Appeal by defendant from judgments entered 28 March 2002 by
Judge Dwight L. Cranford in Superior Court, Pitt County. Heard in
the Court of Appeals 24 April 2003.
Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General
Neil Dalton, for the State.
Jeffrey Evan Noecker, for defendant-appellant.
McGEE, Judge.
Carlos Antonio Lawson (defendant) was convicted of robbery
with a firearm and possession of a handgun by a felon on 28 March
2002. The trial court sentenced defendant to a minimum term of 103
months to a maximum term of 133 months active imprisonment for
robbery with a firearm and a minimum term of 20 months to a maximum
term of 24 months active imprisonment for possession of a handgun
by a felon, to run consecutively. Defendant appeals.
The State's evidence at trial tended to show that on 4
November 2001, Anthony Johnson (Johnson) was working as a clerk at
a Pantry in Grifton, North Carolina. Johnson was sitting behind
the counter around 10:00 p.m., with his head down. When he looked
up, there was a gun pointed at his face and he saw the gunman and
another man in the store. The gunman had a slim build and was
wearing bluish green coveralls, white tennis shoes, a black
toboggan, and a blue bandana with little white diamonds. The
bandana covered the lower part of the gunman's face. The other man
was taller than the gunman and had a heavier build, was wearing a
blue Adidas jacket with white stripes, and had a mask over his
face.
Both men, cursing at Johnson, demanded money from the cash
register. Johnson was scared and had trouble opening the register.
Johnson testified that he looked right at the gunman because he was
too scared to look elsewhere. When Johnson got the register open,
he gave all of the money in the register, approximately $75.00, to
the two men. Johnson was told to lie on the floor. Both men then
ran from the store. The entire robbery lasted approximately
twenty-five seconds. After the two men left the store, Johnsoncalled the police and ran outside.
A witness, who was standing across the street from the Pantry
at the time of the robbery, testified that he saw two men run from
the Pantry. He testified that one of the men was dressed in a dark
jumpsuit and was wearing white tennis shoes and that the other man
was wearing a dark colored coat with white stripes down the
sleeves. The witness identified an Adidas jacket seized from
defendant's car, as the type of coat he saw one of the men wearing
the night of the robbery.
Approximately two hours after the robbery, Officer C.L. Wilson
(Officer Wilson), of the Kinston Police Department, stopped a car
for running through a stoplight. The driver of the car, later
identified as defendant, was wearing a jumpsuit and white sneakers.
There were two passengers in the car with defendant. Officer
Wilson testified that defendant was very nervous and that when
Officer Lawson asked for defendant's driver's license, defendant
could not produce it or other identification. Defendant claimed he
had a North Carolina driver's license and gave the name "Antonio
Lawson" and a date of birth. Officer Wilson ran a DMV information
check for the name "Antonio Lawson," but the search returned no
record of information on "Antonio Lawson." Officer Wilson
testified that because he could not get DMV information on his
computer for the name "Antonio Lawson," he "knew that [defendant]
was lying" because if someone had ever had a North Carolina
identification, it would be recorded in DMV's records.
During the stop, a report of an armed robbery in Grifton came
over the police radio describing two black males, one of whom waswearing a blue coverall jumpsuit. Officer Wilson called for backup
since the description matched defendant. While the name "Antonio
Lawson" produced no results in the DMV search, information for the
name "Carlos Antonio Lawson," with another date of birth did
appear. Officer Wilson asked defendant if he was in fact Carlos
Antonio Lawson. Defendant denied that he was and never gave
Officer Lawson his correct name.
Other officers searched defendant's car and recovered a blue
Adidas jacket and two black toboggans from the trunk. No gun was
found in the car. A blue bandana was later found near the Pantry.
Defendant and his passengers were taken to the Grifton police
station. Johnson was brought to the Grifton police station.
