1. Evidence--out-of-court identification--photographic lineup not unnecessarily
suggestive
The trial court did not err in a felony breaking or entering case when it denied
defendant's motion to suppress the out-of-court identification evidence because: (1) defendant
has not made the photographic lineup part of the record on appeal; (2) the fact that defendant
was the only one pictured with freckles does not render the photographic lineup impermissibly
suggestive per se; (3) the trial court specifically found the investigating officer who compiled the
photographic lineup did the best she could in including individuals with similar features to those
described by the victim; and (4) even if the photographic lineup was impermissibly suggestive, it
was not so suggestive that there was a substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification.
2. Evidence--in-court identification--not fruit of the poisonous tree
Since the Court of Appeals already concluded defendant's photographic lineup in a
felony breaking or entering case was not impermissibly suggestive, it also follows that the trial
court did not err when it denied his motion to suppress the in-court identification evidence as the
fruit of the poisonous tree.
3. Criminal Law--prosecutorial delay of calendaring--one instance not egregious
violation
The trial court did not err in failing to dismiss the charges against defendant in a felony
breaking or entering case under N.C.G.S. § 15A-954(a)(4) based on the theory that the
prosecutor delayed trying the case once after it had been calendared in order to locate missing
witnesses and thereby gain a tactical advantage because an isolated allegation of prosecutorial
delay does not rise to the level of repeated egregious violations.
4. Burglary and Unlawful Breaking or Entering--intent to commit felony--sufficiency
of the evidence
The trial court did not err in a felony breaking or entering case for failing to grant
defendant's motion to dismiss for insufficiency of the evidence as to defendant's intent to
commit the felony because: (1) defendant has not offered any exculpatory evidence as to his
intent, and intent may be inferred from the circumstances whether it is daytime or nighttime; and
(2) even though defendant claims he made a statement to the victim that he was there to wash the
windows, that evidence was excluded upon defendant's own hearsay objection, and evidence not
introduced at trial cannot be considered.
5. Jury--selection--question about eyewitness identification--not improper stake-out
The prosecution did not impermissibly stake out jurors during jury selection in a felony
breaking or entering case by asking if they had a per se problem with eyewitness identification
because questions designed to measure prospective jurors' ability to follow the law are proper
within the context of jury selection voir dire since they tend to only secure impartial jurors and
do not cause the jurors to commit to a future course of action.
6. Criminal Law--instruction on flight--some evidence of attempting to avoidapprehension
The trial court did not err in a felony breaking or entering case by instructing the jury on
the issue of flight because there is some evidence in the record reasonably supporting the theory
that defendant fled after the commission of the crime charged in order to avoid apprehension.
7. Sentencing--habitual felon--status--not substantive offense--notice of prosecution as
recidivist
The trial court did not err in a felony breaking or entering case by sentencing defendant
as an habitual felon even though the indictment did not specifically allege that defendant had
committed a new felony while being an habitual felon because being an habitual felon is a status
and not a substantive offense, and the only pleading requirement is that defendant be given
notice he is being prosecuted for some substantive felony as a recidivist.
Attorney General Michael F. Easley, by Assistant Attorney
General Laura E. Crumpler, for the State.
Daniel Shatz for defendant-appellant.
LEWIS, Judge.
Defendant was tried at the 13 October 1997 session of Durham
County Superior Court for felony breaking and entering and for
being an habitual felon. The jury returned a verdict on 16 October
1997, finding him guilty of felony breaking and entering and
further finding him to be an habitual felon. Defendant now
appeals.
At trial, the State's evidence tended to show that on Sunday
morning, 7 July 1996, at about 7:00 a.m., LaToya Thorpe was
awakened by a man climbing through her bedroom window. She
observed him for about forty-five seconds and detected that he was
unarmed. She then ran to get her grandmother and uncle, who were
also living in the house. When her uncle returned to the bedroom,the intruder was gone. When police inspected the area outside the
window, they observed that a trash barrel had been moved directly
underneath the window and that the window screen had been torn off.
Ms. Thorpe described the man as a light or red-skinned African-
American with a goatee and freckles around his nose and cheeks.
After further investigation, the police began to suspect that
defendant was the intruder. They prepared a photographic lineup
that included defendant's picture and showed it to Ms. Thorpe.
Without hesitation, she positively identified the intruder as
defendant.
[1]Defendant first contests the trial court's denial of his
motion to suppress the identification evidence. He maintains that
both the out-of-court and in-court identifications of defendant
were inherently flawed, in violation of his right to due process.
