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State v. Davis12/21/2000
purposes of this aggravating circumstance, the jury was instructed to consider the taking of the keys to the Bravada, the Bravada itself, and one of the VCRs. The span of time between Miller's murder and the alleged armed robbery was at most thirty minutes. Thus, all of the evidence presented during the sentencing proceeding tended to show that the murder and alleged armed robbery were part of a continuous series of events.
Furthermore, the trial court properly instructed the jury that it could find this aggravating circumstance if it determined that the armed robbery occurred during a continuous series of events surrounding Miller's death. Finally, on the issues and recommendation form, this issue was stated as follows: "Was this murder committed by the Defendant while the Defendant was engaged in the commission of Armed Robbery?" Therefore, when the jurors marked "yes" on the form, they found that the murder was committed while defendant was engaged in the commission of armed robbery. Thus, the instructions and issues and recommendation form, when considered in light of the evidence in this case, communicated to the jury that the murder had to occur while defendant was engaged in the commission of armed robbery.
In light of the foregoing, we conclude that there is no reasonable likelihood that the jury applied the challenged instruction in a manner that violated the Constitution. See State v. Jennings, 333 N.C. 579, 621, 430 S.E.2d 188, 209, cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1028, 126 L. Ed. 2d 602 (1993). Assuming arguendo that the error was of constitutional magnitude, such error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See N.C.G.S. § 15A-1443(b).
Defendant makes a similar argument about the identical instructions the trial court gave regarding Caroline's murder. However, we need not address this argument since the jury recommended life imprisonment without parole for Caroline's death. This argument is rejected.
In his sixteenth argument, defendant challenges the trial court's instructions on aggravating circumstance (e)(6), that the murder was committed for pecuniary gain. Defendant contends that the instructions given by the trial court allowed the jury to find the (e)(6) circumstance without making the necessary finding about defendant's motive in that the instructions did not require the jury to find that defendant murdered for the purpose of pecuniary gain. Defendant contends that the instructions were erroneous in law and violated his rights under the United States and North Carolina Constitutions. We disagree.
An aggravating circumstance that may be considered in capital sentencing is that " he capital felony was committed for pecuniary gain." N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(e)(6). "This aggravating circumstance considers defendant's motive and is appropriate where the impetus for the murder was the expectation of pecuniary gain." State v. Moore, 335 N.C. 567, 610, 440 S.E.2d 797, 822, cert. denied, 513 U.S. 898, 130 L. Ed. 2d 174 (1994). However, the jury may find this aggravating circumstance even where financial gain was not the defendant's primary motivation. Id.
In the instant case, during the charge conference, the trial court accepted the State's requested instruction on the (e)(6) aggravating circumstance, over defendant's objection. The instruction was given as follows:
he second aggravating circumstance that you may consider . . . is: "Was this murder committed for pecuniary gain?" A murder is committed for pecuniary gain if the defendant, when he commits it, has obtained or intends to obtain money or other things that can be valued in money as a result of the death of the victim. In order to find that this murder was committed f
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