Johnson testified that when he saw defendant at the police station,
he was wearing the same jumpsuit and white tennis shoes he had on
during the robbery, but that defendant was now wearing the jumpsuit
with the upper half unzipped and the sleeves tied at his waist with
a tee shirt underneath. Johnson also testified that when he looked
through the window into the room where defendant was being held,
defendant stood up, came to the door and in a face-to-face
exchange, said to Johnson, "Yo, man, tell them it won't me. They
got the wrong m-----f------ man." Johnson testified that he
recognized the voice of defendant as that of the robber. Johnson
also testified that besides defendant's clothes and voice, he
recognized defendant's eyes and his face from the nose up, which
had not been covered by a bandana during the robbery. Johnson
testified that "I mean when somebody has got a gun in your face
. . . you're too scared to look anywhere else, so you are sittingright there looking right at their face in their eyes. . . . you
don't forget his eyes." Johnson also testified, "[l]ike I said
it's hard to forget somebody who puts a gun in your face."
A videotape and photographs of the armed robbery were admitted
into evidence and viewed by the jury without objection. Johnson
testified that the Pantry was equipped with two video cameras which
fed into one recorder; that the Pantry's manager had loaded the
recorder with videotapes, and that the recorder was properly
working and that the videotape accurately depicted the robbery.
Officer Chapman testified that he obtained the videotape from the
Pantry the night of the robbery and turned it over to Deputy
Pollock. A Deputy Pollock did not testify. However, Deputy
Pollard did testify but did not testify as to the chain of custody
of the videotape. During closing arguments, defense counsel used
the videotape to argue: (1) that the robber was seen touching
several things in the store, including the cash register, but no
prints were found (T. p. 252) and (2) that the robbery only lasted
twenty-five seconds and Johnson was lying on the floor, looking
down, and looking at the cash register, for a portion of that time
and thus had little time to look at the robber. Defendant
presented no evidence.
I.
[1] Defendant argues the trial court erred by admitting
evidence of both the in-court and out-of-court identification of
defendant by Johnson. Defendant did not object to either of the
identifications at trial and thus argues these errors amounted to
plain error. Plain error is an error which is "'so fundamental asto amount to a miscarriage of justice or which probably resulted in
the jury reaching a different verdict than it otherwise would have
reached.'"
State v. Collins, 334 N.C. 54, 62, 431 S.E.2d 188, 193
(1993) (citations omitted). The Courts in our State have applied
the plain error rule to the admission of evidence.
State v. Black,
308 N.C. 736, 740-41, 303 S.E.2d 804, 806 (1983).
Defendant first argues that the show-up identification
procedure used by the police resulted in a substantial likelihood
of misidentification of defendant as the robber. If defendant can
show the pretrial identification procedures were so suggestive as
to create a substantial likelihood of irreparable
misidentification, the identification evidence must be suppressed.
State v. Grimes, 309 N.C. 606, 609-10, 308 S.E.2d 293, 294-95
(1983). While show-up style identifications are disfavored, they
"are not
per se violative of a defendant's due process rights."
State v. Turner, 305 N.C. 356, 364, 289 S.E.2d 368, 373 (1982). We
use a totality of the circumstances test in making this
determination.
State v. Fisher, 321 N.C. 19, 23, 361 S.E.2d 551,
553 (1987). The factors to be considered in this inquiry are:
(1) the opportunity of the witness to view the
criminal at the time of the crime, (2) the
witness' degree of attention, (3) the accuracy
of the witness' prior description of the
criminal, (4) the level of certainty
demonstrated at the confrontation, and (5) the
time between the crime and confrontation.
State v. Powell, 321 N.C. 364, 369, 364 S.E.2d 332, 335,
cert.
denied, 488 U.S. 830, 102 L. Ed. 2d 60 (1988).
In the present case, the robbery lasted approximately twenty-
five seconds and defendant stood immediately in front of Johnsonwith a gun pointed at Johnson's face. Johnson testified that he
looked right at defendant during the robbery, taking special notice
of defendant's eyes. Johnson gave a description of defendant,
acknowledging that although a bandana was covering the lower part
of defendant's face, he recognized defendant's eyes, nose, and
distinctive forehead. Defendant also gave other descriptions of
defendant's clothing and a comparative description of the other man
in the store during the robbery, as well as the gun used in the
robbery. Defendant was arrested while wearing a jumpsuit and white
tennis shoes like Johnson had described. Further, black toboggans
and a blue Adidas jacket were found in the trunk of defendant's
car.
