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State v. Helms11/15/2005
An unpublished opinion of the North Carolina Court of Appeals does not constitute controlling legal authority.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.
Bobby Eugene Helms ("defendant") appeals judgments entered after a jury found him to be guilty of second degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, and felonious hit and run. We find no error.
I. Background
The State's evidence tended to show that on the afternoon of 10 December 2002, Carolyn Whitesides Beachum ("Beachum") and Mildred Joan Padron ("Padron") were inside Beachum's white Plymouth Horizon vehicle traveling westbound on Franklin Boulevard in Gastonia when a cream-colored Mercedes Benz driven by defendant hit Beachum's vehicle in the rear-end. As a result of the collision,Beachum lost control of her vehicle, crossed into an oncoming lane of traffic, and struck another car. Padron was fatally injured in the accident. Beachum suffered lacerations on her liver and spleen, internal bleeding, a broken collarbone, and severe bruising on her shoulder, chest, and back. She was placed on a ventilator, required several blood transfusions, and remained hospitalized for twelve days.
Maurice Bush ("Bush") testified that on 10 December 2002, he pulled behind a cream-colored Mercedes at a stop light at the intersection of Webb Street and West Franklin Boulevard. Turning onto West Franklin, he "noticed that the Mercedes began to weave in and out of the center lane." Without using a turn signal, the Mercedes "moved into the far left lane first and then he moved back into the center lane and then into the far right lane." As Bush continued down West Franklin Boulevard, he observed that "the Mercedes got into the far left lane and he increased his speed and . . . he rear[-]ended a little white car[.]" The white car "veered into the eastbound lane of Franklin Boulevard and then it was broadsided by an approaching car." After hitting the car, the Mercedes returned to the center lane and continued down West Franklin "at a high rate of speed."
A second eyewitness, Robert Carroll ("Carroll"), testified he was traveling on West Franklin Boulevard when he "noticed a cream colored Mercedes beside me . . . which . . . was swerving and getting close to my vehicle so I backed off a little bit." Carroll telephoned the police department to see if a patrol car was locatedin the vicinity. After completing the call, Carroll saw the Mercedes strike a white car, which then "went across the lane into head on traffic." The Mercedes "accelerated speed" and continued down West Franklin Boulevard. Carroll called the dispatcher to report the accident. He then followed the Mercedes as it entered a parking lot and drove "fast" through the drive-through lane of a drug store before turning onto Myrtle School Road. Carroll saw the Mercedes turn onto a dirt road behind a restaurant and then turn left onto Sunset Road. Carroll stopped his vehicle and guided police to his location by telephone.
Gastonia Police Officer A.R. Wurster ("Officer Wurter") made contact with Carroll on Sunset Road. Proceeding onto Saturn Street, he saw defendant's Mercedes parked "perpendicular in the road" as though attempting to execute a three-point turn. Officer Wurster approached the Mercedes on foot and found defendant seated in the driver's seat with the engine running. As defendant was exiting the car, Officer Wurster noticed an "extreme odor of alcohol coming from his person" and saw that his eyes were "glassy" and "bloodshot[.]" When Officer Wurster asked defendant what had happened, he responded, " he
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