{ "id": 795994, "name": "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. MARTIN ALEXANDER RICHARDSON", "name_abbreviation": "State v. Richardson", "decision_date": "1996-03-08", "docket_number": "No. 11A94", "first_page": "772", "last_page": "796", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "342 N.C. 772" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "N.C.", "id": 9292, "name": "Supreme Court of North Carolina" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 5, "name_long": "North Carolina", "name": "N.C." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "63 ALR4th 478", "category": "reporters:specialty", "reporter": "A.L.R. 4th", "opinion_index": -1 }, { "cite": "476 U.S. 28", "category": "reporters:federal", "reporter": "U.S.", "case_ids": [ 12414 ], "opinion_index": -1, "case_paths": [ "/us/476/0028-01" ] }, { "cite": "66 ALR4th 417", "category": "reporters:specialty", "reporter": "A.L.R. 4th", "weight": 2, "opinion_index": -1 }, { "cite": "43 ALR3d 699", "category": "reporters:specialty", "reporter": "A.L.R. 3d", "opinion_index": -1 }, { "cite": "79 ALR3d 14", "category": "reporters:specialty", "reporter": "A.L.R. 3d", "opinion_index": -1 }, { "cite": "93 ALR2d 747", "category": "reporters:specialty", "reporter": "A.L.R. 2d", "opinion_index": -1 }, { "cite": "330 N.C. 1", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 2511523 ], "year": 1991, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/330/0001-01" ] }, { "cite": "130 L. 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MARTIN ALEXANDER RICHARDSON" ], "opinions": [ { "text": "MITCHELL, Chief Justice.\nDefendant was tried capitally upon indictments charging him with first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense, and robbery with a dangerous weapon in connection with the killing of Sharon Mary (\u201cSherry\u201d) Clark St. Germain. The jury returned verdicts finding defendant guilty of first-degree murder on the theory of felony murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree rape, and robbery with a dangerous weapon, but acquitting defendant of first-degree sexual offense. Following a separate capital sentencing proceeding pursuant to N.C.G.S. \u00a7 15A-2000, the jury recommended that defendant be sentenced to death for the murder, and the trial court entered sentence in accord with that recommendation. The trial court arrested judgment for the first-degree rape because it was the predicate felony supporting the felony murder conviction. The trial court sentenced defendant to consecutive terms of imprisonment for the remaining offenses.\nDefendant appeals to this Court as a matter of right from the judgment and sentence of death imposed for first-degree murder. We allowed his motion to bypass the Court of Appeals on his appeal of the judgments entered for the offenses of first-degree kidnapping and robbery with a dangerous weapon. For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we conclude that defendant received a fair trial, free from prejudicial error, and that the sentence of death for first-degree murder is not disproportionate in this case.\nEvidence presented at trial, including a statement made by defendant, tended to show that on 11 December 1992 defendant approached Sherry St. Germain as she sat in her car in the parking lot of the Monroe Mall and asked her if she could give him a ride. Defendant then got in the car through the passenger door and locked the door as he sat down. St. Germain told defendant that she would take him where he wanted to go as long as he did not hurt her. Defendant directed St. Germain to drive out into the country and instructed her to stop at the end of a road. He then made advances toward her, and she agreed to have sex with him as long as he did not hurt her and would let her go afterwards. After they had sex, defendant stabbed and killed St. Germain and pushed her body into a stream beside the road. A newspaper carrier found her body on 14 December 1992.\nDefendant\u2019s first statement to police indicated that although he did not remember the circumstances that led to his being on the deserted road, he had seen the victim trying to climb out of the stream. In a later statement, he confessed to having committed the murder. He also told a cellmate that he \u201crobbed the girl of her money, her body and her life.\u201d After killing St. Germain, defendant left her car at the Monroe Mall and made purchases with her credit cards that included a television set and an automobile battery.\nDr. Deborah Radisch testified at trial that either of the two stab wounds that the victim had suffered could have been fatal. One wound was in the right back, piercing both lungs and the esophagus, and was eight inches deep. The other was in the abdomen, perforating the liver, pancreas, stomach, and renal artery, and was also eight inches deep. The victim also had numerous contusions, abrasions, and shallow puncture wounds indicative of a struggle, including linear abrasions to her neck consistent with a knife wound.