Upon seeing defendant at the police station, Johnson was
certain that defendant was the man who had held him at gunpoint in
the Pantry. Defendant also spoke to Johnson, giving Johnson a
chance to hear defendant's voice and compare it to the voice of the
gunman from the Pantry. At the time of the identification, only a
few hours had passed since the robbery. We also note another
indicia of reliability of the identification by Johnson. When
Johnson looked through the window where defendant was being held,
defendant immediately came forward and pleaded with Johnson not to
identify him and to tell the police they had the wrong man,
indicating defendant knew Johnson was the clerk he robbed, which is
a proper consideration in the totality of the circumstances test.
Based on the totality of the circumstances, we do not believe
there was a substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification
and thus evidence of the out-of-court identification wasadmissible. Since the out-of-court identification was admissible,
there is no danger it impermissibly tainted the in-court
identification.
Grimes, 309 N.C. at 609-10, 308 S.E.2d at 294-95.
Therefore, Johnson's in-court identification of defendant was
admissible. Defendant has failed to show plain error and his first
argument is overruled.
II.
[2] Defendant next argues that the trial court erred by
admitting into evidence a videotape where the evidentiary
foundation was insufficient. Defendant did not object to the
admission of the videotape into evidence and therefore we apply the
plain error test.
See Black, 308 N.C. at 740-41, 303 S.E.2d at
806.
As discussed above, plain error is an error which is "'so
fundamental as to amount to a miscarriage of justice or which
probably resulted in the jury reaching a different verdict than it
otherwise would have reached.'"
Collins, 334 N.C. at 62, 431
S.E.2d at 193 (citations omitted).
In order to lay a proper foundation for the introduction of
the videotape, the State could have used
"(1) testimony that the motion picture or
videotape fairly and accurately illustrates
the events filmed (illustrative purposes); (2)
'proper testimony concerning the checking and
operation of the video camera and the chain of
evidence concerning the videotape . . .'; (3)
testimony that 'the photographs introduced at
trial were the same as those [the witness] had
inspected immediately after processing,'
(substantive purposes); or (4) 'testimony that
the videotape had not been edited, and that
the picture fairly and accurately recorded the
actual appearance of the area 'photographed.'"
State v. Smith, 152 N.C. App. 29, 38, 566 S.E.2d 793, 800,
cert.denied, 356 N.C. 311, 571 S.E.2d 208 (2002) (quoting
State v.
Cannon, 92 N.C. App. 246, 254, 374 S.E.2d 604, 608-09 (1988),
rev'd
on other grounds, 326 N.C. 37, 387 S.E.2d 450 (1990)).
Johnson testified that the Pantry was equipped with two video
cameras which fed into one recorder, that the Pantry's manager had
loaded the recorder with videotapes, and that the videotape
accurately depicted the robbery. This testimony would be
sufficient to survive an objection to the videotape's admission
into evidence on the basis of the fourth prong above, "testimony
that the videotape had not been edited, and that the picture fairly
and accurately recorded the actual appearance of the area
'photographed.'"
Id.
Even assuming,
arguendo, that defendant could have prevailed
on an objection to the admission of the videotape at trial, under
the plain error rule defendant must show that the admission of the
videotape had a probable impact on the verdict of the jury.
See
Black, 308 N.C. at 740-41, 303 S.E.2d at 806. Given the
overwhelming evidence of guilt in the record, defendant cannot meet
this burden. In fact, as shown by defendant's own use of the
videotape at trial, it is possible that the videotape actually
helped defendant's case. This is not a case where the plain error
test has been met. Defendant's second argument is overruled.
III.
[3] Defendant next argues that the trial court erred in
admitting the portions of Officer Wilson's testimony wherein
Officer Wilson intimated defendant was a liar. Defendant did not
object to the admission of this testimony, and we apply plain errorreview.
