{ "id": 8547210, "name": "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. FRANKLIN DeWAYNE WRIGHT, JAMES F. O'KELLEY, MICHAEL BRYANT WILLIAMS, LARRY WAYNE SHUE, and BILLY EUGENE CAPEL", "name_abbreviation": "State v. Wright", "decision_date": "1973-04-25", "docket_number": "No. 7326SC186", "first_page": "76", "last_page": "80", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "18 N.C. App. 76" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "N.C. Ct. App.", "id": 14983, "name": "North Carolina Court of Appeals" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 5, "name_long": "North Carolina", "name": "N.C." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "163 S.E. 2d 911", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1968, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "3 N.C. App. 43", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C. App.", "case_ids": [ 8552674 ], "year": 1968, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc-app/3/0043-01" ] }, { "cite": "150 S.E. 2d 21", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1966, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "268 N.C. 152", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8560616 ], "year": 1966, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/268/0152-01" ] }, { "cite": "123 S.E. 2d 483", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1962, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "256 N.C. 244", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8572182 ], "year": 1962, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/256/0244-01" ] }, { "cite": "186 S.E. 2d 384", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "S.E.2d", "year": 1972, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "280 N.C. 435", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8572439 ], "year": 1972, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/280/0435-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 526, "char_count": 9514, "ocr_confidence": 0.505, "pagerank": { "raw": 2.0446031217563963e-07, "percentile": 0.7530408143486358 }, "sha256": "cfa52568aa3798bf557b9cea3e0a5980f2a7d0ba7f630abd4debea4834b46229", "simhash": "1:6c2a9416a32c3913", "word_count": 1651 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T21:14:36.293491+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [ "Judges Morris and Vaughn concur." ], "parties": [ "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. FRANKLIN DeWAYNE WRIGHT, JAMES F. O\u2019KELLEY, MICHAEL BRYANT WILLIAMS, LARRY WAYNE SHUE, and BILLY EUGENE CAPEL" ], "opinions": [ { "text": "BRITT, Judge;\nDefendants O\u2019Kelley and Williams assign as error the consolidation of their cases for trial with the cases of the other three defendants. There is no merit in this assignment. The court is authorized by G.S. 15-152 to order the consolidation for trial of two or more indictments in which the defendants are charged with crimes of the same class and which are so connected in time or place that evidence at the trial on one of th\u00e9 indictments will be competent and admissible'at the trial on the others. State v. Bass, 280 N.C. 435, 186 S.E. 2d 384 (1972); State v. White, 256 N.C. 244, 123 S.E. 2d 483 (1962). The assignment of error is overruled.\nAll defendants except Wright assign as error the failure of the court to allow their motions for nonsuit, contending that the-evidence was insufficient to make out a prima facie case of armed robbery as to each of them. The assignment has no merit; The gist of the argument on this assignment appears to be that since neither of the defendants asserting this assignment was shoiwn to have a firearm at the time the automobile was taken from Erwin, the evidence was insufficient to survive their motions for nonsuit.\nIt is well settled in this jurisdiction that when two or more persons aid and abet each other in the commission of a crime, all being present, all are principals and equally guilty without regard to which one actually commits the offense. 2 Strong, N. C. Index 2d, Criminal Law, \u00a7 9, p. 492; State v. Nichols, 268 N.C. 152, 150 S.E. 2d 21 (1966); State v. Kirby, 3 N.C. App. 43, 163 S.E. 2d 911 (1968). We hold that the evidence was ample to make out a case and support a verdict of guilty of armed robbery as to each defendant.\nDefendants assign as error various portions of the court\u2019s charge to the jury and the failure of the court to comply fully with G.S. 1-180 in charging the jury. Suffice to say, we have carefully reviewed the charge, with particular reference to the assignments, but conclude that the charge when considered contextually is free from prejudicial error. The assignments of error are overruled.\nWe have carefully considered the other assignments of error brought forward and argued in the briefs but find them to be without merit, and they, too, are overruled.\nWe conclude that defendants, and each of them, received a fair trial, free from prejudicial error.\nNo error.\nJudges Morris and Vaughn concur.", "type": "majority", "author": "BRITT, Judge;" } ], "attorneys": [ "Attorney General Robert Morgan by Rafford E.' Jones, Assistant Attorney General, for the State.", "T. 0. Stennett for defendant appellant Wright.", "Lila Bellar for defendants appellants O\u2019Kelley and Williams.", "W. \\Herbert Brown, Jr., for defendant appellant Since.", "Michael S. Shulinison for defendant'appellant Capel." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. FRANKLIN DeWAYNE WRIGHT, JAMES F. O\u2019KELLEY, MICHAEL BRYANT WILLIAMS, LARRY WAYNE SHUE, and BILLY EUGENE CAPEL\nNo. 7326SC186\n(Filed 25 April 1973)\n1. Criminal Law \u00a7 92\u2014 consolidation of robbery charges against five defendants\nThe trial court did not err in consolidating for trial identical armed robbery charges against five defendants.\n2. Robbery \u00a7 4\u2014 armed robbery \u2014 only one defendant with firearm \u2014 other defendants guilty as principals\nThere was sufficient evidence to support the jury\u2019s verdict finding all five defendants guilty of an armed robbery in which an automobile was taken, notwithstanding only one defendant was shown to have had a firearm at the time the automobile was taken, where the evidence tended to show that the other four defendants were present and aided and abetted in the crime.\nAppeal by defendants from Friday, Judge, at the 21 August 1972 Schedule \u201cC\u201d Session of Mecklenburg Superior Court.