Each will be analyzed in turn.
The standard for out-of-court identifications in this state is
well-settled. "Identification evidence must be excluded as
violating a defendant's right to due process where the facts reveal
a pretrial identification procedure so impermissibly suggestive
that there is a very substantial likelihood of irreparable
misidentification." State v. Harris, 308 N.C. 159, 162, 301 S.E.2d
91, 94 (1983). Thus, in the context of photographic lineups, a
positive identification must be suppressed only if the photographic
lineup itself is both (1) "impermissibly suggestive" and (2) so
suggestive that "irreparable misidentification" is likely. State
v. Pigott, 320 N.C. 96, 99-100, 357 S.E.2d 631, 633-34 (1987). The
failure of either requirement defeats defendant's due processclaim. Defendant argues the photographic lineup here was
impermissibly suggestive because, of the six African-American men
in the lineup, only two had a light complexion and only one (the
defendant) had freckles. Inexplicably, however, defendant has not
made the photographic lineup part of the record on appeal. So we
have no way of determining whether the lineup was unnecessarily
suggestive except by the bald assertions of the defendant. After
a thorough review of the record, including both the pre-trial and
trial transcripts, we conclude that defendant's contentions are
without merit.
"The mere fact that defendant ha[s] specific identifying
characteristics not shared by the other participants does not
invalidate the lineup." State v. Gaines, 283 N.C. 33, 40, 194
S.E.2d 839, 844 (1973). Thus, the fact that defendant was the only
one pictured with freckles does not render the photographic lineup
impermissibly suggestive per se. Furthermore, at the voir dire
hearing on defendant's motion to suppress, the trial court
specifically found that the investigating officer who compiled the
photographic lineup did the best she could in including individuals
with similar features to those described by Ms. Thorpe, but the
police department's files simply included no pictures of African-
American men with freckles. Defendant has not excepted to this
finding, and it is thus conclusive on appeal. State v. Fisher, 321
N.C. 19, 24, 361 S.E.2d 551, 554 (1987). Accordingly, defendant's
own unique physical appearance was what rendered him conspicuous in
the lineup, not any suggestive police procedures. Defendant's
unique physical appearance was simply an existing fact, and thepolice's inability to include individuals in the lineup that shared
defendant's unique physical appearance cannot be attributed to the
officers or regarded as the kind of rigged 'suggestiveness' in
identification procedures [prohibited by due process]. State v.
Rogers, 275 N.C. 411, 429, 168 S.E.2d 345, 356 (1969), cert.
denied, 396 U.S. 1024, 24 L. Ed. 2d 518 (1970). We therefore
conclude that this was not an impermissibly suggestive lineup.
Moreover, even if the photographic lineup was impermissibly
suggestive, we conclude that it was not so suggestive that there
was a "substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification."
Harris, 308 N.C. at 162, 301 S.E.2d at 94. In analyzing this part
of the inquiry, our courts look at the totality of the
circumstances, guided by five factors: (1) the opportunity of the
witness to view the perpetrator at the time of the crime; (2) the
witness's degree of attention; (3) the accuracy of the witness's
prior description; (4) the level of certainty demonstrated by the
witness at the pre-trial identification; and (5) the time between
the crime and the pre-trial identification. Pigott, 320 N.C. at
99-100, 357 S.E.2d at 634.
The circumstances here show there was not a substantial
likelihood of irreparable misidentification. Ms. Thorpe had an
opportunity to view the perpetrator for approximately forty-fiveseconds, her description to the police "matches to an absolute T"
the appearance of the defendant (Motions Tr. at 69), she had no
hesitancy in identifying defendant, and the photographic lineup was
shown to her only nine days after the crime. Accordingly, the
trial court did not err in denying defendant's motion to suppress
the pre-trial identification.
[2]Defendant also contends that Ms. Thorpe's in-court
identification of defendant should have been suppressed because it
was tainted by the impermissibly suggestive photographic lineup.
However, because the lineup itself was not impermissibly suggestive
(and thus not a "poisonous tree"), the in-court identification
could not possibly be suppressed as the fruit of a poisonous tree.
See generally State v. Daughtry, 340 N.C. 488, 507, 459 S.E.2d 747,
756 (1995), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 1079, 133 L. Ed. 2d 739 (1996);
State v. Medlin, 333 N.C. 280, 295, 426 S.E.2d 402, 409 (1993). We
therefore reject his argument.
