{
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  "name": "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. CHARLES EUGENE BARTLETT",
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [
      "Judges WYNN and McGEE concur."
    ],
    "parties": [
      "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. CHARLES EUGENE BARTLETT"
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "GREENE, Judge.\nCharles Bartlett (defendant) appeals a judgment entered 6 May 1994 in which a jury convicted him of two counts of felonious larceny, two counts of breaking and entering and one count of second degree burglary. The trial court consolidated the offenses and sentenced defendant to twenty-four years in prison.\nDefendant was arrested on 16 August 1993 following a break-in at a residence in Dudley and was taken to the Wayne County Sheriffs Department. After being advised of his Miranda rights, the defendant agreed to talk to the investigating officers. One of the officers (Greenfield) \u201cattempted\u201d to write down the defendant\u2019s answers to questions posed to the defendant by another officer. The questions asked were not written down by Greenfield. At some point during the questioning, the defendant \u201cdecided that he wanted to stop answering any questions\u201d because he \u201cwanted a lawyer.\u201d The defendant was given the paper writing prepared by Greenfield and the defendant refused to sign it.\nAt trial, the paper writing prepared by Greenfield on the day of the arrest was admitted into evidence and Greenfield was permitted to read it to the jury. The defendant objected.\nThe issue is whether a defendant\u2019s statement, reduced to writing by another person, is admissible into evidence when it is not signed by the defendant.\nThe general rule is that a \u201cstatement of an accused reduced to writing by another person, where it was freely and voluntarily made, and where it was read to or by the accused and signed or otherwise admitted by him as correct shall be admissible against him.\u201d State v. Boykin, 298 N.C. 687, 693, 259 S.E.2d 883, 887 (1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 911, 64 L. Ed. 2d 264 (1980); see State v. Cole, 293 N.C. 328, 334, 237 S.E.2d 814, 818 (1977). In other words, the defendant must in some manner indicate his \u201cacquiescence in the correctness\u201d of a written instrument tendered as his confession. State v. Walker, 269 N.C. 135, 141, 152 S.E.2d 133, 137 (1967). Nonetheless, the written instrument is admissible, without regard to the defendant\u2019s acquiescence, if it is a \u201cverbatim record of the questions [asked] . . . and the answers\u201d given by him. State v. Byers, 105 N.C. App. 377, 383, 413 S.E.2d 586, 589 (1992); see Cole, 293 N.C. at 334-35, 237 S.E.2d at 818 (officer wrote down statements in longhand in \u201cdefendant\u2019s own words\u201d and swore they were defendant\u2019s actual words); State v. Fox, 277 N.C. 1, 25, 175 S.E.2d 561, 576 (1970) (sheriff testified that the transcription was an \u201cexact copy\u201d of the conversation between himself and defendant).\nIn this case, Greenfield testified that he did not write down the questions asked of defendant and he never testified that his handwritten notes were an exact reflection of the answers given by the defendant. Greenfield only testified that he \u201cattempted\u201d to write down the defendant\u2019s answers. Finally, there is no evidence that the defendant acquiesced in the correctness of the writing and in fact, he refused to sign it. It was therefore error to admit the document into evidence and allow the officer to read it to the jury.\nWhere a confession is erroneously admitted into evidence, \u201cno one can say what weight and credibility the jury gave the confession,\u201d State v. Blackmon, 280 N.C. 42, 50, 185 S.E.2d 123, 128 (1971), and in the absence of some other evidence \u201cjust as weighty,\u201d the improperly admitted confession is prejudicial error and requires a new trial. State v. Edgerton, 86 N.C. App. 329, 335, 357 S.E.2d 399, 404 (1987), rev\u2019d on other grounds, 328 N.C. 319, 401 S.E.2d 351 (1991); see N.C.G.S. \u00a7 15A-1443(a) (1988). Although there was, in this case, other evidence of defendant\u2019s guilt we cannot say that it was \u201cjust as weighty\u201d as the improperly admitted confession.\nNew trial.\nJudges WYNN and McGEE concur.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "GREENE, Judge."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Attorney General Michael F. Easley, by Assistant Attorney General J. Mark Payne, for the State.",
      "Barnes, Braswell & Haithcock, P.A., by Glenn A. Barfield, for defendant-appellant."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. CHARLES EUGENE BARTLETT\nNo. COA95-340\n(Filed 6 February 1996)\nEvidence and Witnesses \u00a7 1353 (NCI4th)\u2014 officer\u2019s \u201cattempt\u201d to record defendant\u2019s answers to questions \u2014 document not signed by defendant \u2014 document inadmissible\nWhere an officer testified that he did not write down the questions asked of defendant, never testified that his handwritten notes were an exact reflection of the answers given by defendant, and testified only that he \u201cattempted\u201d to write down defendant\u2019s answers, and there was no evidence that defendant acquiesced in the correctness of the writing but in fact refused to sign it, the trial court erred in admitting the document into evidence and allowing the officer to read it to the jury.\nAm Jur 2d, Evidence \u00a7\u00a7 717.\nAppeal by defendant from judgment entered 6 May 1994 in Wayne County Superior Court by Judge G. K. Butterfield, Jr. Heard in the Court of Appeals 10 January 1996.\nAttorney General Michael F. Easley, by Assistant Attorney General J. Mark Payne, for the State.\nBarnes, Braswell & Haithcock, P.A., by Glenn A. Barfield, for defendant-appellant."
  },
  "file_name": "0521-01",
  "first_page_order": 555,
  "last_page_order": 557
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