{
  "id": 8525584,
  "name": "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. WILLIE JAMES TORBIT, JR.",
  "name_abbreviation": "State v. Torbit",
  "decision_date": "1985-11-19",
  "docket_number": "No. 8521SC639",
  "first_page": "816",
  "last_page": "818",
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  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "N.C. Ct. App.",
    "id": 14983,
    "name": "North Carolina Court of Appeals"
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    "name_long": "North Carolina",
    "name": "N.C."
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      "category": "reporters:state_regional",
      "reporter": "S.E.2d",
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      "cite": "310 N.C. 399",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "N.C.",
      "case_ids": [
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      "year": 1984,
      "opinion_index": 0,
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      "cite": "243 S.E. 2d 367",
      "category": "reporters:state_regional",
      "reporter": "S.E.2d",
      "year": 1978,
      "opinion_index": 0
    },
    {
      "cite": "295 N.C. 55",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "N.C.",
      "case_ids": [
        8560971
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      "year": 1978,
      "opinion_index": 0,
      "case_paths": [
        "/nc/295/0055-01"
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T21:22:01.691260+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [
      "Judges WHICHARD and JOHNSON concur."
    ],
    "parties": [
      "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. WILLIE JAMES TORBIT, JR."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "HEDRICK, Chief Judge.\nDefendant\u2019s two assignments of error both raise the issue of whether the evidence is sufficient for the jury to find that he attempted to rob Ms. Cook. He first contends that neither his words nor his conduct evidenced any intent to rob Ms. Cook, and that the charge of attempted armed robbery should not have been submitted to the jury. We disagree. The elements of attempted armed robbery are: (1) the unlawful attempted taking of personal property from another, (2) the possession, use or threatened use of \u201cfirearms or other dangerous weapon, implement or means,\u201d and (3) danger or threat to the life of the victim. State v. Joyner, 295 N.C. 55, 243 S.E. 2d 367 (1978). In this case, defendant held a long butcher or hunting knife to Ms. Cook\u2019s throat and threatened her, according to her testimony, by saying that \u201cif I gave him any trouble, he would mess me up but good.\u201d Ms. Cook\u2019s testimony also shows that it was her habit to keep her purse on the floor in front of the passenger seat. The jury could therefore properly infer that the money clip found on the floor in front of the driver\u2019s seat had been in the possession of defendant, who had unlawfully attempted to take it from Ms. Cook. This argument is overruled.\nDefendant next contends that the indictment charging him with kidnapping for the purpose of facilitating the commission of armed robbery is not supported by the evidence. He argues that the State did not prove the particular intent alleged, as it must do when an indictment alleges an intent to commit a particular felony. State v. Alston, 310 N.C. 399, 312 S.E. 2d 470 (1984). We again disagree. Much of the evidence would permit a jury to infer that defendant attempted to rob Ms. Cook. He forced his way into her car, asked for her purse, looked through it, then gave it back to her. There was no evidence that defendant attempted or intended to sexually molest Ms. Cook. We hold that the evidence was sufficient to submit the charge to the jury and for the jury to infer that defendant had the intent to rob Ms. Cook. This assignment of error is overruled.\nDefendant had a fair trial free from prejudicial error.\nNo error.\nJudges WHICHARD and JOHNSON concur.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "HEDRICK, Chief Judge."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Attorney General Lacy H. Thornburg, by Assistant Attorney General Sueanna P. Peeler, for the State.",
      "Acting Appellate Defender Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr., for defendant, appellant."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. WILLIE JAMES TORBIT, JR.\nNo. 8521SC639\n(Filed 19 November 1985)\n1. Robbery \u00a7 4.3\u2014 attempted armed robbery \u2014 sufficiency of evidence\nThe evidence was sufficient to support defendant\u2019s conviction of attempted armed robbery where it tended to show that defendant held a knife to the victim\u2019s throat, forced her over to the passenger seat of her car, threatened to \u201cmess her up\u201d if she gave him any trouble, and asked for and looked through her purse, and that a money clip holding cash and the victim\u2019s driver\u2019s license, which had been in the purse, was later found on the floor of the car next to the driver\u2019s seat where defendant had been sitting.\n2. Kidnapping \u00a7 1.2\u2014 intent to commit robbery \u2014 sufficiency of evidence\nThe evidence was sufficient to permit the jury to infer an intent to rob so as to support the charge against defendant of kidnapping for the purpose of facilitating the commission of armed robbery where it tended to show that defendant forced his way into the victim\u2019s car with a knife and asked for and looked through her purse, and that a money clip holding cash and the victim\u2019s driver\u2019s license, which had been in the purse, was later found on the floor of the car next to the driver\u2019s seat where defendant had been sitting.\nAppeal by defendant from DeRamus, Judge. Judgments en-. tered 6 March 1985 in Superior Court, FORSYTH County. Heard in the Court of Appeals 30 October 1985.\nDefendant was indicted for first degree kidnapping and robbery with a dangerous weapon. At trial the State presented evidence tending to show the following: Janice Cook was driving home from her fiance\u2019s house at approximately 12:30 a.m. A car behind her began blinking its lights, and when she reached her home, the car pulled up beside her and the occupant asked for directions to Burlington. Cook gave him the directions, and he then asked if she would write them down. She wrote the directions down, and the man returned to his car. Cook unlocked her car and began to get out, but as she did so, the man came back and held a knife to her throat. He forced her over to the passenger seat and \u201ctold me that if I gave him any trouble he would mess me up but good.\u201d\nCook and her abductor then drove off. She asked the man what he planned to do, but he did not answer. She then asked if she could smoke. The man said no, asked Cook if she had a gun, and then asked for her purse. He looked through her purse and then returned it to her, and Cook did not see him take anything out of the purse. At some point the man tried to turn the car around, but got stuck in a ditch. He told Cook that he would get out of the car and push and that she should drive the car. As soon as he got out, Cook locked the doors, and the man ran off down the road. Cook then went to a nearby house and called the police. After looking through her purse she noticed that a money clip holding her driver\u2019s license and approximately $40.00 was missing.\nA short time later Cook returned to her home and identified defendant, then in custody, as the man who had abducted her. The next day while searching her car, Cook discovered the money clip with her driver\u2019s license and cash on the floor of the automobile next to the driver\u2019s seat.\nDefendant was indicted for robbery with a dangerous weapon and first degree kidnapping for the purpose of facilitating the commission of the felony of armed robbery. He was found guilty of second degree kidnapping and attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon. From judgments entered on the verdicts, defendant appealed.\nAttorney General Lacy H. Thornburg, by Assistant Attorney General Sueanna P. Peeler, for the State.\nActing Appellate Defender Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr., for defendant, appellant."
  },
  "file_name": "0816-01",
  "first_page_order": 848,
  "last_page_order": 850
}