[3]Next, defendant argues that his charges should have been
dismissed pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-954(a)(4). That
subsection permits dismissal when "[t]he defendant's constitutional
rights have been flagrantly violated and there is such irreparable
prejudice to the defendant's preparation of his case that there is
no remedy but to dismiss the prosecution." N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-
954(a)(4) (1997). Here, defendant contends that the prosecution
engaged in calendar abuse, thereby warranting dismissal. We
disagree.
A motion to dismiss under section 15A-954(a)(4) is to begranted only sparingly. State v. Joyner, 295 N.C. 55, 59, 243
S.E.2d 367, 370 (1978). In his formal motion to the trial court,
defendant's only argument was that the North Carolina statutes give
the prosecution too much control over the calendaring process and
case management, in violation of a defendant's constitutional
rights. This facial constitutional challenge has already been
rejected by our Supreme Court, and we need not readdress it here.
See Simeon v. Hardin, 339 N.C. 358, 375-77, 451 S.E.2d 858, 869-71
(1994).
Only at the hearing on his motion to dismiss did defendant
even suggest an as-applied challenge. Our Supreme Court permitted
such a challenge in Simeon, where Simeon alleged the prosecution
repeatedly delayed calendaring his case in order to keep him and
other defendants in jail, had delayed trying him when it was likely
he would be acquitted, and had pressured him to plead guilty. Id.
at 378, 451 S.E.2d at 871-72. Defendant's only claim of abuse here
is that the prosecution delayed trying his case once after it had
been calendared in order to locate missing witnesses and thereby
gain a tactical advantage. This one isolated allegation of
prosecutorial delay does not rise to the level of the repeated,
egregious violations in Simeon. Accordingly, defendant's motion to
dismiss was properly denied.
[4]Defendant also contends the trial court should have
granted his motion to dismiss for insufficient evidence. The
standard for ruling on a motion to dismiss for lack of evidence is
well-settled. The trial court must determine whether the State hasoffered substantial evidence of defendant's guilt as to each
element of the crime charged. State v. Cox, 303 N.C. 75, 87, 277
S.E.2d 376, 384 (1981). In doing so, however, the trial court is
required to interpret the evidence in the light most favorable to
the State, drawing all reasonable inferences in the State's favor.
Id. Felony breaking and entering involves (1) a breaking or
entering (2) into a building (3) without consent (4) with an intent
to commit a felony therein. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-54(a) (1993);
N.C.P.I., Crim. 214.30. Here, defendant argues there was
insufficient evidence to establish that he had any intent to commit
a felony. We disagree.
The requisite intent for felony breaking and entering need not
be directly proved it may be inferred from the circumstances.
State v. Myrick, 306 N.C. 110, 115, 291 S.E.2d 577, 580 (1982). In
fact, "[w]ithout other explanation for breaking into the building
or a showing of the owner's consent," the requisite intent can be
inferred. Id. Here, defendant's only explanation offered was a
statement he purportedly made to Ms. Thorpe to the effect that he
was there to wash the windows. However, that particular statement
was never even before the jury, as it was excluded upon defendant's
own hearsay objection. It goes without saying that, when viewing
all evidence in favor of the State for purposes of a motion to
dismiss, we cannot consider evidence not introduced at trial.
Accordingly, because defendant has offered no exculpatory evidence
as to his intent, that intent could properly be inferred under the
circumstances here. Defendant nonetheless asserts that this inference as to intent
only applies at nighttime. He bases his argument on the following
language from our Supreme Court regarding inferred intent:
The intelligent mind will take cognizance of
the fact, that people do not usually enter the
dwellings of others in the night time [sic],
when the inmates are asleep, with innocent
intent. The most usual intent is to steal,
and when there is no explanation or evidence
of a different intent, the ordinary mind will
infer this also.
State v. McBryde, 97 N.C. 393, 396, 1 S.E. 925, 927 (1887)
(emphasis added). We find defendant's argument unpersuasive.
McBryde and most of the cases applying this so-called McBryde
inference involved inferring intent in the context of a burglary
charge. One of the elements of burglary is that the crime occur at
nighttime. State v. Dalton, 122 N.C. App. 666, 669, 471 S.E.2d
657, 659 (1996). Thus, the McBryde court's reference to nighttime
was more a reference to the underlying burglary charge than a
judicial pronouncement that the inference of intent only applies to
crimes at night. In fact, this Court has previously applied the
inference to breakings and enterings during the daytime. See,
e.g., State v. Costigan, 51 N.C. App. 442, 445, 276 S.E.2d 467, 469
(1981). The trial court therefore properly rejected defendant's
motion to dismiss based upon insufficient evidence.
