NO. COA01-1254
Appeal by defendant from judgment entered 30 June 1999 by
Judge Marvin K. Gray in Gaston County Superior Court. Heard in the
Court of Appeals 1 July 2002.
Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General
David L. Elliott, for the State.
David Childers for defendant-appellant.
BRYANT, Judge.
On 6 October 1997, defendant was indicted on charges of
harboring and aiding a fugitive. The case was tried at the 2 July
1999 Criminal Session of Gaston County Superior Court.
The State presented evidence at trial which tended to show the
following: On 1 July 1997, Austin Partlow was being held in Gaston
County Jail for assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious
injury. While coming back from an appearance in court, Partlow
managed to unlock his handcuffs with a key and run out of the jail.
Partlow got a ride and went to the home of the defendant, a friend
of his. Partlow told defendant he had gotten into some “trouble”
and needed to use the phone. Defendant asked him what happened,
but all Partlow told him was “[i]t wasn't nothing, just a littletrouble.” Partlow testified that he was dressed in regular
clothes, having changed out of his prison clothes in the car on the
way over. Partlow never told defendant that he had escaped from
jail. Partlow used defendant's phone, and then went to another
person's home, Phillip Bean, whom he talked to for a short time
before returning to defendant's home.
Sometime after four in the morning on 2 July 1997, Sergeant
Nick Flemming and Captain Gale Bess of the Gaston County Sheriff's
Department went to defendant's home to look for Partlow. They
knocked on defendant's door, and after a five minute delay,
defendant answered the door. Defendant was advised that Partlow
had escaped, that they had information that Partlow was in
defendant's home, and they wished to search his home. Initially,
defendant refused the officers entry into his home and denied
knowing of Partlow's whereabouts. Eventually, however, defendant
relented and Partlow was found hiding in a kitchen cabinet in
defendant's home. Defendant was convicted of harboring a fugitive
and sentenced to a term of eight to ten months imprisonment.
Defendant appeals.
Defendant's sole argument on appeal is that the trial court
erred by denying his motion to dismiss. Specifically, defendant
contends that the State failed to prove that he knew that Partlow
had escaped from jail and was a fugitive from justice. Defendant
cites evidence that Partlow arrived unannounced at defendant's home
and did not tell him he was in trouble with the police. Defendantfurther notes that Partlow was dressed in street clothes, not
prison garb. Accordingly, defendant asserts that the evidence
raised no more than mere suspicion, and relied upon surmise and
conjecture that defendant knew or should have known about Partlow's
legal status.
After careful review of the record, briefs and contentions of
the parties, we find no error. To survive a motion to dismiss, the
State must present substantial evidence of each essential element
of the charged offense.
State v. Cross, 345 N.C. 713, 716-17, 483
S.E.2d 432, 434 (1997)
. “'Substantial evidence is relevant
evidence that a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support
a conclusion.'”
Id. at 717, 483 S.E.2d at 434 (quoting
State v.
Olson, 330 N.C. 557, 564, 411 S.E.2d 592, 595 (1992)). Here,
defendant was charged with harboring a fugitive.
Defendant contends that the State failed to prove its case
because there was no evidence that he knew Partlow had escaped.
However, Captain Bess testified that she told defendant that
Partlow had escaped from jail and that she had information that
Partlow was in defendant's home. Sergeant Flemming also testified
that defendant was advised that Partlow had escaped from jail.
Despite being told that Partlow was an escapee, defendant still
refused police admission into his home to search for Partlow.
Defendant denied having seen Partlow, and said “he didn't want us
to come in because [Partlow] was not there and he knew [Partlow]
and he had not seen [Partlow] for . . . a couple of weeks.”
Eventually, defendant did allow police to search his home, andPartlow was found hiding in a kitchen cabinet.
Based on the testimony of Captain Bess and Sergeant Flemming
that they told defendant that Partlow was an escapee, and
defendant's denials of having seen Partlow, in the light most
favorable to the State, a reasonable mind could conclude from the
evidence that defendant knew that Partlow had escaped and harbored
him. See
Cross, 345 N.C. at 717, 483 S.E.2d at 434.
Accordingly,
we conclude the trial court did not err in denying defendant's
motion to dismiss.
No error.
Judges MARTIN and HUNTER concur.
Report per Rule 30(e).
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