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All opinions are subject to modification and technical correction prior to official publication in the North Carolina Reports and North Carolina Court of Appeals Reports. In the event of discrepancies between the electronic version of an opinion and the
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STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. MORRIS SKINNER, Defendant
NO. COA 02-1707
Filed: 3 February 2004
1. Sentencing_aggravating factors_assault--age of victim
The trial court correctly found the aggravating factor of old age under the Fair Sentencing
Act as it then existed when sentencing defendant for assault. There was evidence that the victim
was elderly and that defendant took advantage of her condition when he assaulted her.
2. Sentencing_aggravating factors_larceny_age of victim
The trial court erred by using the victim's age (76) as an aggravating factor for larceny
under the then existing Fair Sentencing Act. The victim did not know that anything had been
taken until told by a deputy, and her age was not related to the larceny.
3. Criminal Law_requested instruction_eyewitness identification_given in substance
There was no error in not giving a requested instruction on eyewitness identification in an
assault and larceny prosecution where the instructions given contained the substance of the
requested instruction.
4. Larceny_instruction_lapsus linquae
There was no plain error in a larceny final mandate from the omission of knew from the
element that defendant knew that he was not entitled to take the property. The court had
instructed the jury correctly on all six elements of larceny in the body of the charge.
5. Larceny_instruction_taking after breaking or entering
There was no error in a larceny instruction stating that the property was taken from the
building after a breaking or entering rather than pursuant to a breaking or entering.
6. Larceny_sufficiency of evidence_unconscious victim
The was sufficient evidence of larceny, and the court correctly denied a motion to
dismiss, where the victim put a pocketbook containing money on a table on her return home; she
went outside, came back in, and was struck on the head by defendant; when the victim was
found, the pocketbook had been moved and no longer contained money; and no other person had
entered the home.
7. Evidence_competency of witness_unconscious assault victim
There was no plain error in an assault and larceny prosecution in allowing the victim to
testify that defendant had taken $75 from her. She saw defendant in her house when she had the
money in her pocketbook, defendant struck her and left, and the money was found to be missing.
8. Assault_type of weapon_fatal variance
There was a fatal variance between an assault indictment and the evidence where the
indictment alleged that defendant attacked the victim with his fists while the evidence was that
he used a hammer or an iron pipe.
On Writ of Certiorari to review judgments entered 26 January
1995 by Judge W. Russell Duke, Jr. in the Superior Court in Bertie
County. Heard in the Court of Appeals 17 September 2003.
Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Special Deputy Attorney
General Robert O. Crawford, III, for the State.
Appellate Defender Staples Hughes, by Assistant Appellate
Defender Daniel R. Pollitt, for defendant.
HUDSON, Judge.
On 3 October 1994, defendant Morris Skinner was indicted for
assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious
injury and for felonious breaking or entering and felonious
larceny. The cases were tried at the 23 January 1995 criminal
session of superior court in Bertie County. A jury convicted
defendant on all three charges. In each case, the trial judge
found one aggravating factor -- that the victim was very old-- and
one mitigating factor -- that the defendant had no prior criminal
record. The trial judge sentenced defendant under the Fair
Sentencing Act to the statutory maximum terms of imprisonment of 20
years for the assault, 10 years for the breaking or entering, and
10 years for larceny, with the sentences to run consecutively.
Defendant did not appeal. On 1 April 2002, defendant filed a
petition for writ of certiorari with this Court, which we granted
on 9 April 2002.
The State introduced evidence at trial tending to show that on
5 August 1994, at approximately 5:00 p.m., Lucy Heckstall, a 76-
year-old widow, returned to her home in Windsor following a visit
to her eye doctor. She put her pocketbook on the kitchen table andwent out to shut her chicken coop. When she walked back in her
house, she was struck on her head seven or eight times with what
may have been a hammer. Mrs. Heckstall testified that the person
who struck her was the defendant, Morris Skinner, and further that
$75 in cash was missing from her pocketbook.
Mrs. Heckstall staggered into her den where she slipped and
fell, hitting her head on a chair. At approximately 8:00 p.m.,
Mrs. Heckstall's neighbor, Diane Williams, came to the house and
discovered her covered in blood. Ms. Williams asked Mrs. Heckstall
who had hurt her and she replied, the Skinner boy. Ms. Williams
called for emergency assistance, and also called another neighbor,
Cora Smallwood, who immediately came over.
