 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
North Carolina v. Green3/9/1988
For the reasons stated below, we find the defendant's assignments of error to be without merit and hold that he received a fair trial, free of prejudicial error.
Viewed in the light most favorable to the state, the evidence presented at trial tended to show the following: On the morning of 12 February 1985, Callie Grimes went to look for her husband,
Jimmy, who had not come home the previous night. She sought him at a local bar, the Chief's Club, located on Highway 55 near the town of Apex. Arriving at approximately 8:15 a.m., she found the door unlocked and, upon entering, found her husband lying dead on the barroom floor. The body of Garland Williams was lying beside her husband. When Callie Grimes went behind the bar to telephone for help, she discovered the body of the third victim, the bar's owner, Charlie Ray Johnson.
Forensic evidence tended to show that the men had died no later than 5:00 a.m. Crime scene investigators determined that the wallets of the victims had been taken from them. However, they also found $9,000 in a blue bank bag belonging to Charlie Johnson and an additional $7,500 in hundred dollar bills in Johnson's coat pocket.
The autopsy of Jimmy Ray Grimes revealed four gunshot wounds. He was shot in the head three times at close range with a small-caliber gun. There was also a contact wound in the pit of his stomach where he had been shot with a large-caliber bullet. Grimes had a blood alcohol level of 0.20 percent.
Charlie Ray Johnson had been shot four times. Two large-caliber bullets had struck his trunk while two small-caliber bullets had been fired into his forehead and ear at close range. Charlie Johnson had a blood alcohol level of 0.31 percent.
Garland Williams was shot three times. A large-caliber bullet entered his back. He had two close-range head wounds, one caused by a large-caliber and one by a small-caliber bullet. His blood alcohol level was 0.19 percent.
According to the testimony of several of the bar's patrons, defendant arrived at the Chief's Club with Debra Blankenship on the afternoon of 11 February. During that afternoon and evening and into the early morning hours of 12 February, defendant and Blankenship played pool, drank beer, and used cocaine at the Chief's Club. Defendant also sold cocaine to a patron, who in turn sold it to several others at the club, and Charlie Johnson used cocaine given to him by defendant. Patrons testified that defendant had in his possession both his own .38-caliber pistol and Blankenship's .22-caliber pistol. Charlie Johnson kept a .38-caliber pistol under the bar. These guns were displayed several times in the
hours preceding the shootings. Both defendant and Johnson displayed their .38s when a man assaulted his girlfriend. Defendant followed the violent patron outside the bar to remonstrate with him, having first armed himself with a pistol. Defendant also made a display of his .38 when he went upstairs with a group of bar patrons to inject cocaine. Defendant and Johnson were observed displaying and discussing their guns, including Blankenship's .22, in the early morning hours.
J. C. Sandy was the last patron, other than defendant and Blankenship, to leave the Chief's Club. At about 2:30 a.m., he had a brief conversation with Jimmy Grimes, who came and spoke to him as he sat in his parked Jeep outside the club. Grimes told him that Charlie Johnson, who was preparing to close, was permitting defendant, Blankenship, and Garland Williams to remain in the bar but would not allow him to stay. There had been some tension between the two men because Grimes had wanted Johnson to intervene more forcefully in the boyf
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 North Carolina DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|