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State v. Davis12/21/2000
Appeal as of right pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-27(a) from a judgment imposing a sentence of death entered by Payne Ronald K., J., on 21 August 1997 in Superior Court, Buncombe County, following a plea of guilty of first-degree murder. On 24 September 1999, the Supreme Court allowed defendant's motion to bypass the Court of Appeals as to his appeal of an additional judgment imposing a sentence of life imprisonment without parole following a second plea of guilty of first- degree murder. Heard in the Supreme Court 16 May 2000.
On 4 August 1997, defendant pled guilty to the first-degree murders of his aunt, Joyce Miller, and cousin, Caroline Miller. Following the entry and acceptance of the guilty plea, a capital sentencing proceeding was conducted pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000. The jury recommended a sentence of death for the murder of Joyce Miller and life imprisonment without parole for the murder of Caroline Miller. In the Joyce Miller case, the jury found as aggravating circumstances that the murder was: (1) committed while engaged in the commission of armed robbery; (2) committed for pecuniary gain; (3) especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel; and (4) part of a course of conduct, including the commission of other crimes of violence against other persons. The jury also found fifteen of the fifty statutory and non-statutory mitigating circumstances submitted to it. In the Caroline Miller case, the jury found as aggravating circumstances that the murder was: (1) committed while engaged in the commission of armed robbery; and (2) part of a course of conduct, including the commission of other crimes of violence against other persons. The jury also found eighteen of the fifty statutory and non-statutory mitigating circumstances submitted to it.
On 21 August 1997, the trial judge, in accordance with the jury's recommendation, imposed a sentence of death for the first-degree murder conviction of Joyce Miller and a sentence of life imprisonment without parole for the first-degree murder conviction of Caroline Miller.
Defendant makes thirty-two arguments on appeal to this Court. For the reasons discussed herein, we reject each of these arguments and conclude that defendant's capital sentencing proceeding was free of prejudicial error and that the death sentence is not disproportionate. Accordingly, we uphold defendant's convictions and sentence of death.
The State's evidence in the capital sentencing proceeding tended to show the following facts and circumstances. Defendant, who was eighteen years old, was living in the home of his aunt, Joyce Miller (Miller), in Asheville, North Carolina. Also residing in Miller's home were Miller's seventeen-year-old daughter, Caroline Miller (Caroline), and two young foster children.
Approximately one week before the murders, Miller told her brother, Billy Davis that she was missing $800.00. Caroline believed that defendant had taken the money because he had recently purchased clothing and a gold chain. Miller obtained a receipt for the clothes and returned them. Caroline was hiding the gold chain from defendant so that she and Miller could take it to a pawn shop. Several days before the murders, defendant stated to Caroline, "Well, if I don't get my chain, it's only going to hurt you in the long run."
On 24 May 1996, defendant shot and killed his cousin Caroline. On the same day, he killed Miller by shooting her and cutting her with a meat cleaver. Davis visited Miller's home in the evening and found Miller lying in a pool of blood. Niconda Briscoe, defendant's girlfriend, arrived at approximately the same time as Davis and called for emergency assistance.
A paramedic with the Buncombe County
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