State v. Hallum

783 S.E.2d 294, 246 N.C. App. 658, 2016 WL 1319259, 2016 N.C. App. LEXIS 353
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedApril 5, 2016
Docket15-526
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 783 S.E.2d 294 (State v. Hallum) 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. Hallum, 783 S.E.2d 294, 246 N.C. App. 658, 2016 WL 1319259, 2016 N.C. App. LEXIS 353 (N.C. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

McCULLOUGH, Judge.

Christopher Lynn Hallum ("defendant") appeals from judgments entered upon his convictions for obtaining property by false pretenses, possession of stolen goods, and attaining habitual felon status. For the following reasons, we find no error in part and reverse in part.

I. Background

Defendant was arrested at Biltmore Iron & Metal Company "BIMCO" on 16 October 2013. In three separate indictments returned on 7 April 2014, a Buncombe County Grand Jury indicted defendant on one count of obtaining property by false pretenses in violation of N.C. Gen.Stat. § 14-100, one count of possession of stolen goods in violation of N.C. Gen.Stat. § 14-71.1, and for attaining the status of a habitual felon. 1 Defendant's cases were joined and called for trial in Buncombe County Superior Court on 30 September 2014, the Honorable Marvin P. Pope, Judge presiding.

The State's evidence at trial tended to show that on the afternoon of 14 October 2013, defendant showed up at the Glenrock Hotel renovation site in Asheville in search of scrap metal that he could sell. Terry Christie, an electrician completing the electrical portion of the renovation, showed defendant some four-inch rigid-steel conduit that had been torn out of the building and other scrap metal that defendant could take from behind the building. Christie specifically told defendant he could not have a spool of MC cable, described as copper cables in an aluminum jacket and referred to at times as flexible aluminum conduit, that defendant inquired about. After being shown the scraps behind the building, defendant told Christie "[h]e was going to have to come back with his truck and trailer to get it[ ]" and then left.

When Christie later left the renovation site for the day, his work materials were locked in storage beneath the stairs and the doors to the building were locked.

The next morning when Christie returned to work, 15 October 2013, the spool of MC cable was nowhere to be found. Eight smaller rolls of cooper No. 12 wire were also missing. As Christie walked out the backdoor to look around, he noticed the four-inch rigid-steel conduit and other scraps he had shown defendant were gone. Christie testified that "[t]here was nothing out there. They had cleaned everything out there that day." Christie also testified that the spool of MC cable was "pretty heavy, and it looked like somebody had taken it and rolled it out across the ground. And the ground was wet, so it left an impression about a-half inch into the ground." There was also evidence that one of the backdoors to the building was ajar and appeared to have been jimmied open with a pry tool.

After informing his shop of the missing supplies, Christie called the police. Christie was able to give a vague description of defendant to the officers who responded and took the initial report.

*297 At roughly two o'clock in the afternoon on 15 October 2013, defendant sold scrap metal to BIMCO. Blake Cloninger, Vice-President of BIMCO, testified about two separate transactions taking place on 15 October 2013. BIMCO's records show that defendant sold 960 pounds of steel in the first transaction. Cloninger more precisely described the steel as "pipes" based on a picture of the materials that was taken when the materials were weighed at BIMCO. BIMCO's records show that defendant sold "[s]ome insulated copper, insulated aluminum, MLC-that's a grade of aluminum-and some No. 1 copper [ ]" in the second transaction. When shown a picture of what Christie referred to as MC cable, Cloninger testified that the MC cable would qualify as MLC.

Travis Barkley, a Detective with the Asheville Police Department, was assigned the case and conducted his investigation on 16 October 2013. On that morning, Barkley went to the renovation site, talked to Christie and other workers, and observed what Barkley referred to as "the crime scene." Because the police had very limited information and not enough for an identification, Barkley requested that Christie and other workers pay more attention if they saw defendant in order to get a better description.

Evidence was introduced at trial showing that defendant also sold materials to BIMCO in two transactions shortly after two o'clock in the afternoon on 16 October 2013. BIMCO's records showed that in the first transaction, defendant sold "insulated copper, stripped copper wire, and some aluminum." In the second transaction, defendant sold "[s]ome insulated copper."

That same afternoon, Christie spotted defendant going through the dumpster behind the renovation site and called Barkley. At that time, Christie was able to give a detailed description of a tattoo on defendant's neck and provide a license tag number for a green Explorer that defendant was driving. Barkley then began to call metal buyers in the area to see if they knew anyone matching the description. Barkley's first call was to BIMCO, where an employee was able to positively identify defendant by name and indicated defendant had been in several times in the last couple days. Barkley thought the description of the items defendant sold to BIMCO sounded similar to what was stolen and asked the BIMCO employee to give him a call if defendant returned.

A BIMCO employee called Barkley later that day and told Barkley that defendant had returned. Barkley, who at the time was tied up with a different investigation, had dispatch send uniformed officers to BIMCO to detain defendant until he was able to get there. When Barkley arrived, defendant was standing next to a green Explorer. A woman, who Barkley later learned was defendant's girlfriend, was in the driver's seat. Once at BIMCO, Barkley received an update from the responding officers and spoke to BIMCO employees about items defendant had recently brought in. Because Barkley was unfamiliar with the items, Barkley called Christie and requested that he come to BIMCO. When Christie arrived, Christie was able to identify defendant and the four-inch rigid-steel conduit and MC cable in pictures taken by BIMCO.

Barkley also spoke with defendant and defendant's girlfriend. Defendant initially denied anything about spools of wire. Yet, upon further questioning, defendant got upset and his story began to change. Defendant indicated he got a spool from a Mr. Daniel Atchley and figured it was probably stolen. Barkley was never able to determine if Mr. Atchley was involved. The spool was never recovered, but Cloninger testified that he remembered seeing a spool in the back of defendant's Explorer in the course of the 15 October 2013 transactions and believed there was still aluminum conduit on the spool.

Defendant moved to dismiss all the charges at the close of the State's evidence, and then renewed the motion after he decided not to put on further evidence in his defense. The trial court denied defendant's motions.

The jury was instructed on the charges and given the case on 1 October 2014. Within half an hour, the jury returned verdicts finding defendant guilty of attaining property by false pretenses and possession of stolen goods. Upon hearing further evidence from *298 the State in the subsequent habitual felon stage, the jury returned an additional verdict finding defendant guilty of attaining habitual felon status.

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Bluebook (online)
783 S.E.2d 294, 246 N.C. App. 658, 2016 WL 1319259, 2016 N.C. App. LEXIS 353, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hallum-ncctapp-2016.