STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
v. Wilson County
No. 99 CRS 54353
THURMAN RAY FLEMING,
Defendant.
Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Special Deputy Attorney
General A. Danielle Marquis, for the State.
Appellate Defender Staples Hughes, by Assistant Appellate
Defender Charlesena Elliott Walker, for defendant-appellant.
HUDSON, Judge.
Defendant appeals from a judgment sentencing him to life
imprisonment without parole following his conviction by a jury of
first-degree murder.
The State presented evidence tending to show that defendant
fatally wounded the victim by firing seven bullets into the
victim's head and body on 30 May 1999. Defendant presented an
insanity defense. Other pertinent evidence will be discussed in
addressing defendant's two assignments of error.
First, defendant contends the court erred by denying his
motion to dismiss the charge for lack of jurisdiction. He argues
the short form indictment utilized in this case failed to chargethe crime of first-degree murder because it failed to allege the
element of premeditation or deliberation. Defendant concedes that
the North Carolina Supreme Court has answered this issue adversely
to his position. State v. Braxton, 352 N.C. 158, 174-75, 531
S.E.2d 428, 437-38 (2000), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 1130, 148 L. Ed.
2d 797 (2001). He argues that the Supreme Court's decision should
be reconsidered. This Court, however, is not at liberty to
revisit an issue that has clearly been decided by our Supreme
Court. State v. Stephenson, 144 N.C. App. 465, 478, 551 S.E.2d
858, 867, appeal dismissed and disc. review denied, 354 N.C. 227,
554 S.E.2d 829 (2001). This assignment of error is overruled.
Second, defendant contends the court erred by sustaining the
State's objection to testimony of Dr. Peter Barboriak, a forensic
psychiatrist at Dorothea Dix Hospital, as to the consensus of a
hospital panel regarding defendant's mental condition. Defendant
contends that this testimony should have been admitted under Rule
703 to show the basis of Dr. Barboriak's diagnosis. He argues that
the exclusion of the evidence was prejudicial because it could have
added credibility to the diagnosis.
We first note that defendant has not made an offer of proof
for the record as to what Dr. Barboriak's testimony would have been
regarding the consensus. In order to preserve the exclusion of
evidence for appellate review, 'the significance of the excluded
evidence must be made to appear in the record and a specific offer
of proof is required unless the significance of the evidence is
obvious from the record.' State v. Barton, 335 N.C. 741, 749, 441S.E.2d 306, 310 (1994)(quoting State v. Simpson, 314 N.C. 359, 370,
334 S.E.2d 53, 60 (1985)). Assuming, arguendo, that it may
reasonably be inferred from the record that the witness would have
testified that the consensus was that defendant genuinely suffered
from a mental condition, we are not persuaded that the evidence was
improperly excluded. Rule 703 provides:
The facts or data in the particular case upon
which an expert bases an opinion or inference
may be those perceived by or made known to him
at or before the hearing. If of a type
reasonably relied upon by experts in the
particular field in forming opinions or
inferences upon the subject, the facts or data
need not be admissible in evidence.
*** Converted from WordPerfect ***