EMS arrived and took Mrs. Heckstall to Bertie Memorial
Hospital. The Sheriff's deputy looked in her pocketbook and told
her the money was gone. She was then transferred to Pitt County
Memorial Hospital where she was treated for multiple lacerations of
her scalp, and for left and right side skull fractures. Mrs.
Heckstall also suffered from post-traumatic amnesia or memory loss.
Gradually she improved over the next three to four weeks and, when
her memory improved, she was able to recall that she was attacked
by the Skinner boy.
Officers from the Bertie County Sheriff's Department arrived
on the scene at approximately 8:30 p.m. Deputy Milton Morris and
Sergeant Donald Cowan followed a set of footprints leading away
from Mrs. Heckstall's house in a northerly direction through Cora
Smallwood's backyard to the residence of Johnny Mack Bond. At
about 10:00 p.m., the officers knocked on the door, and defendantanswered. Defendant told the officers that he had been there alone
and asleep all day since getting home from work at 8:00 a.m., and
he claimed not to have left the residence all day.
Ms. Smallwood's granddaughter, Stephanie Cooper, was visiting
at her grandmother's house on the evening of 5 August 1994. At
about 6:00 p.m., she saw a black male running across the backyard
away from Ms. Heckstall's house. The man was wearing a light
colored t-shirt and dark pants.
Diane Williams, the other neighbor, saw the defendant twice on
the afternoon of 5 August 1994. First, she saw him walking past
her house toward the pool hall, and later she saw him getting out
of a car at his girlfriend's house. Ms. Williams said that, at the
time, defendant was wearing dark pants and a white t-shirt.
After Mrs. Heckstall identified defendant as her attacker,
Sgt. Cowan obtained a warrant and arrested defendant. Defendant
gave a voluntary statement, which differed from the statement he
gave the night of the incident. This time, defendant claimed that
after he got off from work, he drank some beer with a friend in
Rich Square, then went to Johnny Mack Bond's house at about 11:00
a.m. He said that he and his girlfriend walked to Buck Riddick's
pool hall in the afternoon, then returned to the house. Defendant
also stated that he went to Ms. Smallwood's residence later that
afternoon to pick up some clothing he had left there, and then
returned home and went to bed. Defendant acknowledged that he had
been wearing a pair of black stonewashed jeans and a white t-shirt
that afternoon.
Defendant took the stand in his own defense, and his testimonytended to show that he got home from work at approximately 1:00
p.m. after running errands. He walked to Buck Riddick's pool hall
a little before 5:00 p.m. About one hour later, he got a ride back
to Johnny Mack Bond's house where his girlfriend was staying, and
then went to bed. At trial, defendant claimed he was wearing a
pair of acid-washed gray jeans and a blue sweatshirt that day, and
denied all charges against him.
Analysis
I.
[1] Defendant first argues that the trial court erred in
sentencing him under the then-existing Fair Sentencing Act by
finding as an aggravating factor in all counts that [t]he victim
was very old. N.C. Gen. Stat. . 15A-1340.4(j) (1993) (repealed by
Act of July 24, 1993, ch. 538, sec. 14, 1993 N.C. Sess. Laws 2318,
current version at N.C. Gen. Stat. . 15A-1340.16(d)(11)).
Defendant contends that the aggravating factor was not supported by
the evidence and was erroneous as a matter of law, entitling him to
a new sentencing hearing. We agree in part.
The age of a victim may be considered as an aggravating factor
when it appears the defendant took advantage of the victim's
relative helplessness to commit the crime or that the harm from the
assault was worse because of the age or condition of the victim.
State v. Monk, 63 N.C. App. 512, 523, 305 S.E.2d 755, 762 (1983).
There are at least two ways in which a defendant may take
advantage of the age of his victim. First, he may
target the victim because of the victim's age, knowing
that his chances of success are greater where the victim
is very young or very old. Or the defendant may take
advantage of the victim's age during the actual
commission of a crime against the person of the victim,
or in the victim's presence, knowing that the victim, byreason of age, is unlikely to effectively intervene or
defend himself. In either case, the defendant's
culpability is increased.
State v. Thompson, 318 N.C. 395, 398, 348 S.E.2d 798, 800 (1986).
The underlying policy for this statutory aggravating factor
(formerly G.S. . 15A-1340.4(a)(1)(j)) was to discourage wrongdoers
from taking advantage of a victim because of the victim's young or
old age or infirmity. State v. Mitchell, 62 N.C. App. 21, 29, 302
S.E.2d 265, 270 (1983).
