State v. Withers

633 S.E.2d 863, 179 N.C. App. 249, 2006 N.C. App. LEXIS 1920
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedSeptember 5, 2006
DocketCOA05-1241
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 633 S.E.2d 863 (State v. Withers) 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. Withers, 633 S.E.2d 863, 179 N.C. App. 249, 2006 N.C. App. LEXIS 1920 (N.C. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinions

McGEE, Judge.

Joe Louis Withers (defendant) was convicted of first degree murder of Terrell Walker (Walker) in a judgment entered 7 April 2005. The trial court sentenced defendant to life imprisonment without parole.

At trial, the State’s evidence tended to show the following. Ronald Hayes (Hayes) testified he was at defendant’s home with defendant, Timothy McCoy (McCoy), and Rashay Latonya Saunders Lockett (Lockett) on 19 March 2004. Defendant and McCoy left defendant’s home and Hayes stayed with Lockett. Hayes testified that after defendant and McCoy left, Walker came to defendant’s home, “pulled [251]*251out some dope and . . . put it on the end table, and . . . started counting money.” Hayes saw Walker sell drugs in defendant’s home.

Hayes testified that when defendant and McCoy returned, Walker started “foulmouthin[g]” two women who had arrived at defendant’s home with Andy Graham (Graham), and defendant told Walker to leave. Walker did not leave but instead threatened defendant by saying, “I’ll kick your ass.” Walker stood over defendant in an attempt to scare defendant. Defendant went to get his rifle and Hayes and McCoy “[wrestled]” Walker out of defendant’s home. When Walker left, defendant put down his rifle.

Walker then started kicking the front door from outside and looking through the windows at the top of the door. Defendant picked up his rifle and walked towards the door. McCoy grabbed the rifle from defendant, and the rifle went off inside the house, hitting the air conditioner. Hayes testified that

[everybody ducked, and [defendant] stepped out, he just stepped right outside the door on the porch. That’s when [defendant] told [Walker], he said, “I told you to leave, but you don’t believe I’ll do nothin[g] to you,” and that’s when I heard the first shot. I didn’t count the shots after that.

McCoy testified that when defendant asked Walker to leave defendant’s home, Walker “kept cussin[g], called [defendant] an old bastard, you son-of-a-bitch, f— you, you’re a wangster, I’m a gangster, and all of that s— to [defendant].” McCoy heard Walker tell defendant he was going to “kick [defendant’s] ass” and saw Walker tower over defendant in an attempt to scare defendant.

McCoy testified that Graham escorted Walker out of defendant’s home, but Walker then kicked the door repeatedly and looked through the windows at the top of the door. Defendant got his rifle and McCoy stood in front of the door and told defendant that he would not let defendant go outside. Defendant’s rifle misfired, hitting the air conditioner, and McCoy got out of the way. McCoy testified:

Q. What happened after you got out of the way?
A. [Defendant] opened the front door up, opened the screen door, [Walker] was still standing on the porch. And [defendant] just stood there looking at [Walker], [Defendant] ha[d] the barrel of the [rifle] in his hand, like this. [Defendant] didn’t have his [252]*252hand on the trigger. He was talking to [Walker]. He said, “Boy, you don’t think I’ll shoot you?” [Walker] was still there talking s — , and I was like, “[Walker], shut up. Just be quiet.”
Then [Walker] walked out in the yard. [Defendant] walked on the sidewalk. [Walker] stood between [defendant’s] car and his car. [Walker] told [defendant], “F— you.” [Defendant] said, “Boy, you still don’t think I’ll fire your ass up, do you?” And [Walker] said, “F— you,” and [defendant] fired [at] him.”

McCoy testified that after defendant shot Walker the first time, Walker said he was “going to get his s — ,” which McCoy understood to mean Walker was going to get his gun. McCoy testified that defendant shot Walker again.

Graham testified that defendant was in the doorway of defendant’s home when defendant fired the first shot at Walker. Lockett, who was also at defendant’s home on 19 March 2004, testified as follows:

Q. Okay. Do you recall telling Detective Hosier that you heard [defendant] saying, “Oh, you’re reaching for your s — , go ahead and reach for your s — ”?
A. Yeah.
Q. Did you hear [defendant] say that?
A. Yeah, [defendant] said, “Oh, what [are] you reaching for.”

Defendant testified that Walker had tried to sell drugs out of defendant’s home three or four times prior to 19 March 2004. Each time, defendant had told Walker he could not sell drugs out of defendant’s home. Walker came to defendant’s home at approximately 8:00 or 8:30 p.m. on 19 March 2004 and defendant told him to leave. Walker left defendant’s home to sell drugs next door.

Defendant left his house and later returned to find Walker “sitting in the living room on the couch, with a bunch of dope on [defendant’s] table, cutting it up and bagging it up.” Defendant told Walker he could not sell drugs in defendant’s home and told Walker to leave, but Walker refused. Defendant got his rifle while Hayes and McCoy removed Walker from defendant’s home. Once Walker was outside, defendant put down his rifle. However, shortly thereafter, Walker began kicking the door and looking through the window into defend[253]*253ant’s home. As he was kicking the door, defendant testified Walker said: “Open the so-and-so door. I ain’t leavin[g] nowhere till I get my money back.”

Defendant picked up his rifle, went to the door and told McCoy that “the man’s gonna tear my door down. I[’ve] got to do something.” When defendant opened the door, Walker had stepped off the porch and was standing next to his car, about seven or eight feet away from defendant. Defendant again told Walker to leave. Defendant testified:

[Walker] started towards me, and [there is] a pole there on the corner of the, uh, the porch. [Walker] started towards me. [There is] a bush there. [Walker’s] car, uh, the bushes [were] at the back of his car, and there’s a pole there to hold up the porch. He started toward me, and he reached up to that pole, and he slipped. And when he slipped, I fired, [because] I didn’t know whether he was grabbing me. I didn’t know what was going on.
Q. Okay. Why did you shoot [Walker]?
A. [Because] I was scared that he was fixin[g] to do something to me, fixin[g] to kill me or whatever. I was afraid.

Defendant further testified that he shot Walker again when Walker was stooping over his open trunk about four or five feet away from defendant.

Q. Okay. Why did you shoot [Walker] the second time?
A. Because when he [came] out [of] that trunk, I didn’t know what he was coming out of that trunk with, [because] I knew he had an AK-47.
Q. Okay. Did you see a gun in his hand when he turned?
A. I saw something. I won’t swear to it that it was a gun. I saw something. It was a quick flash, and that was it.
Q. . . . how long had you known [Walker]?
A. No more than six months.
Q. In the prior months, had you seen him with an AK-47?
[The State]: Objection.
[254]*254A. Yes, sir, I did.

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Related

State v. Lee
811 S.E.2d 563 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 2018)
State v. Bass
802 S.E.2d 477 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2017)
State v. Lee
789 S.E.2d 679 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2016)
State v. Tyson
672 S.E.2d 700 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2009)
State v. Moore
671 S.E.2d 545 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2009)
State v. Withers
633 S.E.2d 863 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
633 S.E.2d 863, 179 N.C. App. 249, 2006 N.C. App. LEXIS 1920, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-withers-ncctapp-2006.