\nDefendant first assigns error to the trial court\u2019s refusal to change the status of defendant\u2019s privately retained attorneys to appointed indigent counsel, arguing that the trial court\u2019s failure to switch counsel\u2019s status while providing funds for an investigator and experts requires reversal of defendant\u2019s convictions. On 13 January 1993, defendant was found by the trial court to be indigent, and L.K. Biedler, Jr., and Harry B. Crow, Jr., were appointed to represent defendant. On 24 February 1993, two other attorneys, John G. Plumides and T. Russell Peterman, entered a general notice of appearance after defendant\u2019s parents retained them to represent defendant in the case. On 1 March 1993, the trial court granted the motion of Biedler and Crow to withdraw as defense counsel. On 7 September 1993, Plumides and Peterman informed the trial court that defendant\u2019s parents were facing financial difficulties and had paid less than one-sixth of the fee they had agreed to pay counsel prior to trial. Plumides and Peterman therefore filed a motion for determination of indigency, asking that the trial court order the State to pay for defense counsel and other necessary expenses of representation. The trial court granted the motion as to expenses for experts, but refused to change counsel\u2019s status from retained to court-appointed. The record indicates that $26,500 of the $40,000 that defendant\u2019s parents promised to pay remains unpaid.\nThe framework for the disposition of this issue involves several statutory provisions. An indigent person for the purposes of appointment of counsel is one \u201cwho is financially unable to secure legal representation and to provide all other necessary expenses of representation.\u201d N.C.G.S. \u00a7 7A-450(a) (1995). N.C.G.S. \u00a7 7A-450(c) provides: \u201cThe question of indigency may be determined or redetermined by the court at any stage of the action or proceeding at which an indigent is entitled to representation.\u201d N.C.G.S. \u00a7 7A-455(a) provides for a determination of partial indigency in situations in which a defendant is unable to pay \u201ca portion, but not all, of the value of the legal services rendered for him by assigned counsel.\u201d N.C.G.S. \u00a7 7A-450(b) provides that whenever a defendant is found to be indigent for purposes of appointment of counsel, \u201cit is the responsibility of the State to provide him with counsel and the other necessary expenses of representation.\u201d N.C.G.S. \u00a7 15A-143 provides that \u201c[a]n attorney who enters a criminal proceeding without limiting the extent of his representation ... undertakes to represent the defendant for whom the entry is made at all subsequent stages of the case until entry of final judgment, at the trial stage.\u201d Defendant argues that 7A-450(b) and (c) and 7A-455, when read together, required the State to pay for whatever portion of the expenses of his trial representation that he could not afford after it became evident during the case that his parents were no longer able to pay these expenses. We do not agree.\nOnce defendant accepted the services of properly retained counsel and consented to the withdrawal of appointed counsel, he was no longer indigent within the meaning of 7A-450(a). His retained counsel\u2019s general notice of appearance pursuant to 15A-143 meant that Plumides and Peterman were required to represent him in the case through the \u201centry of final judgment.\u201d Plumides and Peterman themselves acknowledged that they were \u201cin the case whether . . . compensated or not, and we understand that,\u201d and never moved to withdraw from the case. Plumides and Peterman continued their zealous representation of defendant throughout the case despite the possibility that their hard work would go uncompensated.\nWhile defendant contends that N.C.G.S. \u00a7 7A-450(c) required the trial court to make a redetermination of defendant\u2019s indigent status for the purpose of appointive counsel in this case, this argument is without merit. Under N.C.G.S. \u00a7 15A-143, a defendant who has retained counsel who has made a general appearance on his behalf is no longer considered indigent within the meaning of the statutory framework; unless retained counsel is allowed to withdraw from the case, there is no requirement to redetermine defendant\u2019s status. Defendant cites State v. Boyd, 332 N.C. 101, 418 S.E.2d 471 (1992), and State v. Hoffman, 281 N.C. 727, 190 S.E.2d 842 (1972), for the proposition that \u201cwhenever a defendant\u2019s personal resources are depleted and he can demonstrate indigency, he is eligible for state funding of the remaining necessary expenses of representation.\u201d Boyd, 332 N.C. at 109, 418 S.E.2d at 475. He argues that the trial court incorrectly failed to apply this rule in its treating legal fees different from other expenses of representation. Both of these cases, however, are distinguishable from the case at bar. Boyd held only that a defendant who has retained counsel may still be indigent for the purposes of expert witnesses and other aspects of representation. We stated in Boyd, \u201cWe address here only the question whether defendant\u2019s motion for a state-paid mental health expert should have been denied, as it was, because defendant, although financially unable to employ the expert, was not represented by court-appointed counsel.\u201d Id. at 107, 418 S.E.2d at 475. While Hoffman involved a defendant who could afford counsel at the time of his interrogation but not at trial, counsel in Hoffman never made a general appearance to represent defendant. As Plumides and Peterman made a general appearance for defendant here, defendant could not be considered indigent under our statutory scheme unless Plumides and Peterman were allowed to withdraw from the case. State v. McDowell, 329 N.C. 363, 407 S.E.2d 200 (1991). The trial court correctly ruled that defendant was not indigent for the purposes of appointment of counsel. Accordingly, this assignment of error is overruled.