Here, the evidence was sufficient to establish that the victim
was elderly and vulnerable and that defendant took advantage of her
condition when he assaulted her. Mrs. Heckstall was a 76-year-old
widow living alone. The evidence also established that the
defendant was a neighbor of Mrs. Heckstall and had known her his
entire life. Mrs. Heckstall's age made it unlikely she could flee
or fend off defendant's attack, and also complicated her recovery
following the attack. Her physician testified that older people
tend to have more memory deficits following head trauma than do
younger people. Mrs. Heckstall indeed had profound memory deficits
following that attack, in that she could not remember information
that was common knowledge or information concerning her own life.
Thus, the trial court did not err in finding this aggravating
factor in connection with the assault.
[2] However, defendant argues that the victim's age has no
bearing on her vulnerability to larceny, citing State v. Ledford,
315 N.C. 599, 340 S.E.2d 309 (1986). There, our Supreme Court held
that the defendant's sentence for larceny was improperly aggravated
by evidence of the victim's age (87) and infirmity, because her agewas totally unrelated to the crime of felonious larceny. Id. at
625, 340 S.E.2d at 325. The State does not discuss Ledford and we
see no meaningful distinction between it and the case here, where
the victim of the larceny did not even know anything had been taken
until the Sheriff's deputy on the scene told her, after the fact.
Indeed, the victim testified that: And he (the deputy) walked in
the kitchen where all that blood was and he looked at my
pocketbook. He said there ain't nare a penny in here. Thus, we
must vacate the sentence for larceny in case number 94-CRS-2420 and
remand for a new sentencing hearing.
II.
[3] Defendant next argues that the trial court erred by
refusing to give a requested jury instruction concerning eyewitness
identification. We disagree.
Our Supreme Court recently held that:
When a defendant makes a written request for an
instruction that is timely, correct in law, and supported
by the evidence, the trial court must give such an
instruction. However, the trial court is not required to
give a requested instruction verbatim, so long as the
instruction actually provided adequately conveys the
substance of the requested instruction.
State v. Lucas, 353 N.C. 568, 578, 548 S.E.2d 712, 719-20 (2001)
(internal citations omitted). Thus, our duty is to determine
whether the trial court's instructions were correct in law and
adequately conveyed the substance of defendant's request.
Here, the defendant requested the following instruction:
Ladies and Gentlemen, I instruct you that the State
has the burden of proving the identity of the Defendant,
Morris Skinner, as perpetrator of the crimes charged
beyond a reasonable doubt. This means that you, the
Jury, must be fully satisfied and entirely convinced that
the Defendant, Morris Skinner, was the perpetrator of thecrimes charged before you may return a verdict of guilty.
In examining the testimony of the witness, Lucy
Heckstall, as to her observations allegedly made on
August 5, 1994, you should consider the capacity of the
witness to make such an observation through her senses,
the opportunity the witness had to make the observation,
and the details of the observation, such as the lighting
conditions at the scene, the amount of time the witness
had to view the perpetrator, as well as any other
condition or circumstance which might have aided or
hindered the witness in making her observation.
I further instruct you that the identification by
the witness, Lucy Heckstall, is just like any other
witness in that you should assess the credibility of Lucy
Heckstall in the same way as you assess the credibility
of any other witness; that is, in determining the
adequacy of her observation and her capacity to observe.
You may take these things into account in your
consideration of the credibility of Lucy Heckstall.
As I have earlier instructed you, the State must
prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Defendant,
Morris Skinner, was the perpetrator of the crimes
charged. If, after weighing all of the testimony, you
are not fully satisfied or entirely convinced that the
Defendant, Morris Skinner, was the perpetrator of the
crimes charged, it would be your duty to return a verdict
of not guilty.
The trial court denied defendant's requested instruction, and
proceeded to instruct the jury, in pertinent part, as follows:
You are the sole judge of the credibility of each
witness. You must decide for yourselves whether to
believe the testimony of any witness. You may believe
all or any part or none of what a witness has said on the
stand.
In determining whether to believe any witness, you
should apply the same tests of truthfulness which you
apply in your own every day affairs.
As applied to this trial, these tests may include
the opportunity of the witness to see, hear, know, or
remember the facts or occurrences about which the witness
testified; the manner and appearance of the witness; any
interests, bias or partiality the witness may have; the
apparent understanding and fairness of the witness;
whether the witness' testimony is reasonable and whether
the witness' testimony is consistent with other
believable evidence in the case.
