State v. Thomas

Court of Appeals of North Carolina·Decided September 16, 2014·No. 13-1298·Unpublished

Opinion

An unpublished opinion of the North Carolina Court of Appeals does not constitute controlling legal authority. Citation is disfavored, but may be permitted in accordance with the provisions of Rule 30(e)(3) of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure.

NO. COA 13-1298

NORTH CAROLINA COURT OF APPEALS Filed: 16 September 2014 STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

Wake County

v. Nos. 11 CRS 221410;

12 CRS 8966, 11048

TYRECE ANTONIO THOMAS

Appeal by defendant from judgments entered 17 May 2013 by Judge Paul C. Ridgeway in Wake County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 23 April 2014.

Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Saunders, for the State.

Mergerian & Wells, by Franklin E. Wells, Jr., for Defendant.

ERVIN, Judge.

Defendant Tyrece Antonio Thomas appeals from judgments entered based upon his convictions for one count of robbery with a dangerous weapon, two counts of attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon, and two counts of conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon. On appeal, Defendant contends that the trial court erred by admitting testimony concerning an unrelated alleged robbery; and by denying his motion to dismiss the second

conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon charge for insufficiency of the evidence. After careful consideration of Defendant’s challenges to the trial court’s judgments in light of the record and the applicable law, we conclude that the trial court’s judgment stemming from Defendant’s second conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon conviction should be vacated; that judgment should be arrested in one of Defendant’s two convictions for conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon; that the case in which the trial court sentenced Defendant based upon his convictions for two counts of conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon should be remanded to the Wake County Superior Court for resentencing; and that the trial court’s other judgment should remain undisturbed.

I. Factual Background

A. Substantive Facts

At approximately 2:00 a.m. on 11 September 2011, John Limbouris, Michael Yahyapour, and Blake Johnson all returned to Mr. Limbouris’ apartment after spending several hours at the Five Points Bar and Grill in Raleigh. As part of that process, Mr. Yahyapour rode with Mr. Limbouris back to his apartment, while Mr. Johnson took a cab. Once he had parked his car and exited the vehicle, Mr. Limbouris saw Mr. Johnson, who had arrived a few

minutes before Mr. Limbouris and Mr. Yahyapour, standing near his apartment.

After telling Mr. Yahyapour to hurry up and get out of his car, Mr. Limbouris turned around, looked up, and saw two men running towards him. Although Mr. Limbouris yelled at the two men as they approached, the two men continued to charge towards him while brandishing firearms.

Mr. Limbouris and Mr. Yahyapour described one of the two men, later identified as Antonio Freeman, as a “taller, lankier, sinewy looking fellow” who was approximately six feet, two inches tall1 and described the other man, later identified as Defendant, as weighing about 200 pounds and being about five feet, seven inches, or five feet, eight inches tall.2 According to both Mr. Limbouris and Mr. Yahyapour, the taller man was carrying a gun with a longer barrel, while Mr. Limbouris indicated that the shorter man was carrying a smaller handgun. Both men wore dark clothes and had

1 Mr. Freeman, who testified for the State, pled guilty to one count of robbery with a dangerous weapon, one count of conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon, and two counts of attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon pursuant to a negotiated plea under which all of his convictions were to be consolidated for judgment. Mr. Freeman had not been sentenced as of the date of Defendant’s trial.

2 The identifications described in the text were made by Mr.

Freeman. The victims never identified Defendant as one of the perpetrators of the robbery.

covered half of their faces with bandannas, and the taller man also wore a black toboggan.

As the two men neared Mr. Limbouris, Mr. Yahyapour, and Mr.

Johnson, the taller man approached Mr. Yahyapour while the shorter man approached Mr. Limbouris. At that point, Mr. Johnson was farther from the two armed men at a point near the apartment building and facing away from Mr. Limbouris and Mr. Yahyapour. Upon reaching Mr. Limbouris, Mr. Yahyapour, and Mr. Johnson, the two armed men told them to take their wallets and all of the other items in their possession out of their pockets.

As the robbery occurred, Mr. Johnson phoned 911. Before the police could arrive, however, Mr. Yahyapour removed his Zelli brand wallet, which contained debit, credit, and identification cards, and threw it in the direction of the armed men. On the other hand, Mr. Limbouris refused to surrender his wallet. After the taller man retrieved Mr. Yahyapour’s wallet, the two armed men ran back down the street toward Fred Fletcher Park.

Mr. Limbouris pursued the robbers at a safe distance. As he did so, Mr. Limbouris saw a black Dodge Nitro driving around a nearby parking lot. As a result, Mr. Limbouris stopped following the robbers at a point about 50 yards from Fred Fletcher Park and focused his attention on the Nitro.

A few minutes after the robbery, Sergeant Tracy Turner and Officer Julie Pearson of the Raleigh Police Department arrived at the scene. As she took a statement from Mr. Limbouris, Officer Pearson saw a Dodge Nitro. Although Officer Pearson remained at the scene of the robbery to finish taking statements from Mr. Limbouris, Mr. Yahyapour, and Mr. Johnson, Sergeant Turner pursued the Dodge Nitro and stopped it on a bridge about a half a mile from Mr. Limbouris’ apartment. At the time that Sergeant Turner stopped the Dodge Nitro, Korey Ford was operating the vehicle and Javonte Goode was sitting in the passenger seat.3 After taking statements from Mr. Limbouris, Mr. Yahyapour, and Mr. Johnson, Officer Pearson drove the three victims past the Dodge Nitro in an attempt to ascertain if any of them could identify the occupants of the vehicle. As Officer Pearson’s patrol vehicle drove past the Dodge Nitro, the occupants saw a tall man with dreadlocks and a shorter man. Although neither Mr. Limbouris, Mr. Yahyapour, nor Mr. Johnson identified the taller man as one of the perpetrators of the robbery, the shorter man fit the description of the short man from the robbery incident. According to Mr. Ford and Mr. Goode, Mr. Freeman and Defendant,

3 Both Mr. Ford, who had been acquitted of involvement in the robbery, and Mr. Goode, who had been promised that he would not be prosecuted in the event that he provided truthful testimony, testified for the State.

who had been in Mr. Ford’s car earlier in the night, had gotten out shortly before the robbery without telling either Mr. Ford or Mr. Goode that they had any intention of engaging in criminal activity.4 After leaving the scene of the robbery and being unable to reunite with Mr. Ford, Defendant and Mr. Freeman ran toward and eventually hid in Fred Fletcher Park. From that location, they could see that the police had stopped the Dodge Nitro. As a result, they left their guns, which were concealed in items of clothing, in a flower bed in the park. On 11 September 2011, Kathryn Bauman-Hill found two firearms in Fred Fletcher Park while attending a picnic and reported her discovery to investigating officers. Upon responding to Ms. Bauman-Hill’s call, investigating officers discovered a loaded Ruger .22 caliber pistol and a loaded Phoenix .25 caliber pistol. Although Mr. Freeman’s DNA was found on certain of the items recovered from Fred Fletcher Park, none of Defendant’s fingerprints or DNA was found on any of those items.

B. Procedural History

On 11 September 2011, a warrant for arrest charging Defendant with robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit

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