[5]Next, defendant argues that the prosecution impermissibly
staked out jurors during jury selection. Defendant points to the
following voir dire questioning as being improper:
Does anyone here have a per se problem with
eyewitness identification? Meaning, it is in
and of itself going to be insufficient to deema conviction in your mind, no matter what the
Judge instructs you as to the law. Per se
unreliability of eyewitness identification.
It is certainly true that counsel may not pose hypothetical
questions intended to elicit a prospective juror's decision in
advance as to a particular set of facts or evidence. State v.
Vinson, 287 N.C. 326, 336, 215 S.E.2d 60, 68 (1975), death penalty
vacated, 428 U.S. 902, 49 L. Ed. 2d 1206 (1976). "[S]uch questions
tend to 'stake out' the juror and cause him to pledge himself to a
future course of action." Id. It is equally true, however, that
the right to an impartial jury contemplates inquiry by each side to
ensure a prospective juror can follow the law. State v. Jones, 347
N.C. 193, 203, 491 S.E.2d 641, 647 (1997). Accordingly,
"[q]uestions designed to measure a prospective juror's ability to
follow the law are proper within the context of jury selection voir
dire." Id. Here, the prosecution was simply trying to ensure that
the jurors could follow the law with respect to eyewitness
testimony that is, treat it no differently than circumstantial
evidence. The prosecution's questions then "tended only to 'secure
impartial jurors,' [and did] not caus[e] them to commit to a future
course of action." State v. McKoy, 323 N.C. 1, 15, 372 S.E.2d 12,
19 (1988), death penalty vacated, 494 U.S. 433, 108 L. Ed. 2d 369
(1990).
[6]Through another assignment of error, defendant argues that
the trial court erred by instructing the jury on the issue of
flight. We disagree. Jury instructions pertaining to the issue of
flight are proper so long as there is "some evidence in the recordreasonably supporting the theory that the defendant fled after the
commission of the crime charged." State v. Fisher, 336 N.C. 684,
706, 445 S.E.2d 866, 878 (1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1098, 130
L. Ed. 2d 665 (1995). Mere evidence that defendant left the scene
is not enough; there must be some evidence suggesting defendant was
avoiding apprehension. State v. Thompson, 328 N.C. 477, 490, 402
S.E.2d 386, 392 (1991). The evidence here showed that Ms. Thorpe
awoke to see defendant climbing through her window, that she
exchanged some words with defendant, and then left the room to get
her uncle and grandmother. When she returned, defendant was
nowhere to be found. This evidence suggests defendant feared Ms.
Thorpe would call the police and thus ran away to avoid possible
apprehension. Accordingly, an instruction on flight was warranted.
[7]Finally, defendant argues he should not have been
sentenced as an habitual felon because his habitual felon
indictment was flawed. The indictment alleged that defendant was
an habitual felon and then listed his three prior felony
convictions; this permitted the State to indict him as an habitual
felon. The indictment did not specifically allege that defendant
had committed a new felony while being an habitual felon. This,
defendant maintains, renders the indictment insufficient as a
matter of law. We disagree.
In State v. Cheek, 339 N.C. 725, 453 S.E.2d 862 (1995), our
Supreme Court held that the habitual felon indictment need not
specifically list the new felony defendant allegedly committed.
Id. at 728, 453 S.E.2d at 864. Defendant nonetheless maintainsthat Cheek still requires the indictment to allege that some new
felony was committed. He correctly points out that "[b]eing an
habitual felon is not a crime but is a status . . . . The status
itself, standing alone, will not support a criminal sentence."
State v. Allen, 292 N.C. 431, 435, 233 S.E.2d 585, 588 (1977). He
then argues that, since criminal pleadings and indictments must
contain every element necessary for conviction, N.C. Gen. Stat. §
15A-924(a)(5) (1997), the habitual felon indictment must make some
reference to a new felony being committed in order to fulfill all
the necessary elements of being an habitual felon.
Defendant, however, defeats his own argument. As he points
out, being an habitual felon is not a substantive criminal offense,
but is rather a status. Were it a substantive offense, then
section 15A-925(a)(5)'s requirement that each element of the crime
be pleaded would certainly apply. But because being an habitual
felon is not a substantive offense, the only pleading requirement
is that defendant be given notice "that he is being prosecuted for
some substantive felony as a recidivist." Allen, 292 N.C. at 436,
233 S.E.2d at 588. Defendant's habitual felon indictment complied
with that notice requirement here. Defendant's final assignment of
error is therefore overruled.
No error.
Judges JOHN and McGEE concur.
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