You are the sole judges of the weight to be given to
any evidence. By this I mean, if you decide that certain
evidence is believable, you must then determine the
importance of that evidence in light of all other
believable evidence.
***
I instruct you that the State has the burden of
proving the identity of the defendant as the perpetrator
of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt. This
means that you the jury must be satisfied beyond a
reasonable doubt that the defendant was the perpetrator
of the crimes charged before you may return a verdict of
guilty.
It is clear from a reading of the instructions as a whole,
that although the trial judge did not give the requested
instructions verbatim, he gave them in substance. Thus, we
overrule this assignment of error.
III.
[4] Next, defendant argues that the trial court erred in its
final mandate in the larceny charge regarding the fifth element of
larceny. We disagree.
The trial court correctly instructed the jury on the fifth
element of larceny that the defendant knew that he was not
entitled to take the property. However, the court inadvertently
omitted the word knew from the final mandate portion of the
charge. The court charged in its mandate as follows:
So I charge that if you find from the evidence beyond a
reasonable doubt that on or about the alleged date the
defendant took and carried away another person's property
without that person's consent and that he was not
entitled to take it and intended at that time to deprive
that person of it's [sic] use permanently and that the
defendant took the property from a building after a
breaking or entering, it would be your duty to return a
verdict of guilty of felonious larceny.
We first note that defendant failed to object to this
instruction before the jury retired to deliberate, thus we review
for plain error. See N.C. R. App. P. 10(b)(2) and 10(c)(4). Under
plain error review, defendant must show that absent the error thejury probably would have reached a different verdict. State v.
Walker, 316 N.C. 33, 39, 340 S.E.2d 80, 83 (1986).
Our Supreme Court has repeatedly held that a lapsus linguae
not called to the attention of the trial court when made will not
constitute prejudicial error when it is apparent from a contextual
reading of the charge that the jury could not have been misled by
the instruction. State v. Baker, 338 N.C. 526, 565, 451 S.E.2d
574, 597 (1994). In State v. Roseboro, 344 N.C. 364, 474 S.E.2d
314 (1996), the defendant argued that he was prejudiced where the
trial court instructed the jury that there were six elements of the
crime of felonious larceny, but in listing and describing the
elements in the body of the charge, omitted the fifth element.
However, in its final mandate, the trial court correctly and fully
instructed as to all six elements. Our Supreme Court held that
the omission of the fifth element of felonious larceny in the body
of the jury charge did not create internally contradictory
instructions. The jury was, through the final mandate, fully
instructed as to all six elements of felonious larceny; thus, the
instructions were only, 'at most, incomplete at one important
point.' Id. at 378, 474 S.E.2d at 322 (quoting State v.
Stevenson, 327 N.C. 259, 266, 393 S.E.2d 527, 530 (1990)).
Here, the trial judge correctly instructed the jury regarding
the elements of larceny, and the misstatement in the mandate
portion of the charge was not brought to the attention of the trial
judge when made or before the jury retired to consider its verdict.
Viewing the charge as a whole, we conclude that the jury was fully
instructed as to all six elements of larceny, and as in Roseboro,the instructions were only, at most, incomplete at one important
point. Id. We do not believe this omission constitutes plain
error.
IV.
[5] Defendant next argues that the trial court erred in its
instructions to the jury in defining the sixth element of larceny
in that the trial court instructed that the property was taken
from the building after a breaking or entering rather than
pursuant to a breaking or entering. We disagree.
In Roseboro, our Supreme Court held that the trial court
correctly and fully instructed [the jury]. . . that in order to
find defendant guilty of felonious larceny, the jury must find that
defendant . . . took and carried away another person's property .
. . from a building after a breaking and entering. Id. at 377,
474 S.E.2d at 321. (citing N.C.P.I.--Crim. 214.32 (1985), now
N.C.P.I--Crim. 216.30) (emphasis added). Thus, the trial court did
not err in giving this instruction.
V.
[6] Next, defendant argues that the trial court erred in
denying his motion to dismiss the larceny charge based upon the
sufficiency of the evidence. We disagree.
In ruling on a defendant's motion to dismiss, the trial court
is to determine whether there is substantial evidence (a) of each
essential element of the offense charged, or of a lesser offense
included therein, and (b) of defendant's being the perpetrator of
the offense. State v. Earnhardt, 307 N.C. 62, 65-66, 296 S.E.2d
649, 651 (1982). The issue of whether the evidence presentedconstitutes substantial evidence is a question of law for the
court. Substantial evidence is such relevant evidence as a
reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.
