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North Carolina v. Loftin6/2/1988
Defendant Melvin Leon Loftin was convicted of one count of first-degree murder arising out of the January 1987 shooting death of Curtis Bryant. The State having stipulated before trial to the absence of any statutory aggravating factors under N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000, the case was tried as a noncapital case, and defendant was sentenced accordingly to the mandatory term of life imprisonment.
In his appeal to this Court, defendant brings forward for our consideration two assignments of error relative to the guilt-innocence phase of his trial. We have carefully reviewed the entire record on appeal and both of defendant's assignments of error in turn, and we find no reversible error in defendant's trial. Accordingly, we leave undisturbed defendant's conviction and the accompanying life sentence.
The crime in question occurred in a garage at the home of one Frank Roberts in the Dover Community of Craven County, North Carolina. This garage was apparently a familiar gathering place for certain members of the Dover Community who would meet there to, among other things, talk, consume alcoholic beverages, play cards, and watch television. The shooting incident occurred on the afternoon of Saturday, 24 January 1987. At trial, the State and defendant presented vastly different versions of what in fact transpired on that occasion.
Evidence presented by the State at trial tended to show the following relevant facts and circumstances. Defendant came to the garage meeting place between 3:45 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on the day in question. Upon arrival, defendant spoke to several of the persons at the garage, including Wesley Roberts, the son of the proprietor, and Ray Hart, a longtime Dover resident. Defendant, who did not appear intoxicated, inquired of Ray Hart as to whether he had seen Curtis Bryant. He explained to Ray Hart that he needed to talk with Bryant about something.
Curtis Bryant arrived at the garage meeting place some thirty minutes later. Defendant apparently observed the victim as he
got out of a car in the parking lot. As Curtis Bryant came through the door of the garage, and as he was removing one of his gloves, defendant met him. Without any conversation, defendant pulled a handgun from his back pocket, shot the victim once in the face, and returned the gun to his back pocket. Wesley Roberts then took the handgun from defendant's back pocket and, covering it with a napkin or paper towel, placed it on a table or bench inside the garage.
Some two hours later, at approximately 6:50 p.m., Deputy Sheriff Terry Register, a crime lab evidence technician with the Craven County Sheriff's Department, arrived at the scene. Deputy Sheriff Register found the victim immediately behind the door to the garage, lying in a pool of blood. She observed, among other things, that a bullet appeared to have entered the victim's right eyelid and exited at the back of his head. She noted also that in the victim's left hand was clutched a glove. Deputy Sheriff Register located a .32-calibre automatic handgun covered by a paper towel, but she did not find any other weapon either inside or outside the area of the garage.
An autopsy revealed that a .32-calibre bullet had indeed entered the victim's right upper eyelid and had exited the back of his head on the right side, doing massive damage to the brain. The path of the bullet was straight, with a slightly upward trajectory. Massive hemorrhaging and obliteration of the brain mass directly resulted in the victim's immediate death. The autopsy failed to reveal any alcohol content in the victim's blood at the time of his death.
John Woolard, an investigative officer with
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