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[T] State v. Heath5/18/2004
An unpublished opinion of the North Carolina Court of Appeals does not constitute controlling legal authority. Citation is disfavored, but may be permitted in accordance with the provisions of Rule 30(e)(3) of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure.
Defendant Joseph Calvin Heath was indicted for the 19 March 1994 murder of his wife, Frances Cannon Heath (94 CRS 2496). On 28 March 1995, he pled guilty, pursuant to a plea agreement, to second-degree murder. Defendant waived a formal presentation of evidence and the State's showing of the factual basis for the plea tended to show that in March 1994, defendant assaulted and stabbed his wife during a domestic altercation, inflicting severe stab wounds to her chest. The victim died at the scene as a result of her injuries. She had been hospitalized in February 1993 as a result of another attack by defendant. There was evidence that she had previously attempted to obtain a restraining order againstdefendant, but failed to complete the process. After making written aggravating and mitigating factors and finding that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors, the trial court sentenced defendant to an aggravated term of fifty years imprisonment.
On or about 14 September 2001, defendant filed a motion for appropriate relief in the superior court. The motion was denied by order of the superior court entered 10 October 2001, and defendant then filed a petition for writ of certiorari in this Court, seeking review of the superior court's 10 October 2001 order. On 19 December 2001, this Court allowed the petition for writ of certiorari for the limited purpose of entering the following order:
It appearing that the trial court improperly found as an aggravating factor that "[petitioner] acted with malice, premeditation and deliberation" where petitioner was convicted of second-degree murder, the order entered on or about 10 October 2001 by Judge Paul L. Jones in Lenoir County Superior Court, denying petitioner's motion for appropriate relief, is vacated and this matter remanded to the superior court for resentencing. See N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1340.4(a)(1)(1993)(repealed by Sessions Laws 1993, ch. 538, § 14); State v. McBride, 109 N.C. App. 64, 70, 425 S.E.2d 731, 735 (1993).
Resentencing proceedings were held in the superior court on 23 April 2003. The State presented the testimony of Detective Jennifer Darden of the Kinston Police Department, who had investigated the murder. Detective Darden, with the use of statements made by several members of the victim's family, testified about her investigation of the offense. The State also submitted various exhibits as evidence-- three exhibits showingdefendant's prior convictions for driving while impaired, carrying a concealed weapon, resisting police and driving while license revoked; a transcript from the prior guilty plea proceeding, photographs of the crime scene, and the autopsy report of the victim.
Defendant testified on his own behalf. He testified that he had been married to the victim for seventeen years, but that their relationship suffered when the victim's daughter and granddaughter moved in with them. Defendant testified that he did not remember many of the events surrounding the victim's death. He noted that he had been drinking earlier in the morning of the incident in question. Moreover, while he did remember stabbing the victim two times, defendant stated that he does not remember what happened before that. Defendant subsequently turned himself into the authorities. He expressed remorse for the victim's death.
Based upon the evidence presented, the trial court found aggravating and mitigating factors. After finding and c
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