Id. at 66, 296 S.E.2d at 652; see also, State v. Mercer, 317 N.C.
87, 343 S.E.2d 885 (1986). Our Courts have repeatedly noted that
[t]he evidence is to be considered in the light most favorable to
the State; the State is entitled to every reasonable intendment and
every reasonable inference to be drawn therefrom; contradictions
and discrepancies are for the jury to resolve and do not warrant
dismissal. State v. Vause, 328 N.C. 231, 237, 400 S.E.2d 57, 61
(1991) (citations omitted); see also, State v. Patterson, 335 N.C.
437, 449-50, 439 S.E.2d 578, 585-86 (1994). If all the evidence,
taken together and viewed in the light most favorable to the State,
amounts to substantial evidence of each and every element of the
offense and of defendant's being the perpetrator of such offense,
a motion to dismiss is properly denied. Mercer, 317 N.C. at 98,
343 S.E.2d at 892 (citations omitted).
The essential elements of larceny are that the defendant (1)
took the property of another; (2) carried it away; (3) without the
consent of the owner; and (4) with the intent to deprive the owner
of it permanently. State v. Perry, 305 N.C. 225, 233, 287 S.E.2d
810, 815 (1982). Defendant cites State v. Moore, 312 N.C. 607, 324
S.E.2d 229 (1985) for the proposition that the evidence disclosed
no more than an opportunity for defendant or others to have taken
the victim's money. However, in Moore, the victim discovered that
her wallet was missing two hours after her encounter with the
defendant. During that time, her purse, from which the wallet wastaken, was left unattended in a store whose back door was unlocked.
The court found that anyone in the vicinity of the store, which was
located in a high crime area, would have had the opportunity to
steal the wallet. Id. at 613, 324 S.E.2d at 233.
Here, the State's evidence showed that the Mrs. Heckstall
placed her pocketbook containing the money on her kitchen table
upon returning to her home, then went outside to tend to her
chickens. When she walked back into her house, defendant struck
her in the head seven or eight times, and then left. When Mrs.
Heckstall was discovered that evening, her pocketbook had been
moved to a chair near the den and there was no money in it. There
is no evidence that anyone other than defendant entered her house
or had an opportunity to steal her money. Thus, taken in the light
most favorable to the State, there was sufficient evidence of each
element of the crime as charged and of defendant being the
perpetrator. This assignment of error is overruled.
VI.
[7] Defendant next argues that the trial court committed plain
error by allowing Mrs. Heckstall to testify that the defendant took
$75 dollars from her, contending that Mrs. Heckstall was not
competent to testify to such matters. We disagree.
Defendant did not object to this testimony at trial.
Therefore, we review for plain error. See State v. Black, 308 N.C.
736, 741, 303 S.E.2d 804, 807 (1983).
[T]he plain error rule . . . is always to be
applied cautiously and only in the exceptional
case where, after reviewing the entire record,
it can be said the claimed error is a
fundamental error, something so basic, so
prejudicial, so lacking in its elements thatjustice cannot have been done, or where [the
error] is grave error which amounts to a
denial of a fundamental right of the accused,
or the error has 'resulted in a miscarriage
of justice or in the denial to appellant of a
fair trial' or where the error is such as to
seriously affect the fairness, integrity or
public reputation of judicial proceedings or
where it can be fairly said the instructional
mistake had a probable impact on the jury's
finding that the defendant was guilty.
State v. Odom, 307 N.C. 655, 660, 300 S.E.2d 375, 378 (1983)
(quoting United States v. McCaskill, 676 F.2d 995, 1002 (4th Cir.
1982)).
The evidence presented tends to show that Mrs. Heckstall saw
defendant in her house when she returned from tending to her
chickens. At the time, she had $75 in her pocketbook. Defendant
struck her on the head seven or eight times then left. After
defendant left, the $75 was missing from her purse. This evidence,
circumstantial though it may be, is sufficient to support the
jury's conclusion that defendant stole the $75 from Mrs. Heckstall.
Thus, we cannot conclude that this is the exceptional case where
the claimed error is so fundamental that justice could not have
been done.
VII.
[8] Finally, defendant argues that the trial court erred by
denying his motion to dismiss the assault charge where there was a
fatal variance between the indictment and the evidence presented at
trial regarding the type of deadly weapon used in the assault. We
find merit in this argument.
An indictment need only allege the ultimate facts constituting
each element of the criminal offense. State v. Palmer, 293 N.C.633, 638, 239 S.E.2d 406, 410 (1977). Evidentiary matters need not
be alleged. Id.
