State v. Odom

604 S.E.2d 368, 166 N.C. App. 761, 2004 N.C. App. LEXIS 2000
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedOctober 19, 2004
DocketNo. COA03-600
StatusPublished

This text of 604 S.E.2d 368 (State v. Odom) 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. Odom, 604 S.E.2d 368, 166 N.C. App. 761, 2004 N.C. App. LEXIS 2000 (N.C. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

ELMORE, Judge.

Defendant Alfred Odom was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and assault with a deadly weapon upon a law enforcement officer. This is the third time defendant has been tried on charges arising out of events that occurred on the evening of 23 September 1998.

The State's evidence tended to show that on the evening of 23 September 1998, Officers James Hunt and Joey Smith of the Robeson County Sheriff's Department were engaged in law enforcement duties on Interstate 95 (I-95) with Lt. Robbie Bishop from the Villa Rica Police Department of Dallas, Georgia. Lt. Bishop was present to train Officers Hunt and Smith to become part of an interstatecriminal enforcement team. All three officers were in an unmarked car belonging to the Robeson County Sheriff's Department. Their duties included enforcing traffic laws and identifying individuals who might be transporting drugs or drug money along I-95.

While engaged in their duties, the officers observed a black Chevy Camaro driven by defendant traveling at a high rate of speed on I-95. With Officer Hunt driving, they pursued the vehicle. A high-speed chase ensued after defendant feigned an attempt to pull over. Officers C.T. Strickland and Alex Monroe of the Robeson County Sheriff's Department subsequently joined the chase.

Eventually, defendant veered onto an exit ramp but lost control of his vehicle, which then spun around several times before coming to a stop. The officers rushed to defendant's car, and defendant resisted Officer Hunt's attempts to remove him from it. In the course of their struggle, Officer Hunt was shot twice in the chest. Officers Monroe and Strickland fired at defendant but did not hit him. While fleeing on foot, defendant fired at the officers. After sending Officer Hunt to the hospital and calling for assistance, the remaining officers apprehended defendant hiding in a canal near the road.

In the first trial, defendant was tried on a variety of charges including attempted murder of Officer Hunt, but the jury was unable to reach a verdict. After the trial judge declared a mistrial, the State then obtained a superseding indictment. Defendant was thereafter tried for, among other things, attempted first degree murder of Officer Hunt and assault with a deadlyweapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. The jury acquitted defendant of attempted murder and all other charges, save for two on which the jury was unable to reach a verdict. In the third trial, a jury acquitted defendant of assault with a deadly weapon upon a law enforcement officer with respect to Officer Smith but convicted defendant of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury with respect to Officer Hunt; these were the two charges on which the jury had deadlocked in the second trial. The trial court sentenced defendant to imprisonment for 145 to 183 months. Defendant appeals.

Defendant contends that the trial court committed reversible error in denying his motion to dismiss and his motion for nonsuit, which allowed him to be tried on charges of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury after he had already been tried for the same charge - a charge on which a mistrial was previously declared. Defendant asserts that this subsequent trial constituted double jeopardy in violation of his rights under the United States and North Carolina Constitutions.

Because the trial for the charge on which defendant was later convicted had ended in a mistrial, defendant's constitutional protection against double jeopardy was not violated when he was subsequently retried on that same charge. Our Supreme Court has held that "[w]hen a mistrial has been declared properly, `in legal contemplation there has been no trial.'" State v. Sanders, 347 N.C. 587, 599, 496 S.E.2d 568, 576 (1998)(quoting State v. Tyson, 138 N.C. 627, 629, 50 S.E. 456, 456 (1905)). A deadlocked jury, asin defendant's second trial, is an appropriate basis for declaring a mistrial, and a properly declared mistrial "will not ordinarily cause a subsequent conviction after retrial to be susceptible to a double jeopardy challenge." The United States v. Perez, 22 U.S. 579, 580, 6 L. Ed. 165, 165-66 (1824). This is the standard our Supreme Court applied in holding that "where a defendant is put on trial and the jury is unable to reach a verdict, it is not unconstitutional for the accused to be retried for the same offense." State v. Simpson, 303 N.C. 439, 447, 279 S.E.2d 542, 547 (1981).

Defendant next argues that his acquittal on the charges of attempted murder in his first two trials should have precluded the State from trying him on the assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury charge in the third trial. It is not, however, a violation of a defendant's double jeopardy protection for him to be tried and convicted of separate offenses arising out of the same incident, provided "each offense requires proof of at least one element that the other does not." State v. Peoples, 141 N.C. App. 115, 120, 539 S.E.2d 25, 29 (2000); see State v. Hill, 287 N.C. 207, 217, 214 S.E.2d 67, 74 (1975). In such trials, the threat of double jeopardy is not present, and the proceedings comply with the standards articulated by the United States Supreme Court. See Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 76 L. Ed. 306, 309 (1932)(holding that the test for double jeopardy is whether one offense requires proof of at least one element that the other offense does not).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Perez
22 U.S. 579 (Supreme Court, 1824)
Blockburger v. United States
284 U.S. 299 (Supreme Court, 1931)
State v. Warren
328 S.E.2d 256 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1985)
State v. Hill
214 S.E.2d 67 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1975)
State v. Bonney
405 S.E.2d 145 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1991)
State v. Powell
261 S.E.2d 114 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1980)
State v. Robinson
561 S.E.2d 245 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 2002)
State v. Peoples
539 S.E.2d 25 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2000)
State v. Simpson
279 S.E.2d 542 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1981)
State v. Sanders
496 S.E.2d 568 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1998)
State v. Tyson.
50 S.E. 456 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1905)
State v. Tew
561 S.E.2d 327 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2002)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
604 S.E.2d 368, 166 N.C. App. 761, 2004 N.C. App. LEXIS 2000, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-odom-ncctapp-2004.