STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
v. Gaston County
Nos. 03 CRS 63869
STEVEN LAVERN WEAVER, 03 CRS 63870
Defendant.
Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General
Newton G. Pritchett, Jr., for the State.
Blanchard, Newman & Hayes, by Gregory A. Newman, for
defendant-appellant.
GEER, Judge.
Defendant Steven Lavern Weaver was found guilty of assault
with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury
upon his wife, Deborah S. Weaver, and of assault with a deadly
weapon upon his teenage step-daughter C.D. Defendant's sole
argument on appeal is that the State presented insufficient
evidence that he acted with an intent to kill Weaver. We hold,
however, that the State presented sufficient evidence to allow a
jury to reasonably conclude that defendant intended to kill Weaver
when he stabbed her.
The evidence at trial, viewed in the light most favorable to
the State, tended to show that defendant and Weaver had an argumentwhile driving home from church on the morning of 14 September 2003.
The argument continued in the kitchen of their house, where
defendant brandished a pocket-knife with a two-and-one-half-inch
blade, pointed it at Weaver's face, and threatened to "stick" her
with it. Weaver told defendant she was calling his probation
officer. As she was talking to the probation officer on a cordless
telephone in the living room, defendant "start[ed] cussing and
going on" and ran to C.D.'s bedroom. He kicked open the door and
pulled the phone jack from the wall.
Weaver had gone outside with the phone to better hear the
officer. As she was standing beside her van, Weaver "felt a very
sharp punch in [her] back" and fell to her knees. Seeing defendant
assault her mother, C.D. came outside and stepped between them. As
Weaver was standing up, defendant grabbed C.D. by the throat and
stabbed her twice in the back and twice in the chest. Weaver tried
to get defendant away from C.D., causing defendant to stab Weaver
in the chest, arm, over her right breast, and four times under her
breast. Defendant's 12-year-old stepson, L.D., tried to hit
defendant with a rake handle. Defendant "ran after [L.D.] and told
him he was going to kill all of [them] there today."
L.D. fled to a neighbor's house and called the police. When
the neighbor came out of his house with a gun, defendant got into
his truck and drove away. Weaver was taken to the hospital with a
collapsed left lung and a punctured right lung. She had surgery
the same day and remained in intensive care for nine days.
The jury found defendant guilty of assaulting Weaver with adeadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and of
assaulting C.D. with a deadly weapon. The trial court consolidated
defendant's two offenses for judgment and sentenced him to a term
of 96 to 125 months imprisonment. Defendant gave notice of appeal
in open court.
Defendant argues that the evidence was insufficient to show
his intent to kill Weaver under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-32(c) (2003).
In reviewing defendant's claim, we must determine only whether the
State offered "substantial evidence" of his intent to kill, such
that a reasonable juror could have found him guilty of this element
of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Etheridge, 319
N.C. 34, 47, 352 S.E.2d 673, 681 (1987). In making this
determination, the evidence must be viewed in the light most
favorable to the State. Id. "Substantial evidence is such
relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to
support a conclusion." State v. Williams, 133 N.C. App. 326, 328,
515 S.E.2d 80, 82 (1999).
The intent to kill is a condition of mind not subject to
direct observation and must usually be established by inference
based upon the surrounding circumstantial facts. State v. Thacker,
281 N.C. 447, 455, 189 S.E.2d 145, 150 (1972). "The nature of the
assault, the manner in which it was made, the weapon, if any, used,
and the surrounding circumstances are all matters from which an
intent to kill may be inferred. Moreover, an assailant must be
held to intend the natural consequences of his deliberate act."
State v. Grigsby, 351 N.C. 454, 457, 526 S.E.2d 460, 462 (2000)(internal citations and quotation marks omitted).
Here, defendant began his assault upon Weaver by stabbing her
in the back from behind. After pausing to stab C.D. in the back
and chest, defendant stabbed Weaver six additional times in the
chest region and once in the arm. He interrupted his attack upon
Weaver when confronted by L.D. with a rake handle, but then
announced his intention to kill each of his victims while chasing
after L.D. with the knife. Defendant ceased the assault only when
approached by a neighbor with a gun. We hold that this evidence _
including the nature and persistence of defendant's assault upon
Weaver; the weapon used, the number, location, and severity of
Weaver's stab wounds; and defendant's explicit threat to kill
Weaver and her children _ was sufficient to support a reasonable
inference of his intent to kill Weaver. See Grigsby, 351 N.C. at
458, 526 S.E.2d at 463 (holding that evidence of an intent to kill
existed when the defendant jumped on the victim's back, threatened
the victim, and used a knife that enabled him to repeatedly stab
the victim without losing his grip).
In his brief to this Court, defendant expressly withdraws his
remaining assignment of error.
No error.
Judges BRYANT and ELMORE concur.
Report per Rule 30(e).
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