Ms. Vereen on the front, who the State stayed on her over and over again, trying to get her removed for cause, and they finally used a peremptory on her. And then we move to our alternate, Mr. Staton. [The prosecutor] tried twice to get him removed for cause.

After considering defense counsel’s argument, the trial court denied defendant’s

Batson challenge.

Later that day, however, Judge Sasser stated that “upon further reflection,

although I do not find that a prima facie case has been established for discrimination

pursuant to Batson, in my discretion, I am still going to order the State to proceed as

to stating a racially-neutral basis for the exercise of the peremptory challenges[.]”

The State then offered the following bases for the exercise of its peremptory

challenges for each of the stricken African American prospective jurors:

1. The first juror, Ms. Vereen, had indicated that she knew Clifton Davis

(“Davis”) and had dated his brother, both of whom were potential witnesses at

defendant’s trial. Davis was a friend of defendant, and was allegedly at the scene

with him at the time of the crimes.

2. The second juror, Mr. Staton, was challenged because he “made several

conflicting statements during the State’s questioning to try to ensure if he could be

-3- STATE V. CAMPBELL

fair and impartial or not.” Further, he knew K.J.’s mother, who was “a fact witness

and . . . an eyewitness . . . to the kidnapping.”

3. The third juror, Ms. Holden, was stricken because she had been a

classmate of two potential witnesses at defendant’s trial. The State also explained

that

an additional reason for the peremptory strike against Ms. Holden was the fact when she was describing her political science background and nature as a student, she also was indicating that she was a participant, if not an organizer, for Black Lives Matter at her current college with her professor, and whether or not that would have any implied unstated issues that may arise due to either law enforcement, the State, or other concerns we may have.

Following the State’s explanation of the bases for the exercise of its peremptory

challenges, the trial court reiterated that it “continues to find . . . that there has not

been a prima facie showing as to purposeful discrimination” in violation of Batson.

At the conclusion of the trial, the jury returned verdicts finding defendant not

guilty of second-degree kidnapping, but guilty of first-degree murder. Defendant

timely appealed.

II. Discussion

On appeal, defendant argues that the trial court erred in ruling that he failed

to establish a prima facie showing that the State exercised peremptory challenges in

a racially discriminatory manner, in violation of Batson. The State has filed a motion

-4- STATE V. CAMPBELL

to dismiss defendant’s appeal. After first disposing of the State’s motion, we turn to

the merits of defendant’s appeal.

A. Motion to Dismiss

The State argues that defendant’s failure to include in the appellate record a

transcript of the jury selection proceedings warrants dismissal of defendant’s appeal.

We disagree and deny the State’s motion to dismiss on this ground.

The record in this case is minimally sufficient to permit appellate review. We

disagree with the proposition that, in order to be entitled to review of a Batson claim,

a defendant must include a verbatim transcript of jury selection in the record. We

find no support in our statutes or case law which lead to such a result. We hasten to

add that if a defendant anticipates making a Batson discrimination argument, it is

extremely difficult to prevail on such grounds without a transcript of jury selection.

A three-step process has been established for evaluating claims of racial discrimination in the prosecution’s use of peremptory challenges. First, defendant must establish a prima facie case that the peremptory challenge was exercised on the basis of race. Second, if such a showing is made, the burden shifts to the prosecutor to offer a racially neutral explanation to rebut defendant’s prima facie case. Third, the trial court must determine whether the defendant has proven purposeful discrimination.

State v. Cummings, 346 N.C. 291, 307-308, 488 S.E.2d 550, 560 (1997) (citations

omitted), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 1092, 139 L. Ed. 2d 873 (1998).

-5- STATE V. CAMPBELL

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State v. Campbell, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-campbell-ncctapp-2020.