\nBy another assignment of error, defendant contends that the trial court erred by allowing the prosecution to exercise a peremptory strike on prospective juror James Gause, an African-American. Defendant contends that the trial court erroneously based its ruling that defendant had not made a prima facie showing of purposeful racial discrimination on its view that such a showing requires proof of a pattern of strikes against African-American jurors and that such a pattern could not be shown the first time the State strikes a black juror.\nThere are several factors to be considered in determining whether defendant has established a prima facie showing of purposeful discrimination under Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 90 L. Ed. 2d 69 (1986), and its progeny. They include defendant\u2019s race, the victim\u2019s race, the race of key witnesses, questions and statements made by the prosecutor during jury selection, and the repeated use of peremptory challenges against venire members of one race such that it tends to establish a pattern or the prosecution\u2019s use of a disproportionate number of peremptory challenges to prospective jurors of that race. State v. Ross, 338 N.C. 280, 285, 449 S.E.2d 556, 561 (1994). Defendant argued at trial that a prima facie case of discrimination had been established by the prosecution\u2019s strike of Gause because (1) there were a limited number of venire members of defendant\u2019s race, and (2) Gause\u2019s answers were the same as those of jurors who had not been excused. Defendant contended that the obvious conclusion was that these factors demonstrated a \u201cpattern of trying to get an all white [jury] to try this man.\u201d The trial judge then briefly questioned defense counsel, asking how the striking of one juror established a pattern.\nDefendant\u2019s contention that the trial court misunderstood the law with respect to the showing of a prima facie case is erroneous. The trial court\u2019s questioning of defense counsel with respect to the \u201cpattern\u201d was in response to counsel\u2019s use of the term \u201cpattern\u201d in arguing the circumstances surrounding the peremptory challenge. The trial court did not limit defense counsel to showing a pattern of discriminatory challenges as the method of establishing a prima facie case of purposeful discrimination. Shortly after the exchange noted by defendant, the trial court commented that \u201cwhatever reason they [have to exercise a challenge] is up to them until it reaches a point of showing that a jury is being selected . . . [in] a manner other than which is racially [neutral]. . . . I\u2019m simply going to rule that that point hasn\u2019t been reached.\u201d The trial court\u2019s comment indicates that its ruling was based not on defendant\u2019s failure to establish a pattern of discriminatory challenges, but rather defendant\u2019s failure to establish discriminatory motivation for the peremptory challenge of Gause. The burden is on defendant to establish an inference of purposeful discrimination in the selection of a jury. State v. Mitchell, 321 N.C. 650, 654, 365 S.E.2d 554, 556 (1988). In this case, defendant has failed to show that racial discrimination was the basis of the prosecution\u2019s dismissal of Gause. In response to questioning from the trial court with respect to any \u201cextreme hardship\u201d that a potential juror might have in serving, Gause explained that he had a civil case on the trial calendar for the week following the beginning of defendant\u2019s trial and that his case had already been continued twice. The prosecution\u2019s questioning of Gause was consistent with that of other members of the jury pool, both those who served on the jury as well as those who were later dismissed. The prosecution\u2019s dismissal of Gause was the first time in the case that a peremptory strike had been used to excuse an African-American. Defendant has not shown a prima facie case of purposeful discrimination. See generally State v. Ross, 338 N.C. 280, 449 S.E.2d 556. This assignment of error is therefore overruled.\nDefendant next assigns error to the trial court\u2019s refusal to dismiss the charge of robbery with a dangerous weapon, arguing that the evidence showed that defendant did not form the intent to steal the victim\u2019s credit cards until after he had removed them from the victim\u2019s possession. Defendant stated that he drove the victim\u2019s car back to the Monroe Mall after the killing, but that he did not notice the Sears and Lowe\u2019s credit cards until he was driving the car. Therefore, defendant argues that the \u201cintent to steal\u201d component of robbery was not present because defendant, through the taking of the car, possessed the credit cards for some time before he \u201cintended\u201d to steal them.\nWe have said that under N.C.G.S. \u00a7 14-87(a), robbery with a dangerous weapon is (1) the unlawful taking or attempt to take personal property from the person or in the presence of another (2) by the use or threatened use of a firearm or other dangerous weapon (3) whereby the life of a person is endangered or threatened. State v. Hope, 317 N.C. 302, 305, 345 S.E.2d 361, 363 (1986). The general rule with respect to intent and robbery is that \u201cthe defendant must have intended to permanently deprive the owner of his property at the time the taking occurred to be guilty of the offense of robbery.