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North Carolina v. Rannels6/4/1993
uit should
be allowed. State v. Carter, 254 N.C. 475, 119 S.E.2d 461." State v. Johnson, 261 N.C. 727, 730, 136 S.E.2d 84, 86 (1964).
The State is not bound by the exculpatory portions of a confession which it introduces, if there is "other evidence tending to throw a different light on the circumstances of the homicide." State v. Bright, 237 N.C. 475, 477, 75 S.E.2d 407, 408 (1953); see also State v. Bolin, 281 N.C. 415, 189 S.E.2d 235 (1972), and State v. Cooper, 273 N.C. 51, 159 S.E.2d 305 (1968).
State v. Hankerson, 288 N.C. 632, 637, 220 S.E.2d 575, 580 (1975), judgment rev'd on other grounds, 432 U.S. 233, 53 L. Ed. 2d 306 (1977).
Here there is other evidence tending to throw a different light on the homicide than that contained in defendant's confession--evidence, indeed, which tends to contradict defendant's confession and which would permit the jury reasonably to conclude that defendant murdered the victim with premeditation and deliberation. There is, as we have shown, evidence that defendant and Lopez planned to rob the victim. In preparation for the robbery, defendant loaded the .22 caliber pistol and placed it where it would be available at the time of the robbery. Gaddy's dead body was found underneath the steering wheel with a glass between his legs and a burned down cigarette between two fingers of his left hand. The fatal wound was to Gaddy's left temple and fired from a distance of two to three inches. When defendant learned Lopez had left her purse in the truck, he beat her and left her. When defendant after his arrest was told that Lopez was in jail, his attitude was cavalier, and he expressed a total lack of concern or affection for her.
The foregoing evidence belies defendant's pretrial version of how his murder of Gaddy occurred. That Gaddy was found dead with a glass between his legs and a cigarette in his hand makes it unlikely the shooting was preceded by some physical scuffle between Gaddy and defendant. Defendant's beating and abandonment of Lopez shortly after the murder when he learned she had left her purse and his cavalier attitude toward Lopez upon being informed of her arrest cast doubt on his statement that he became angered by her being fondled by Gaddy as does the very plan concocted by defendant and Lopez, a plan grounded in Lopez's ability to lure Gaddy to a secluded spot presumably with the promise of sexual favors. The position of Gaddy's body in the truck--slumped
under the steering wheel--the wound to his left temple fired at close range, the cigarette in his left hand and the glass between his legs constitutes some evidence that the killing was not suddenly provoked but was carefully planned and executed.
On this state of the evidence the jury could reasonably infer that defendant's pretrial statement regarding how the killing occurred was not true and was made by defendant solely for the purpose of mitigating his true culpability in the homicide. From the evidence just recounted the jury could reasonably conclude that defendant methodically planned to kill his robbery victim when he loaded the pistol and took steps to make sure it was available at the scene of the robbery and that he methodically carried out these plans when he, Lopez and Gaddy arrived at the secluded spot where the robbery and murder took place.
For these reasons, we hold the evidence was sufficient to supp
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