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State v. Griffin6/21/2005
An unpublished opinion of the North Carolina Court of Appeals does not constitute controlling legal authority.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.
Defendant Toby Lynn Griffin appeals from his conviction for first degree murder under the felony murder rule. Defendant argues primarily that the trial court should have dismissed the felony murder charge based on insufficient evidence that defendant committed the underlying felony of robbery with a dangerous weapon. Because we believe that the armed robbery and the homicide were part of a single continuous transaction, we hold that the trial court properly denied the motion to dismiss. As to defendant's remaining assignments of error, we conclude that they are without merit.
Facts
The State's evidence tended to show the following. At approximately 4:30 a.m. on 4 May 2001, Clay Andrews was driving north of Asheboro on Highway 22. At the intersection of Highway 22 and Shady Brook Drive, he observed a white taxi cab nosed into a roadside ditch with a man crouching over the front of the taxi. As Andrews slowed down and approached the taxi, he saw the man climb into the taxi and speed away.
Once Andrews stopped, he found a second person lying in the ditch where the cab had been. The person was later identified as Sidney Howard "J.R." Willetts, Jr. Willetts, whose face was covered in blood, was gasping and could not speak. Andrews used his cell phone to call for assistance, but by the time the paramedics and law enforcement arrived, the victim had died. The officers found a wallet in Willetts' back pocket containing over $3,000.00 in cash. The medical examiner ultimately determined that Willetts had been shot five times, four times in the face and once in the abdomen, and that he had sustained various other wounds on his neck and body that were consistent with knife cuts.
At approximately 7:25 a.m. that same morning, law enforcement officers found Willetts' unoccupied taxi cab parked on the side of the road at another location. The taxi had displayed on its trunk the telephone number 633-0123. Upon searching the taxi, the officers found a notebook tucked into the pocket of the driver's door. The notebook had the address "3848 Shady Brook Lane" written on the front page. In the back seat area, officers found a knife; two ball caps with one bearing the logo "J.R.'s Taxi Service" and the other bearing the logo "East Coast Furniture;" and approximately $213.00 in cash. There was dried human blood on the driver's side hood and outside door; on the inside of the driver's side door, window, and door control panel; and on the rear side of the driver's head rest.
Upon finding the notebook, the officers went to the Shady Brook address, which was a half-mile from the intersection where the victim had been found. The address was that of defendant's mother, who acknowledged that defendant lived there part time and that he had been there the night before. She said that defendant had not been home that day and reported that he worked for East Coast Furniture. While in the house, officers found a set of knives in the kitchen from which two knives were missing and, hidden under defendant's mattress, a knife that matched that set. These knives also matched the knife found in the taxi. In addition, the officers found a phone book with the telephone number of the taxi (633-0123) written on it in magic marker.
Between 3:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon of the same day, 4 May 2001, defendant entered a car repair shop, looking red faced and "wore out," and asked for a drink of water. He returned a lit
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