{
  "id": 8556308,
  "name": "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. ROBERT LEE HICKMAN",
  "name_abbreviation": "State v. Hickman",
  "decision_date": "1974-05-01",
  "docket_number": "No. 743SC221",
  "first_page": "421",
  "last_page": "423",
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    "name": "North Carolina Court of Appeals"
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      "category": "reporters:state_regional",
      "reporter": "S.E.2d",
      "year": 1965,
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    {
      "cite": "264 N.C. 524",
      "category": "reporters:state",
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        8574189
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      "year": 1940,
      "opinion_index": 0
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    {
      "cite": "218 N.C. 660",
      "category": "reporters:state",
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T21:32:29.924632+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [
      "Judges Morris and Vaughn concur."
    ],
    "parties": [
      "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. ROBERT LEE HICKMAN"
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "CAMPBELL, Judge.\nThe defendant assigns as error the failure of the trial court to charg\u00e9 on self-defense and the failure of the trial court in its charge to explain and define the element of assault. Under G.S. 1-180 it is the duty of the trial court to declare and explain the law arising from the evidence even without a special request for instruction. The defendant\u2019s evidence, even though contradicted by the State, raised an issue of self-defense. Whether the defendant\u2019s evidence is less credible than the State\u2019s evidence is an issue for the jury, not the trial judge. The failure of the trial court to charge on self-defense was error. State v. Greer, 218 N.C. 660, 12 S.E. 2d 238 (1940); State v. Todd, 264 N.C. 524, 142 S.E. 2d 154 (1965); State v. Chaney, 9 N.C. App. 731, 177 S.E. 2d 309 (1970); State v. Broadnax, 13 N.C. App. 319, 185 S.E. 2d 442 (1971).\nThe defendant was convicted of the offense of an assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. In instructing on this offense, the trial judge charged the jury:\n\u201cNow, I instruct you that if the State has satisfied you beyond a reasonable doubt that on or about 8:00 P.M., January 27, 1973, the defendant, Robert Hickman, assaulted Clayton Fenner with a knife, a deadly weapon thereby inflicting serious bodily injury upon him, it would be your duty to return a verdict of guilty of the lesser offense of assault with a deadly weapon with intent \u2014 inflicting serious injury. If you do not so find, or have a reasonable doubt as to one or more of these things, it would be your duty to return a verdict of not guilty.\u201d\nTo this instruction the defendant excepted and assigned it as an error.\nAt no place in the charge did the trial judge instruct the jury as to what the term \u201cassault\u201d means or what constitutes an assault. An assault is a legal term with which jurors are not apt to be familiar. We think it incumbent upon the trial judge to define or otherwise explain to a jury the meaning of the legal term \u201cassault.\u201d\nIn State v. Mundy, 265 N.C. 528, 144 S.E. 2d 572 (1965), the North Carolina Supreme Court stated:\n\u201cThe only instruction given with respect to the law of the case consisted of a reading of the pertinent statute, G.S. 14-87. In giving instructions the court is not required to follow any particular form and has wide discretion as to the manner in which the case is presented to the jury, but it has the duty to explain, without special request therefor, each essential element of the offense and to apply the law with respect to each element to the evidence bearing thereon. 1 Strong: N. C. Index, Criminal Law, \u00a7\u00a7 105, 107. Ordinarily the reading of the pertinent statute, without further explanation, is not sufficient.\u201d\nFor the errors pointed out we grant a new trial.\nNew trial.\nJudges Morris and Vaughn concur.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "CAMPBELL, Judge."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Attorney General Robert Morgan by Assistant Attorney General James E. Magner, Jr., for the State.",
      "Ernest C. Richardson III for defendant appellant."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. ROBERT LEE HICKMAN\nNo. 743SC221\n(Filed 1 May 1974)\n1. Assault and Battery \u00a7 15; Criminal Law \u00a7 118\u2014 failure to instruct on self-defense \u2014 error\nIn a prosecution for assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, the defendant\u2019s evidence, even though contradicted by the State, raised an issue of self-defense, and the trial court erred in failing to give an instruction on that defense.\n'2. Assault and Battery \u00a7 15\u2014 failure to define assault' \u2014 error\nTrial court in a prosecution for assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill erred in failing to define or otherwise explain to the jury the meaning of the legal term \u201cassault.\u201d\nAppeal by defendant from Cowper, Judge, at the 15 October 1973 Session of Craven Superior Court.\nHeard in the Court of Appeals 10 April 1974.\nThe indictment charged defendant with assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to kill and inflicting serious injury not resulting in death. The State\u2019s evidence tended to show that the defendant was playing cards with Clayton Fenner and a man called Boot Jack. The defendant was losing money and accused Fenner of cheating. Everyone got up, and the defendant left the room. As Clayton Fenner was walking out, the defendant came back into the room and stabbed Fenner with a knife \u2014 once in the back of the head and twice more in the back after he fell to the floor. The defendant then ran out of the house, got in his car and drove off.\nThe defendant, Robert Lee Hickman, testifying in his own behalf, stated that he and Fenner argued about the cheating accusation before he left the room. The defendant testified that when he reentered the room, Fenner came at him with something in his hand which he was swinging. The defendant testified he then pulled out his knife and hit Fenner, knocking him back into a chair. As Fenner rose to come at him again, the defendant struck him two more times, then left the house. From a verdict of guilty of the lesser offense of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, the defendant appealed.\nAttorney General Robert Morgan by Assistant Attorney General James E. Magner, Jr., for the State.\nErnest C. Richardson III for defendant appellant."
  },
  "file_name": "0421-01",
  "first_page_order": 449,
  "last_page_order": 451
}