The essential elements of the crime of assault with a deadly
weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury are (1) an
assault, (2) with a deadly weapon, (3) with intent to kill, (4)
inflicting serious injury, and (5) not resulting in death. State
v. Reid, 335 N.C. 647, 654, 440 S.E.2d 776, 780 (1994). Where it
is charged that an assault has been made with a deadly weapon, the
character of the weapon must be averred. State v. Rorie, 252 N.C.
579, 582, 114 S.E.2d 233, 236 (1960). In Palmer, our Supreme Court
stated that:
it is sufficient for indictments or warrants seeking to
charge a crime in which on of the elements is the use of
a deadly weapon (1) to name the weapon and (2) either to
state expressly that the weapon used was a deadly
weapon or to allege such facts as would necessarily
demonstrate the deadly character of the weapon.
Id. at 639-40, 239 S.E.2d at 411 (emphasis in original). While we
recognize that [a]llegations beyond the essential elements of the
crime sought to be charged are irrelevant and may be treated as
surplusage, State v. Taylor, 280 N.C. 273, 276, 185 S.E.2d 677,
680 (1972), [w]hether an indictment is sufficient on its face is
a separate issue from whether there is a variance between the
indictment and the evidence presented at trial, although both
issues are based upon the same concerns: . . . to insure that the
defendant is able to prepare his defense against the crime with
which he is charged, and to protect the defendant from another
prosecution for the same incident. State v. Norman, 149 N.C. App.
588, 594, 562 S.E.2d 453, 457 (2002).
A variance occurs where the allegations in an indictment,although they may be sufficiently specific on their face, do not
conform to the evidence actually established at trial. Id. In
order for a variance to warrant reversal, the variance must be
material. Id. A variance is not material, and is therefore not
fatal, if it does not involve an essential element of the crime
charged. Id. Citing Palmer, the State concedes that the
indictment is sufficient if it names the weapon and either
expressly states that it is a deadly weapon or alleges facts which
would show that it is a deadly weapon, but argues that any variance
here was not material.
The indictment here states in pertinent part the following:
the defendant . . . unlawfully, willfully and feloniously
did assault Lucy Heckstall with his hands, a deadly
weapon and used as a deadly weapon, by hitting the
seventy six year old woman in the head with his hands
causing her to strike her head against a hard object
resulting in serious injury. The assault was intended to
kill and resulted in serious injury requiring emergency
medical treatment and hospitilization . . . .
Evidence presented at trial tended to show that the deadly weapon
used was a hammer or some sort of iron pipe. Indeed, the
investigating officers testified that they searched the area behind
Mrs. Heckstall's house for a weapon, and Dep. Morris testified that
the weapon that caused Mrs. Heckstall's wounds appeared to me like
it was a hammer. Likewise, Mrs. Heckstall testified that the
weapon was a piece of iron or hammer or something. There was no
evidence that tended to establish that defendant's hands were used
as the deadly weapon.
The defendant in a criminal action may raise the question of
variance between the indictment and the proof by a motion of
nonsuit. State v. Overman, 257 N.C. 464, 468, 125 S.E.2d 920, 924(1962). Here, the defendant moved to dismiss the assault charge on
this ground at the close of the State's evidence and renewed his
motion at the close of all the evidence. We hold that while the
indictment may have been sufficient on its face to charge the
alleged crime, there existed a fatal variance between the
indictment and the evidence introduced at trial, and defendant's
motion to dismiss should have been granted. Where the indictment
and the proof are at variance, as is the case here, the trial court
should dismiss the charge stemming from the flawed indictment and
grant the State leave to secure a proper bill of indictment.
State v. Abraham, 338 N.C. 315, 341, 451 S.E.2d 131, 144 (1994).
We, therefore, arrest judgment as to defendant's conviction for
assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious
injury in case number 94-CRS-1908 and remand this matter to the
trial court for further proceedings.
Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, we arrest judgment in case number
94-CRS-1908 and remand for further proceedings. We also vacate the
judgment in 94-CRS-2420 and remand for a new sentencing hearing, in
which the aggravating factor that the victim was very old is not
applied to the larceny conviction.
94-CRS-1908 (Assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill
inflicting serious injury) - Judgment arrested; remanded.
94-CRS-2420 (Felonious breaking or entering and felonious
larceny) - Judgment vacated; remanded for new sentencing.
Judges TIMMONS-GOODSON and ELMORE concur.
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