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State v. Walls11/3/1995
tutory mitigating circumstances, five nonstatutory mitigating circumstances and the catchall circumstance. No juror found any of these mitigating circumstances to exist. The jury recommended a sentence of death, and the trial court sentenced defendant accordingly.
PRETRIAL ISSUES
Defendant begins by arguing that the trial court violated defendant's rights to effective assistance of counsel and to present a defense by denying defendant's motion for a continuance.
Just prior to the beginning of jury selection, defendant moved for a continuance. In support of his motion, defendant made numerous arguments, including that he was still in the process of obtaining certain mental health documents regarding Alice Bainbridge and that he had not been provided with allegedly exculpatory statements made by defendant to officers at the time of his arrest. Defendant argued that he was entitled to "open file" discovery from the State, and that the State was in possession of certain articles of clothing and other objects which the defendant alleged he had not been allowed to review. Defendant further argued that the State had not revealed certain investigation results concerning a hit-and-run incident apparently involving defendant, which occurred just prior to the murder. Defendant also argued that he was entitled to receive, thirty days before trial, a list of State's witnesses, and additionally, that the State must disclose the criminal histories of all its witnesses. Defendant pointed out that both attorneys for the defendant had recently completed another capital case, and that the instant case was only the second capital trial for the lead defense counsel.
In response, the State contended that defendant had previously been granted one continuance in order that pertinent documents might be received and reviewed. The prosecutor represented to the trial court that he was only aware of one statement made by defendant, a copy of which was in defendant's possession. The State also pointed out that defense counsel had made, and kept, an appointment to review the physical evidence at the Sheriff's Department. Photographs were shown and explained to defense counsel during this meeting. Defense counsel were informed that if they wished to have any blood testing performed on the clothing, they should notify the State, but the prosecutor had heard nothing further. Regarding the hit-and-run incident, the prosecutor had given defendant the telephone number and name of the highway patrolman who investigated the incident, as well as the telephone number, name and a brief synopsis of the expected testimony of an eyewitness to the incident. The State informed the trial court that defendant had two investigators working on his case and had been given between $2,000 and $3,000 to fund an additional third investigator. The prosecutor also told the trial court that two of the investigators working on behalf of defendant had interviewed many witnesses, including Alice Bainbridge. However, during a lengthy interview with Alice, the defense investigators allegedly misrepresented themselves to Alice as working for the district attorney's office. After the interview, the investigators handed Alice their cards, and she discovered they actually worked for the defense. Defense investigators also tried to interview Karen Tucker, but Tucker refused.
Defendant now argues that because the State brought the alleged fraudulent conduct of defense investigators, in misrepresenting their identities to the State's witness, to the attention of the trial court and questioned Alice and Karen Tucker in their direct examinations during trial about the allegations, this "had the effect of rendering a substantial
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 North Carolina DUI Attorneys
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