State v. Merrell

713 S.E.2d 77, 212 N.C. App. 502, 2011 N.C. App. LEXIS 1049
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedJune 7, 2011
DocketCOA10-1304
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 713 S.E.2d 77 (State v. Merrell) 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. Merrell, 713 S.E.2d 77, 212 N.C. App. 502, 2011 N.C. App. LEXIS 1049 (N.C. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

BRYANT, Judge.

Where defendant fails to present evidence of intoxication to the degree required to show he was incapable of forming the requisite intent, the trial court did not err in failing to instruct the jury on voluntary intoxication. Where the trial court erred in ordering defendant to enroll in a satellite-based monitoring program for his natural life, we reverse the court’s order on satellite-based monitoring and remand for a new hearing.

Defendant was indicted on charges of first-degree rape involving a child under the age of thirteen and five counts of taking indecent liberties with a child. The evidence presented at trial tended to show that defendant Lee Robert Merrell, age 47 at the time of trial, lived with his adult sister and her family throughout much of his adult life. At trial, his sister described him as a severe alcoholic: “He drank and was very rarely sober. He just woke up drinking and passed out drinking.’’ The only job he was able to hold was working for the family of her husband. “[I]f he could work, he worked. If he couldn’t, he couldn’t, or they would find things for him to do around the house.”

Q. Would you let him babysit your children?

A. Yes.

Defendant’s sister had three children: two daughters and a son. The youngest daughter was Laura 1 . At trial, Laura testified that in 2002 and 2003, when she was nine and in the fourth grade, defendant began touching her in a way that made her feel uncomfortable. Testifying before a jury and family members in the audience, Laura recounted incidents such as when she returned to her living room to find defendant sitting on a couch wearing no pants, being forced to the floor by defendant while he wore no clothes, and, having her shirt pulled up and her pants pulled down. Laura testified that defendant tried to place his penis in her vagina but couldn’t and instead rubbed it against her. On another occasion, defendant entered the bathroom just after Laura had taken a bath and touched her breasts. On two occasions, defendant came into Laura’s bedroom and masturbated *504 while touching her. At dinner, defendant would sit beside Laura and rub her legs, at which point she would get up and go to the bathroom perhaps two or three times during the meal. Laura testified that defendant would touch her “[p]robably twice a week.” Laura’s immediate family members testified to noticeable changes in Laura’s behavior around this time: if defendant was to watch her after school, Laura would not enter the house but ask the bus driver to call her mother or sit outside until someone else came home; at dinner, when defendant was sitting near her, Laura would be fidgety and often excuse herself to go to the bathroom two or three times during the meal. At the close of the evidence, a jury found defendant guilty of attempted first-degree rape of a female under the age of thirteen and five counts of taking indecent liberties with a child. The trial court entered judgment in accordance with the jury’s verdict, sentencing defendant concurrently to 220 to 273 months for attempted first-degree rape and 21 to 26 months for each count of taking indecent liberties with a child. Following the entry of judgment and commitment, defendant gave oral notice of appeal. The next day, the court entered an order that upon his release from imprisonment defendant was to enroll in a satellite-based monitoring program for his natural life.

On appeal, defendant raises the following questions: did the trial court (I) commit plain error in failing to instruct the jury on voluntary intoxication; and (II) err in ordering defendant to register as a sex offender and submit to lifetime satellite-based monitoring.

I

First, defendant argues the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on voluntary intoxication. Defendant contends that alcohol consumption was “his job, his hobby, and his life” and, because there is substantial evidence that he “blacked out” when he touched Laura, the trial court committed plain error in failing to instruct the jury on voluntary intoxication. We disagree.

Notwithstanding defendant’s argument on appeal, defendant failed to request an instruction on voluntary intoxication during the trial. We review defendant’s argument only for plain error.

[T]he plain error rule ... is always to be applied cautiously and only in the exceptional case where, after reviewing the entire record, it can be said the claimed error is a fundamental error, *505 something so basic, so prejudicial, so lacking in its elements that justice cannot have been done, or where [the error] is grave error which amounts to a denial of a fundamental right of the accused, or the error has resulted in a miscarriage of justice or in the denial to appellant of a fair trial or where the error is such as to seriously affect the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings or where it can be fairly said the instructional mistake had a probable impact on the jury’s finding that the defendant was guilty.

State v. Cummings, 361 N.C. 438, 470, 648 S.E.2d 788, 807 (2007) (citation omitted).

Defendant was convicted of attempted first-degree statutory rape of a female child under the age of thirteen and five counts of indecent liberties with a child.

A person is guilty of rape in the first degree if the person engages in vaginal intercourse:
(1) With a victim who is a child under the age of 13 years and the defendant is at least 12 years old and is at least four years older than the victim[.]

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-27.2(a)(1) (2009). In order to convict a defendant of first-degree rape, the State must prove that the defendant had the intent to have vaginal intercourse with the victim. State v. Nicholson, 99 N.C. App. 143, 145, 392 S.E.2d 748, 750 (1990).

Defendant was also convicted of taking indecent liberties with a child.

A person is guilty of taking indecent liberties with children if, being 16 years of age or more and at least five years older than the child in question, he either:
(1) Willfully takes or attempts to take any immoral, improper, or indecent liberties with any child of either sex under the age of 16 years for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire; or
(2) Willfully commits or attempts to commit any lewd or lascivious act upon or with the body or any part or member of the body of any child of either sex under the age of 16 years.

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-202.1 (2009).

The crime of taking indecent liberties with a minor is a specific intent crime. A specific intent crime requires the State to prove *506 that defendant acted willfully or with purpose in committing the offense.

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Related

State v. Vines
829 S.E.2d 701 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2019)
State v. Case
Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2014

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
713 S.E.2d 77, 212 N.C. App. 502, 2011 N.C. App. LEXIS 1049, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-merrell-ncctapp-2011.