See Black, 308 N.C. at 740-41, 303 S.E.2d at 806.
The relevant testimony is as follows:
[Officer]: I asked him for his driver's
license or ID. He told me he didn't have them
on him so I asked him for his name and his
date of birth and he gave me the name of
Antonio Lawson and a date of birth. I asked
him had he ever had a North Carolina ID or a
North Carolina driver's license and he stated
that he had. I told him that I would be right
back with him. . . . I ran the information
and it came back with no information for DMV
records of North Carolina.
Q: No information on Antonio Lawson?
[Officer]: With that DOB, yes, sir. At that
point I knew that he was lying to me because
if you've ever had a North Carolina ID whether
it be three days ago, three years ago, thirty
years ago, your information is in DMV files.
With that name and that DOB there was no
information. He had already stated to me that
he had a North Carolina ID so I knew at that
point that he was lying.
Q: What happened then?
[Officer]: While we [were] standing there
talking about it, I told the deputy it came up
with no information, I felt like he was lying
to me. . . . I went back up there and
proceeded to talk to Mr. Lawson to see if I
could get the right date of birth. I told
him, I said, "Look, I know you are lying to
me. Do you just not have [a] license or are
you just lying about that you don't have [a]
license?" He said, "No, that is me." I had
heard the name Carlos Antonio Lawson
before. . . . I asked him, I said are you
sure your name is not Carlos Antonio Lawson?
"No, sir, that is not me." They came back and
told me they didn't have an Antonio Lawson
with that name and DOB but they did have a
Carlos Antonio Lawson with a different DOB,
and that was another reason why I asked him
are you sure this isn't you, and he said "No,
that is not me." We got our communications
center to make contact with Grifton and they
advised Grifton what we had, where we had the
vehicle stopped, described it, the people we
had in the vehicle, they asked us if we coulddetain them. Well I had enough with the
fictitious information. Even though I hadn't
gotten a real name yet I had enough fictitious
information because I knew he was lying.
Q: You mean to charge him with fictitious
information?
[Officer]: I did. So we got them out one at
a time, told them that they were being
detained, told them why, we asked for a
consent to search the vehicle for any weapons
or anything, and we sat them all on the
curb. . . . I stayed with Mr. Lawson and
tried to get the right name and the right
information, and I was not able to do so. He
never gave me the right name or information.
We note that in contrast to defendant's contentions on appeal,
Officer Wilson did not characterize defendant as "a liar." In
reviewing the testimony, it appears instead that Officer Wilson's
testimony as to defendant's lying dealt with: (1) the special
circumstances of asking for defendant's identification during a
traffic stop, (2) why defendant's responses aroused Officer
Wilson's suspicion, and (3) explaining why Officer Wilson initially
arrested defendant for providing fictitious information.
Further, the present case can be distinguished from the cases
defendant cites. In
State v. Locklear, the district attorney
characterized defendant as "lying" and "playing with a perjury
count." 294 N.C. 210, 214-18, 241 S.E.2d 65, 68-70 (1978). The
Supreme Court found these comments grossly inappropriate and noted
that they perhaps violated the district attorney's ethical
obligations as a lawyer.
Id. In the present case, the statements
are not from a district attorney, but from a testifying police
officer. Further, even in cases where a district attorney makes
such comments, they will only constitute plain error if grosslyinappropriate.
State v. Jordan, 49 N.C. App. 561, 569, 272 S.E.2d
405, 410 (1980).
The statements by Officer Wilson were not of the
same nature as those by the district attorney in
Locklear, which
focused on the reliability of the defendant's testimony in general
and his actions in the courtroom. The statements by Officer Wilson
centered directly around the purposes and rationale for Officer
Wilson's conduct during a traffic stop and the subsequent arrest of
defendant.
Defendant also cites
State v. Holloway, 82 N.C. App. 586, 347
S.E.2d 72 (1986), which is also distinguishable from the case
before us. In
Holloway, expert witnesses testified that a State's
witness was telling the truth.
Id. at 587, 241 S.E.2d at 73. This
Court held that such testimony constituted plain error as it
invaded the province of the jury to determine the credibility of
witnesses.
