State v. Golden

735 S.E.2d 425, 224 N.C. App. 136, 2012 N.C. App. LEXIS 1363
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedDecember 4, 2012
DocketNo. COA12-265
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 735 S.E.2d 425 (State v. Golden) 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. Golden, 735 S.E.2d 425, 224 N.C. App. 136, 2012 N.C. App. LEXIS 1363 (N.C. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

GEER, Judge.

Defendant Steve Wayne Golden appeals from his conviction of perpetrating a hoax on law enforcement officers by use of a false bomb or other device. Defendant primarily argues on appeal that evidence of prior acts against his estranged wife was improperly admitted under Rule 404(b) of the North Carolina Rules of Evidence. Because, however, that evidence tended to show that defendant intended to deceive people with the realistic fake bomb he admittedly [138]*138made and because those acts were part of the chain of circumstances leading to the charged offense, we hold that the trial court did not err in admitting the evidence.

Facts

The State’s evidence tended to show the following facts. On 27 March 2010, Darlene Golden was in her home in Asheboro, North Carolina when she looked out of her window and saw defendant, her estranged husband, in his truck. Ms. Golden watched the truck pull up close to the curb in front of her home and then drive away. Ms. Golden had previously obtained a domestic violence protection order against defendant following two incidents in which defendant aggressively confronted and threatened Ms. Golden. After seeing defendant in his truck, Ms. Golden called 911.

Asheboro Police Officer Mike Welborn responded to Ms. Golden’s call. After speaking with Ms. Golden about the incident, Officer Welborn left and drove around the area to see if defendant was still in the neighborhood. When he failed to locate defendant’s truck, Officer Welborn returned to Ms. Golden’s home. Upon his return, Officer Welborn saw defendant walking down Ms. Golden’s driveway. When defendant noticed Officer Welborn’s patrol car, defendant turned and ran. Officer Welborn drove around the block, exited his vehicle, and ran after defendant.

Officer Welborn overtook defendant as defendant attempted to crawl and hide underneath defendant’s truck. Officer Welborn ordered defendant out and, as defendant stood, the officer noticed a large knife in defendant’s waistband. Officer Welborn then repeatedly commanded defendant to lie back down on the ground. Despite these commands, defendant refused to lie down and began walking toward the officer. According to Officer Welborn, it “ ‘appeared that nothing mattered to [defendant]’ ” and that defendant “ ‘looked as if he was deciding what to do as he was refusing to lay down.’ ” This behavior, and the presence of the knife in defendant’s waistband, caused Officer Welborn to draw his service weapon. Only when defendant was a short distance from Officer Welborn did defendant finally comply with the commands to lie on the ground. Officer Welborn handcuffed defendant, arrested defendant for violating the domestic violence protection order, and removed the knife from defendant’s belt as well as a second knife from defendant’s pocket.

[139]*139According to Officer Welborn, once defendant was handcuffed and seated on the curb, he became “irate” and began “[c]ussing” Officer Welborn and the other officers. After defendant was taken into custody, Asheboro Police Officer Russ Smith arrived at the scene. Officer Smith observed that defendant was “very irate, cursing loudly.” Specifically, Officer Smith heard defendant “ ‘shouting “fuck you” several times to the officers on the scene,’ ” as well as making threats against Ms. Golden. Asheboro Police Lieutenant Maxine Wright also observed defendant “yelling and screaming.” When Lieutenant Wright tried to calm defendant down, he cursed at her.

Officer Smith then asked defendant if there was anything in defendant’s truck that would compromise the officers’ safety. Defendant responded that there was not. When Officer Smith asked defendant if the officers could search his truck, defendant responded by “bobbing his head back and forth, and [saying] something to the effect of ‘There’s nothing in there; go ahead.’ ” Officer Welborn then drove defendant to jail.

Lieutenant Wright and another responding officer, Asheboro Police Officer Charles Perrin, conducted a search of defendant’s truck. Officer Perrin immediately observed, “ ‘in plain view, three knives: One on the dash, one knife was sticking in the dash, and one in the driver’s door.’ ” The knife laying on the dash was, according to Lieutenant Wright, a “martial arts-type knife that had a handle and the knife was round.”

In addition to the knives, Lieutenant Wright quickly saw, behind the driver’s seat of defendant’s truck, “the butt of ... a firearm” that looked like a rifle. The gun ultimately turned out to be a “BB rifle.” Lieutenant Wright then saw, also on the driver’s side of the vehicle, an item with a long wooden handle that she determined to be a “meat cleaver.” Upon further search, the officers found a bag containing “a cylinder-type item” covered with aluminum foil, black electrical tape, red wires, and batteries.

Although Lieutenant Wright initially believed the cylindrical device was used to smoke marijuana (because she had smelled marijuana in the truck), she began to suspect the object was an improvised explosive device when she also found latex gloves in the bag containing the object. During training, she had learned that explosive materials were handled using latex gloves. Lieutenant Wright immediately evacuated the area and contacted Asheboro Police Officer Terry Jones who worked with a canine unit specializing in explosives detection.

[140]*140Officer Jones responded to the scene with his canine unit. When Officer Jones examined the device, he agreed that it could be an improvised explosive device. He photographed the device and sent the photograph to Officer Timothy Loughman of the Cumberland County Sheriffs Office to obtain a more expert opinion. After looking at the photograph, Officer Loughman advised Officer Jones to treat the device as a potential explosive device and to evacuate the area within 1,000 feet of the device.

Meanwhile, at the jail, Officer Welborn watched defendant “ ‘pacing around the jail, stating he was not staying and when he gets out, that bitch was dead.’ ” According to Officer Welborn, defendant “ ‘continuously made threats about killing his wife’ ” in front of the officers at the jail and, anytime Ms. Golden’s name was mentioned, defendant’s “ ‘anger would build until the point he would punch the walls in rage.’ ”

While still at the jail with defendant, Officer Welborn learned that there was a potential bomb at the scene of defendant’s arrest. Officer Welborn then asked defendant, “ ‘Is there anything around [Ms. Golden’s] residence or in your vehicle that I need to know about?’ ” Defendant then replied “ ‘that there was nothing around the residence, but there was a device in his vehicle that he made with someone and it was fake.’ ” Defendant claimed “ ‘it was a gag’ ” and described the object as “ ‘a toilet paper roll with batteries and wires taped around it.’ ” Officer Welborn immediately relayed this information to Lieutenant Wright, but advised her to “ ‘use caution due to [defendant’s] behavior towards law enforcement,’ ” including defendant’s anger, his “yelling and screaming,” and his cursing of the officers.

Lieutenant Wright contacted the Greensboro bomb squad, which services Asheboro, and requested assistance. The bomb squad responded to the call and followed its protocol regarding potential explosive devices. After taking extensive measures, including the use of a remotely operated robot, the bomb squad determined that the object in defendant’s truck was not an explosive device.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
735 S.E.2d 425, 224 N.C. App. 136, 2012 N.C. App. LEXIS 1363, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-golden-ncctapp-2012.