State v. Shannon

642 S.E.2d 516, 182 N.C. App. 350, 2007 N.C. App. LEXIS 687
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedApril 3, 2007
DocketCOA06-418
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 642 S.E.2d 516 (State v. Shannon) 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. Shannon, 642 S.E.2d 516, 182 N.C. App. 350, 2007 N.C. App. LEXIS 687 (N.C. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinions

LEVINSON, Judge.

Joan Mrytle Shannon (defendant) appeals judgments entered upon her convictions for first degree murder and conspiracy to commit first degree murder. We conclude that the trial court judge did not err by admitting evidence related to defendant’s “swinger” lifestyle. We also conclude, with respect to an issue of first impression, that N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-903(a)(l) (2005) requires prosecutors to disclose, in written or recorded form, statements made to them by witnesses during pretrial interviews.

In the instant case, defendant was married to David Shannon (Shannon), who served in the United States Military. Defendant and Shannon lived in Fayetteville, North Carolina with Daisy Shannon (Daisy) and Elizabeth Shannon (Elizabeth), defendant’s biological daughters.

Defendant and Shannon were members of the “Fayetteville Gang Bangers”, a “swingers” club. Jeffrey Wilson testified that defendant and Shannon contacted him online through the internet in November or December 2001. After they began corresponding online, Shannon asked Wilson if he wanted to have sex with defendant. Wilson further [352]*352testified that Shannon told him about the “Fayetteville Gang Bangers,” and encouraged him to add his name to their e-mail list to receive party notifications. Over the course of the next three months, Wilson went to “Fayetteville Gang Bangers” parties.

Wilson attended a “Fayetteville Gang Bangers” party in February 2002. Defendant and Shannon also attended this party, which was hosted at a motel in adjoining rooms. One room was the “meet and greet” room where people talked, and the other was the “party” room where people engaged in sexual activities. Defendant and another woman approached Wilson and indicated they wanted to engage in sexual relations with him. Defendant and the other woman performed oral sex on Wilson. Wilson then had vaginal sex with defendant while defendant performed oral sex on another man.

Wilson testified that around March 2002, he went to a party hosted by Tony Bennett (Bennett). At this party, defendant undressed while Shannon took photographs. Wilson and two other men took turns having vaginal and oral sex with defendant while Shannon photographed them. Shannon then had sex with defendant while Wilson photographed them. A few days thereafter, defendant asked Wilson how' he felt about “seeing her on a regular basis.” Wilson asked defendant if it would be a problem with Shannon. Defendant informed Wilson that it would be acceptable with Shannon as long as it was not “serious.” Wilson and defendant’s relationship became more personal and they began to appear in public together. Defendant told Wilson she “loved” him and could see herself being with him.

Elizabeth Shannon testified that in April 2002, she heard defendant talking on the telephone with Wilson. During the course of the conversation, defendant stated, “[Shannon] rides on planes all the time. Why can’t one of his planes just go down?” Elizabeth also testified that defendant attempted to poison Shannon several times in late April and early May of 2002. And, according to Elizabeth, defendant once asked Daisy if she knew where she could acquire the “date rape drug” to administer to Shannon. Shannon had over $700,000.00 in life insurance, and defendant was the named beneficiary on his policies. Additionally, because Shannon was on active military duty, defendant would be entitled to monthly military benefits for herself and their minor children if Shannon died.

Defendant asked Elizabeth if she knew “anybody that would be able to shoot [Shannon].” Defendant said that she wanted to be with Wilson, and could not afford to leave Shannon. Elizabeth told defend[353]*353ant that she would talk to her friend, Anthony Jones (Jones), about obtaining a gun. When Jones refused to help, Elizabeth contacted Donald White (White) and asked him if he would kill Shannon for money. White refused. ■ ■

When Elizabeth could not find anyone to kill Shannon, defendant began pressuring Elizabeth to do it herself. Shortly before Shannon’s murder, Elizabeth testified, defendant showed her a gun belonging to Shannon. Defendant loaded the gun and instructed Elizabeth on how it worked. Defendant put the loaded gun, bullets, and surgical gloves in a drawer in Elizabeth’s room. The next day, 22 July 2002, Elizabeth told defendant, “I’ll do it.”

Vera Thompson, Elizabeth’s friend, was staying at the Shannon’s home the night of the killing. At approximately 11:00 p.m., defendant went into Elizabeth’s bedroom and told her that she and Shannon were going to bed. After putting on surgical gloves and sweat clothes over a layer of clothes, Elizabeth went into the bedroom Shannon shared with defendant. Defendant had instructed her to do these things. Shannon and defendant were lying on the'bed. When Elizabeth shot Shannon in the head, Shannon began breathing erratically. Believing he was not dead, Elizabeth shot him in the chest. After the second shot, defendant crawled to the end of the bed and grabbed the cordless phone. Defendant asked Elizabeth and Thompson to dispose of the gun. Thereafter, according to Elizabeth, defendant stated, “I need to think of something to cry about.” Defendant was overheard crying on the phone, stating, “someone has broke [n] into the house and shot my husband.”

Officer Faneal Godbold (Godbold) of the Fayetteville Police Department responded to a 911 call at 3:07 a.m. on 23 July 2002 from a female who reported that her husband had been shot. Upon Godbold’s arrival, defendant was crying. Defendant stated that “her husband had been shot” and that she did not know who did it. When Godbold and Sergeant Oates, also of the Fayetteville Police Department, entered the house, they found two sleeping boys in one bedroom and Elizabeth and Thompson awake, listening to music. The officers discovered Shannon in the master bedroom, lying naked on the bed with a sheet pulled midway up. He had bullet wounds to his forehead and chest. There were large quantities of blood everywhere, including blood splatter and brain matter on the bedroom wall. When Godbold told Elizabeth that her father had been shot, Elizabeth calmly inquired, “[d]id he die?”

[354]*354Three firearms were recovered from the master bedroom of the Shannons’ house. None of those firearms, however, was the murder weapon. Sexually-oriented videotapes and magazines, sexual devices, lubricants, and condoms were also recovered from the house. The cause of Shannon’s death was close-range gunshot wounds to his head and chest.

A jury convicted defendant of first degree murder, conspiracy to commit first degree murder, and accessory after the fact to murder. The trial court arrested judgment on the offense of accessory after the fact to murder. Defendant appeals.

In defendant’s first argument on appeal, she contends that the trial court erred by admitting three sexually suggestive photographs of defendant. Specifically, defendant asserts that the photographs were irrelevant and, alternatively, unduly prejudicial. We disagree.

Relevant evidence is evidence which has “any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 8C-1, Rule 401 (2005). “Although [a] ‘trial court’s rulings on relevancy technically are not discretionary and therefore are.not reviewed under the abuse of discretion standard applicable to Rule 403, such rulings are given great deference on appeal.’ ” Dunn v. Custer, 162 N.C.

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State v. Shannon
642 S.E.2d 516 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2007)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
642 S.E.2d 516, 182 N.C. App. 350, 2007 N.C. App. LEXIS 687, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-shannon-ncctapp-2007.