Id. at 587, 241 S.E.2d at 73-74. In the present case,
Officer Wilson's testimony was not that of an expert as to
credibility; further, he was not invading the province of the jury
as he was not commenting on the credibility of a witness. As noted
above, Officer Wilson was testifying to the circumstances of the
traffic stop and the reason for defendant's detention. The above
testimony by Officer Wilson does not rise to the level of plain
error. This argument is overruled.
IV.
[4] Defendant's final argument is that he received ineffective
assistance of counsel. To establish a claim for ineffective
assistance of counsel, the United States Supreme Court has held
that a defendant must show that his counsel's assistance was sodeficient that counsel was not "functioning as the 'counsel'
guaranteed the defendant by the Sixth Amendment," and that
counsel's deficient performance deprived him of a fair trial.
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 80 L. Ed. 2d 674, 693
(1984). The statutorily enacted test in North Carolina for
ineffective assistance of counsel mirrors this test.
See N.C. Gen.
Stat. § 15A-1443(a) (2001);
State v. Atkins, 349 N.C. 62, 82-83,
505 S.E.2d 97, 127 (1998),
cert. denied, 526 U.S. 1147, 143 L. Ed.
2d 1036 (1999). Judicial review of counsel's performance must be
highly deferential so as to avoid the prejudicial effects of
hindsight.
Strickland, 466 U.S. at 689, 80 L. Ed. 2d at 694.
Defendant argues that there are five errors that his trial
counsel made at trial that either singularly or collectively
amounted to ineffective assistance of counsel. He argues that
trial counsel: (1) agreed to waive indictment by a grand jury on
the charge of possession of a firearm by a felon; (2) failed to
move to sever the charges of robbery and possession of a firearm by
a felon, thereby informing the jury that defendant had previously
been convicted of a felony; (3) failed to object to evidence of
Johnson's pre-trial and in-court identification of defendant; (4)
failed to object to the introduction of the videotape of the
robbery; and (5) failed to object to the testimony of Officer
Wilson, who testified that defendant lied to him during a traffic
stop by giving him the wrong name.
We note that the United States Supreme Court held in a recent
decision that a defendant was not required to raise ineffective
assistance of counsel claims on direct appeal in order to preservethe defendant's claims for collateral review.
Massaro v. United
States, 538 U.S. ___, 155 L. Ed. 2d 714 (2003).
The Supreme Court
reasoned that
[e]ven meritorious claims would fail when
brought on direct appeal if the trial record
were inadequate to support them. Appellate
courts would waste time and resources
attempting to address some claims that were
meritless and other claims that, though
colorable, would be handled more efficiently
if addressed in the first instance by the
[trial] court on collateral review.
Id. at ___, 155 L. Ed. 2d at 721. The Supreme Court further
reasoned that
"[w]hen an ineffective-assistance claim is
brought on direct appeal, appellate counsel
and the court must proceed on a trial record
not developed precisely for the object of
litigating or preserving the claim and thus
often incomplete or inadequate for this
purpose. . . . The evidence introduced at
trial, however, will be devoted to issues of
guilt or innocence, and the resulting record
in many cases will not disclose the facts
necessary to decide either prong of the
Strickland analysis. If the alleged error is
one of commission, the record may reflect the
action taken by counsel but not the reasons
for it. The appellate court may have no way
of knowing whether a seemingly unusual or
misguided action by counsel had a sound
strategic motive or was taken because
counsel's alternatives were even worse. . . .
Without additional factual development,
moreover, an appellate court may not be able
to ascertain whether the alleged error was
prejudicial."
Id. at ___, 155 L. Ed. 2d at 720-21.
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1419(a)(3) requires a defendant to
assert a claim for ineffective assistance of counsel or risk
forfeiting state collateral review if such a claim should have been
brought on direct review.
See State v. Hyatt, 355 N.C. 642, 668,566 S.E.2d 61, 78 (2002),
cert. denied, 537 U.S. 1133, 154 L. Ed.