\nBy separate bills of indictment defendants were charged with the armed robbery of James Bernice Erwin (Erwin) on 9 August 1971; the property alleged to have been taken was a 1966 Chevrolet automobile. The cases were consolidated for trial and all defendants pleaded not guilty. (Defendants were also charged with kidnapping but the jury returned verdicts of not guilty as to that charge.) Evidence most favorable to the State tended to show:\nAround 11:00 p.m. on 8 August 1971 all five defendants were at a lounge in or near Charlotte operated by one Trent. While there defendant Wright pointed a pistol at the head of a customer; Trent stuck his .32 cal. pistol in Wright\u2019s ribs and told him \u201cif I heard a gun go off, that I would fire mine.\u201d Defendant Wright then left the lounge and in a few minutes returned with a single barrel shotgun which he stuck in Trent\u2019s side; defendant Wright told defendant Capel to get Trent\u2019s gun. The other three defendants were \u201csurrounding\u201d Trent. Trent knocked the shotgun upward and it went off, shooting a hole in the ceiling. All five defendants then ran from the lounge. Trent last saw defendants around 11:30 p.m.\nOn that same night, Erwin and Robert Herrin (Herrin), residents of Florida, were visiting relatives and friends who lived in the Riverside Trailer Park near Charlotte. Around 12:45 a.m. Erwin and, Herrin left the residence they were visiting, got in Erwin\u2019s Chevrolet and with Erwin driving proceeded to leave the trailer, park. Two men (later identified as defendants Shue and, Williams) stopped the car and demanded a ride to Charlotte; Shue had a pistol and pointed it at the car. Shue and Williams got in the back seat and Erwin proceeded to drive for some 100 yards to a telephone booth where he was stopped again. At that point three more men, later identified as defendants Wright, O\u2019Kelley and Capel, got in the car, O\u2019Kelley getting in the right front seat beside Herrin and Wright and Capel in the baek seat. Neither Erwin nor Herrin knew either of the defendants.\nErwin proceeded on to a major highway and on toward Charlotte. After driving some twenty minutes, Erwin stated that his car was overheating and needed water. \u201cThey\u201d gave Erwin permission to stop at a service station and get water. Erwin proceeded to stop at a station and while getting out of his car told Herrin to get out also and check the oil. Defendant O\u2019Kelley ordered Herrin to stay in the car. While Erwin had the car hood open, the station operator went up to him; Erwin told the operator to \u201cget my tag number, these boys have guns on me.\u201d He also told the operator to call the police. The operator went back into the station and picked up the telephone. About that time defendant Capel entered the station, ran his hand into his pocket and told the station operator it would be best for him to \u201chang up the phone.\u201d\nAfter the station operator left him at the front of the car, Erwin heard someone in the car say \u201cThey are calling the law, shoot.\u201d Defendant Shue got out of the car and tried to throw Erwin down but Erwin got away, ran behind the station and on behind a church. As he was running he heard four, five or six gunshots. After defendant Capel told the station operator to hang up the phone, the operator, who had seen an automatic pistol in the hands of one of the occupants in the back seat, ran around the station and across the road to another station for purpose of calling police. As he was running he heard several gunshots. Herrin testified that defendant Wright was shooting at Erwin and the station operator as they ran.\nFollowing the shooting, defendants Shue and Capel returned to the car, and defendant Shue proceeded to drive it toward Charlotte. Some one-quarter mile from the station, Her-rin asked to be allowed to get out of the ear; defendant Shue slowed down and Herrin jumped out into a ditch. Before jumping Herrin heard someone in the back seat say \u201cLet him have it.\u201d As Herrin rolled over in the ditch, he heard gunshots as the car drove away. Herrin walked back to the station where police had arrived.\nAt about 1:50 a.m. of the same night, Charlotte Police Officer John Williams was on duty and saw defendant Wright come out of an alley and get into and drive off in a Ford pickup truck; the other four defendants were with Wright. Some five minutes later the pickup with the five defendants returned and proceeded down the alley. Officer Williams started down the alley on foot and saw a white car (later identified as Erwin\u2019s) in the alley with a small fire burning inside of it. Before the car started burning, Officer Williams saw defendant Wright walk away from the car and saw defendant O\u2019Kelley standing nearby. After returning to his patrol car and radioing the dispatcher, Officer Williams drove down the alley and saw Erwin\u2019s car explode. He then radioed for police to be on the lookout for a one-half ton white pickup truck occupied by five white males and driven by defendant Wright.\nThereafter, at about 2:00 a.m., Officer Booth saw a blue and white Ford pickup truck in a driveway at 1709 Academy Street in the City of Charlotte. He and Officer Hagler approached the truck and saw defendants Shue, Williams, O\u2019Kelley and Capel at the rear of the truck. Defendant O\u2019Kelley had a shotgun and at the request of police threw it in the bed of the truck. The four were arrested. Defendant Wright came out of the' house onto a lighted porch; he had a pistol in his hand. Defendant' Wright then came on to the street and Officer Hagler Ordered him to stop and drop the pistol. Defendant Wright put' the pistol in his pocket and walked back into the house. The officers followed him into the house and arrested him.\nThe jury returned a verdict of guilty of armed. robbery as to all defendants and from judgment imposing lengthy prison sentences, they appealed.\nAttorney General Robert Morgan by Rafford E.' Jones, Assistant Attorney General, for the State.\nT. 0. Stennett for defendant appellant Wright.\nLila Bellar for defendants appellants O\u2019Kelley and Williams.\nW. \\Herbert Brown, Jr., for defendant appellant Since.\nMichael S. Shulinison for defendant'appellant Capel." }, "file_name": "0076-01", "first_page_order": 100, "last_page_order": 104 }