State v. Whitley

319 S.E.2d 584, 311 N.C. 656, 1984 N.C. LEXIS 1753
CourtSupreme Court of North Carolina
DecidedAugust 28, 1984
Docket564A83
StatusPublished
Cited by74 cases

This text of 319 S.E.2d 584 (State v. Whitley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court 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. Whitley, 319 S.E.2d 584, 311 N.C. 656, 1984 N.C. LEXIS 1753 (N.C. 1984).

Opinion

MITCHELL, Justice.

The defendant seeks a reversal of his conviction of first degree murder, contending that the trial court erred in submitting a possible verdict of first degree murder to the jury and in failing to find the guilty verdict contrary to the weight of the evidence. He also contends that the trial court erroneously allowed certain testimony to be admitted. He finally assigns as error the trial court’s refusal to instruct the jury on involuntary manslaughter as a possible verdict. Having examined the evidence presented, we find no merit in the defendant’s contentions.

*658 The State’s evidence tended to show that the deceased, Billy Joe Whitley, lived with his wife and young son in a house located about two hundred yards from the home of his mother, Betty Whitley. Betty Whitley and the father of the deceased, the defendant Paul Whitley, had been separated for several months when the death of Billy Joe Whitley occurred in May, 1983. On May 7, 1983 at approximately 6:00 p.m. Billy Joe Whitley, his wife Theresa and his son Joey rode in a red pickup truck to Betty Whitley’s house to pick up mail. Billy Joe Whitley went inside the house.

Theresa Whitley testified that shortly after her husband went inside his mother’s home, she heard the raised voices of her husband and his father, the defendant, in argument. She heard the defendant say “Joe, I’m gonna come up there and kill you.” She heard her husband say, “Daddy, don’t come up there and bother us anymore.” Theresa Whitley testified that Billy Joe Whitley came back outside, got into the truck and started driving home. He told his wife to get out her house key and to go inside their home and lock the door. When they arrived home, her husband pulled the red pickup truck sideways across their driveway. Billy Joe Whitley then got his shotgun and some shells from the house. Theresa Whitley went inside the house with her son and locked the door. She watched as the defendant drove up in an El Camino truck and pulled into the driveway. Theresa Whitley observed her husband fire a shot into the air over the defendant’s truck. She looked around to locate her young son, and then heard two or three more shots in rapid succession. She ran outside and saw her husband, who had blood on him, getting up from the ground. Her husband walked toward his father’s El Camino and said, “Daddy, you shot me. I’m bleeding, take me to the hospital.” He then got into the El Camino with his father. The defendant drove his son to a hospital.

Further evidence presented by the State tended to show that the deceased suffered three gunshot wounds. One wound was a grazing wound to the right arm. One wound was to the right back, eleven inches from the top of the deceased’s head. The third wound was to the right lower back, fifteen to sixteen inches below the top of the head. The wounds were consistent with having been caused by distant shots.

*659 Two witnesses for the State testified to their observations of the defendant at Wilkes County General Hospital. They observed the defendant bring his son to the door of the hospital and heard him say, “I think he’s been shot.” After two men helped Billy Joe Whitley inside the hospital emergency room, the defendant left without reentering the emergency room. The defendant was not arrested until May 16, 1983, although a warrant was issued May 7, 1983 and a search for him conducted throughout the county.

The evidence presented by the defendant included his own testimony concerning the events of May 7, 1983. The defendant testified that he was at his home that day and that although he did not stay with his wife all of the time, he and his wife did live together. He acknowledged having an argument with his son over money he said Billy Joe owed him. He testified that he did not threaten his son, but told him that he wanted to talk with him further.

The defendant stated that Billy Joe left in his truck and that he, the defendant, followed his son in an El Camino truck to his son’s house. He testified that when he arrived at the house, Billy Joe had blocked the driveway with his truck. Billy Joe walked from behind the truck, fired a shotgun above the El Camino, and immediately began reloading his gun. He walked toward the defendant’s El Camino and said, “Dad, do you believe I’ll kill you?” The defendant answered, “Billy Joe, I hope not.” Billy Joe then put the shotgun in the window of the El Camino and hit his father several times with the barrel. The defendant was knocked down onto the seat by the blows and while he was down, he reached under the seat for his pistol. The defendant’s testimony was that as he came back up from the floor, his son backed off. The defendant fired three shots at his son to save his own life. He then drove Billy Joe to the hospital. After leaving the hospital, he saw several friends. He then spent four days in a hay barn thinking, after which he went home, sent for a minister, and surrendered to police. The defendant acknowledged that prior to May 7, 1983 he had lived with a twenty-three year old woman, Penny Whitley [unrelated], in a house across the road from the house occupied by his wife.

Several witnesses testified on behalf of the defendant. Several of his friends testified that they had seen the defendant on *660 the night after the shooting. At that time he was bruised about the head and shoulders. They testified that the defendant had told them that his son had hit him with the barrel of a gun.

Betty Whitley, the defendant’s wife, testified on his behalf that she remembered an argument over money between her husband and her son on May 7, 1983. She recalled no threats, but stated that she went after her husband when he followed their son to their son’s house. She testified that her husband told her to go back home because he did not intend any trouble. She testified that she and her husband had been separated for several months, but that he spent most days and some nights with her.

Detective David Call testified that Betty Whitley had made several statements to the police after the death of her son. She told them that on May 7, 1983 her husband had been in a very bad mood, and that after the argument over money, she ran out to the road to stop her husband because she thought there would be trouble.

I.

The defendant first contends that the trial court erred in admitting over objection references by Detective Call to the “crime scene” in his testimony about his investigation of the shooting. The defendant maintains that the references deprived him of a fair trial by violating the requirement that the State prove every element of a crime and by depriving him of the presumption of innocence.

The defendant raised no objection at trial to the first reference to “crime scene.” He made a general objection to the “terminology ‘crime scene’ ” at the second reference by Detective Call, and the trial court overruled the objection. The detective made three further references to the crime scene in his testimony to which no objection was raised.

We are not persuaded by the defendant’s argument that the references to the “crime scene” were prejudicial. It is clear that some sort of crime was committed at the residence of Billy Joe Whitley on May 7, 1983. Several gunshots were fired which caused the death of Billy Joe Whitley.

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Bluebook (online)
319 S.E.2d 584, 311 N.C. 656, 1984 N.C. LEXIS 1753, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-whitley-nc-1984.