2d 823 (2003);
State v. Fair, 354 N.C. 131, 166-67, 557 S.E.2d 500,
524-25 (2001),
cert. denied, 535 U.S. 1114, 153 L. Ed. 2d 162
(2002). The statute requires a defendant to raise on direct appeal
"those [ineffective assistance of counsel] claims on direct review
that are apparent from the record."
Hyatt, 355 N.C. at 668, 566
S.E.2d at 78. While we recognize that N.C.G.S. § 15A-1419 is "not
a general rule that any claim not brought on direct appeal is
forfeited on state collateral review,"
Fair, 354 N.C. at 166, 557
S.E.2d at 525 (citations omitted), it is likely that counsel will
err on the side of bringing claims for ineffective assistance of
counsel on direct review even when they cannot be accurately
determined at such a stage.
See Massaro, 538 U.S. ___, 155 L. Ed.
2d 714 (2003). Thus, at risk of losing the right to collateral
review in state court, a defendant is in effect required to assert
ineffective assistance of counsel claims, and our Court then
determines whether an ineffective assistance claim was brought
prematurely before the claim can progress under state collateral
review.
Fair, 354 N.C. at 166, 557 S.E.2d at 524 (2001). We agree
with the United States Supreme Court that such a procedure does not
in reality foster efficient use of judicial resources.
See
Massaro, 538 U.S. at
___, 155 L. Ed. 2d at 721. We note this
inconsistency; however,
Massaro dealt with federal collateral
proceedings under 18 U.S.C. § 2255, and therefore does not affect
the requirement of a defendant to raise ineffective assistance of
counsel claims that are apparent from the record to preserve them
for state collateral review.
We cannot determine at this time defendant's claim for
ineffective assistance of counsel on direct appeal as to (1) trial
counsel's agreement to waive indictment by grand jury on the charge
of possession of a firearm by a felon and (2) trial counsel's
failure to move to sever the charges of robbery and possession of
a firearm by a felon.
State v. Kinch, 314 N.C. 99, 331 S.E.2d 665
(1985). We dismiss defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel
claim as to those two grounds without prejudice so that defendant
may file a motion for appropriate relief before the trial court.
The record is sufficient to enable our Court to rule on
defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claim as to the other
three grounds asserted on direct appeal.
See Hyatt, 355 N.C. at
62, 566 S.E.2d at 78. As to the failure to object to the
identifications of defendant, we discussed above that such
identification procedures were proper under the totality of the
circumstances test. The evidence would have been admissible even
if defendant's counsel had objected at trial. Therefore, defendant
cannot show that his counsel's failure to object to the admission
of the evidence of these identifications deprived defendant of a
fair trial.
The failure of defense counsel to object to the introduction
of the videotape likewise does not amount to ineffective assistance
of counsel. Admitting the videotape into evidence can be
classified as trial strategy on the part of defendant's counsel.
Once in evidence, defendant's counsel used the videotape to show
the man in the videotape touched several things in the Pantry, but
that defendant's fingerprints were never found. He also used thevideotape to illustrate the brevity of the robbery, attempting to
show that Johnson had limited time to see defendant. We think that
given the reasonable foundation laid by the State for the
introduction of the videotape, as discussed above, and defendant's
counsel's use of the videotape to illustrate several alleged
weaknesses in the State's case, counsel's conduct does not rise to
the level of ineffective assistance of counsel.
See State v.
Fisher, 318 N.C. 512, 532, 350 S.E.2d 334, 346 (1986).
As to Officer Wilson's testimony, as thoroughly discussed
above, he was not testifying that defendant was a liar in general,
nor was he attempting to destroy the credibility of defendant as a
witness. We do not find that counsel's failure to object to such
testimony deprived defendant of a fair trial.
Therefore, we overrule defendant's ineffective assistance of
counsel claim in part, and dismiss it without prejudice in part, to
file a motion for appropriate relief.
See Hyatt, 355 N.C. at 62,
566 S.E.2d at 78.
No error in part, dismissed without prejudice in part.
Judges McCULLOUGH and LEVINSON concur.
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