State v. Flowers

347 S.E.2d 773, 318 N.C. 208, 1986 N.C. LEXIS 2567
CourtSupreme Court of North Carolina
DecidedAugust 29, 1986
Docket14A85
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 347 S.E.2d 773 (State v. Flowers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court 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. Flowers, 347 S.E.2d 773, 318 N.C. 208, 1986 N.C. LEXIS 2567 (N.C. 1986).

Opinions

EXUM, Justice.

The questions presented by this appeal are whether the trial court erred in: (1) refusing to dismiss rape charges against both defendants on the ground that the Yadkin County Grand Jury [211]*211had no jurisdiction to indict for rape; (2) admitting the prosecuting witness’s in-court identification of Waugh; (3) admitting self-incriminating testimony given by Waugh at a prior continuance hearing for Flowers; (4) refusing to dismiss kidnapping charges against Flowers on the ground of insufficiency of evidence, and (5) admitting certain evidence and instructing the jury. We hold that the state produced insufficient evidence that the Yadkin County Grand Jury had jurisdiction to indict for rape and arrest judgment on both defendants’ convictions for first degree rape. Concluding that the trial court erred in admitting the prosecuting witness’s in-court identification of Waugh, we grant Waugh a new trial on the charge of first degree kidnapping. We find no reversible error in Flowers’ trial on the charge of first degree kidnapping.

I.

The prosecuting witness testified as follows: She was walking home in Booneville just past dark on 2 February 1983 when defendant Johnny Perry Waugh forced her into a car driven by defendant Earl Wayne Flowers. She knew neither defendant at that time. Her captors drove her to Winston-Salem, then towards Wilkesboro. After driving for an extended period, they stopped the car on a sandy road. Waugh left the car and Flowers forced her to have intercourse. Then Flowers left the car and Waugh did the same. She did not know where she was when these incidents occurred. Flowers returned and the two defendants interrogated her about herself and her family. Defendants then drove her to Elkin, after stopping in Hiddenite to wash the car, and put her out of the car. She flagged a police car and was taken to the hospital.

In addition, the state produced the following evidence: The prosecuting witness furnished the authorities with a description of her assailants and the car they were driving. Law enforcement officials located a car matching the description given by the prosecuting witness being driven by defendant Flowers. They told Flowers he was suspected of rape and asked if he would agree for the prosecuting witness to look at him. Flowers agreed. The prosecuting witness was driven to Flowers’ home, and she identified him as one of her assailants. Flowers was arrested and charged with first degree kidnapping and first degree rape.

[212]*212On 9 February 1983 law enforcement officials told the prosecuting witness they had another suspect they would like her to see. She was driven to the Wilkes County Sheriffs Department and surveyed defendant Waugh. She stated that although it may be the “biggest mistake” of her life, she could not say truthfully that Waugh was the other assailant.

The state proceeded with its prosecution against Flowers but not Waugh. The prosecuting attorney agreed with Flowers’ attorney to continue the state’s case against Flowers if Flowers’ attorney produced, as he said he could, a man who would testify he was with Flowers and engaged in consensual sexual relations with the prosecuting witness on 2 February 1983. Flowers’ attorney produced Waugh who testified under oath as Flowers’ attorney promised he would. The prosecuting attorney was present at that hearing and heard Waugh’s admissions.

After Flowers’ continuance hearing, Waugh accompanied law enforcement agents to various places around Taylorsville where he said he had consensual sexual relations with the prosecuting witness on 2 February 1983. Waugh then was arrested and charged with first degree kidnapping and first degree rape.

Neither defendant put on any evidence.

We first consider an assignment of error common to both defendants. Next we consider assignments of error advanced by defendant Waugh alone. We conclude by considering defendant Flowers’ assignments of error.

II.

Defendants request this Court to arrest judgment on their convictions for rape because the Yadkin County Grand Jury which returned the indictments did not have jurisdiction to do so. The prosecuting witness testified that after she was abducted in Booneville (Yadkin County), Flowers drove towards Winston-Salem (Forsyth County). The car stopped at a Food Town store, and Waugh began driving. The prosecuting witness next recognized they were traveling on U.S. Highway 421, and she saw road signs which said Wilkesboro (Wilkes County). She asked her abductors where they were taking her; Flowers said to see his mother in Hickory (Catawba County). They continued driving and at one point the prosecuting witness recognized road markers [213]*213which said 18 and 90. North Carolina Highways 18 and 90 intersect at Taylorsville (Alexander County). After some time, the prosecuting witness said, “Your mother sure lives far away. . . .” Flowers remarked, “We done went by mama’s.” The car then whipped around in the middle of the road and turned onto a sandy road where the rapes occurred. The prosecuting witness did not know where she was at the time. Later, she searched for the sandy road with the aid of the authorities, but she never found it. After the rapes occurred, defendants drove a short distance to a car wash which the prosecuting witness later identified as being in Hiddenite (Alexander County). After washing the car, they drove to Elkin (Surry County) and released her.

At common law a grand jury had jurisdictional power to indict only for crimes committed within the county in which it convened. State v. Randolph, 312 N.C. 198, 321 S.E. 2d 864 (1984); State v. Mitchell, 202 N.C. 439, 163 S.E. 581 (1932). The legislature has power to extend the grand jury’s power beyond the territorial limitation imposed by the common law, but when this case was heard, it had not exercised that power. See State v. Randolph, 312 N.C. 198, 321 S.E. 2d 864. Thus, the common law rule governed in this state at that time. Id.1 A challenge to the jurisdiction of the grand jury may be raised at any time before, during or after trial. State v. Randolph, 312 N.C. 198, 208, 321 S.E. 2d 864, 871; N.C.G.S. § 15A-952(d). The state has the burden of proving that the offense charged in the indictment occurred in the county named in the indictment. State v. Batdorf, 293 N.C. 486, 238 S.E. 2d 497 (1977); State v. Miller, 288 N.C. 582, 220 S.E. 2d 326 (1975).

In this case the evidence adduced at trial tends to show the rapes occurred in Alexander County. The state produced no evidence that defendants committed these crimes in Yadkin County, the county in which the grand jury which returned the indictments convened.

[214]*214The state contends that the statement in the bill of indictment which alleges that the rapes occurred in Yadkin County is prima facie evidence showing that the rapes occurred there. The state relies upon language from State v. Randolph, 312 N.C. 198, 321 S.E. 2d 864:

The statement of the county where the offense took place established prima facie jurisdiction of the grand jury to return the indictment. Former N.C.G.S. 15-134 did not change this. It merely limited a defendant’s means of attacking the indictment on the ground that the offense occurred in a county other than that named in the indictment. Current N.C.G.S. 15A-135, however, only limits a defendant’s means of attacking venue.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
347 S.E.2d 773, 318 N.C. 208, 1986 N.C. LEXIS 2567, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-flowers-nc-1986.