NO. COA06-290
NORTH CAROLINA COURT OF APPEALS
Filed: 3 October 2006
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
v. Edgecombe County
Nos. 04 CRS 004058 - 004059
DERRICK MONTRAIL HARPER
Appeal by defendant from judgments entered 1 September 2005 by
Judge Milton F. Fitch, Jr., in Edgecombe County Superior Court.
Heard in the Court of Appeals 2 October 2006.
Attorney General Roy Cooper, by Assistant Attorney General
Sandra Wallace-Smith, for the State.
Paul F. Herzog, for defendant-appellant.
TYSON, Judge.
Derrick Montrail Harper (“defendant”) appeals from judgments
entered after a jury found him to be guilty of two counts of first-
degree murder. We find no error.
The State adduced eyewitness testimony describing defendant
shooting to death two individuals on 23 May 2004 outside the Club
Hypnotize at the intersection of Thigpen Road and Factory Street in
Conetoe, North Carolina. Eyewitnesses testified that defendant
shot the victims and immediately fled from the scene. Testimony
was also presented describing defendant's disposal of the murder
weapon. A jury found defendant to be guilty of two counts of
first-degree murder. The trial court sentenced defendant to twoconcurrent terms of life imprisonment without possibility of
parole. Defendant appeals.
Counsel appointed to represent defendant on appeal is unable
to identify any issue with sufficient merit to support a meaningful
argument for relief. While noting the possibility that defendant
received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial, appellate
counsel concedes that no such violation appears on the face of the
record.
State v. Long, 354 N.C. 534, 539-40, 557 S.E.2d 89, 93
(2001).
Appellate counsel asks this Court to conduct its own review of
the record for possible prejudicial error in accordance with
Anders
v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 18 L. Ed. 2d 493 (1967). Counsel has
shown to the satisfaction of this Court that he has complied with
the requirements of
Anders and
State v. Kinch, 314 N.C. 99, 331
S.E.2d 665 (1985), by advising defendant of his right to file
written arguments with this Court and providing defendant with the
documents necessary to do so. Defendant has not filed any written
arguments and a reasonable time for him to do so has passed.
In accordance with
Anders, we have fully examined the record
on appeal to determine whether any issues of arguable merit appear
therein. The record on appeal is insufficient for us to review,
and we neither address nor rule on, whether defendant received
effective assistance of counsel at trial. We find no error in the
judgments of the trial court in the record before us.
No Error.
Judges BRYANT and LEVINSON concur.
Report per Rule 30(e).
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