\u201d State v. Richardson, 308 N.C. 470, 474, 302 S.E.2d 799, 802 (1983). In this case, there is sufficient evidence to support the finding that defendant kidnapped the victim to rape and rob her and possessed the intent to permanently deprive her of her property from the moment he entered her car. The evidence tended to establish that defendant, armed with a knife, entered St. Germain\u2019s car and forced her to drive to a remote location; after killing St. Germain, defendant took her car and drove back to the mall. St. Germain last spoke with her mother at around 5:30 p.m. on 11 December 1992. Defendant used one of St. Germain\u2019s cards to purchase a television set at 8:34 p.m. on the same date. Four credit cards were found at defendant\u2019s house, including two that he claimed he had thrown away. While defendant indicated in his confession that he did not notice the credit cards until after he had completed the killing and was headed back to the mall in St. Germain\u2019s car, the State is not bound by the statements of defendant it has introduced into evidence where they are contradicted by other evidence. State v. Carter, 335 N.C. 422, 430, 440 S.E.2d 268, 272 (1994). When viewed in the light most favorable to the State and giving the State every reasonable inference that may be drawn from the evidence, see State v. Herring, 322 N.C. 733, 740, 370 S.E.2d 363, 367 (1988), the evidence introduced at trial was sufficient to support a reasonable finding of each element of robbery with a dangerous weapon. This assignment of error is overruled.\nDefendant next assigns error to the trial court\u2019s failure to dismiss the first-degree kidnapping charge against him, contending that there was insufficient evidence to find that at the time of the kidnapping, he intended to inflict serious bodily harm on St. Germain. Kidnapping is defined in relevant part as follows:\n(a) Any person who shall unlawfully confine, restrain, or remove from one place to another, any other person 16 years of age or over without the consent of such person . . . shall be guilty of kidnapping if such confinement, restraint or removal is for the purpose of:\n(3) Doing serious bodily harm to or terrorizing the person so confined, restrained or removed ....\nN.C.G.S. \u00a7 14-39(a)(3) (Supp. 1995). The test for sufficiency of the evidence in a criminal case is whether substantial evidence of all elements of the offense charged has been presented; this Court will find the evidence to be sufficient if any rational trier of fact could find beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant committed the offense. State v. Taylor, 337 N.C. 597, 604, 447 S.E.2d 360, 365 (1994). There was substantial evidence in this case to prove that defendant kidnapped St. Germain for the purpose of doing \u201cserious bodily harm.\u201d Although St. Germain agreed to take defendant where he wanted to go if he did not harm her, after defendant got in the car, he locked the door. Defendant directed St. Germain to drive out into the country and ordered her to drive down a dead-end road, where he made sexual advances toward her. St. Germain agreed to have intercourse with defendant only if defendant did not hurt her; shortly thereafter, defendant stabbed St. Germain several times.\nIn State v. Thompson, 306 N.C. 526, 294 S.E.2d 314 (1982), we ruled that there was ample evidence from which a jury could conclude that the defendant removed the victim for the purpose of stealing her possessions and committing sexual offenses against her where the defendant pushed the victim into her car as she was getting out, drove her to a deserted area outside the city limits, forced her to engage in sexual intercourse, and then left her at a store. The evidence in this case is as strong, if not stronger, than that in Thompson. This assignment of error is overruled.\nBy another assignment of error, defendant contends that the trial court erred in failing to intervene ex mero mo tu to prevent the prosecutor from making improper comments during closing arguments in the guilt determination phase of his trial. Defendant contends that three portions of the prosecutor\u2019s closing argument improperly commented on defendant\u2019s right not to testify at trial:\nThe evidence that was presented in this case, ladies and gentlemen, was presented and uncontradicted. What I mean by that is there is no evidence to contradict the evidence that was presented.\nThe State\u2019s going to argue to you that up to this point in time the defendant has yet to tell the entire truth. He hasn\u2019t told the entire truth yet. And the State is going to show to you based on the testimony that\u2019s been presented in this case why he hasn\u2019t told the truth.\nNow, what evidence you say could we possibly have about that scenario? Um, because no witnesses saw that. There\u2019s no witnesses. Mr. Richardson didn\u2019t state that in his testimony. Or, excuse me, in his statement. Didn\u2019t refer to that particular scenario in this case.\nDefendant contends that the prosecutor\u2019s argument violated defendant\u2019s constitutional rights in that (1) it improperly commented on defendant\u2019s right not to testify, and (2) it punished defendant for availing himself of his right to put the State to its proof.\nWhile the prosecution is forbidden by both the federal Constitution, see Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609, 615, 14 L. Ed. 2d 106, 110 (1965), and state statute, see N.C.G.S. \u00a7 8-54 (1986), from commenting on the failure of a defendant to testify at trial, a prosecutor\u2019s statement that the State\u2019s evidence was uncontradicted does not constitute an improper reference to defendant\u2019s failure to testify. State v. Smith, 290 N.C. 148, 226 S.E.2d 10, cert. denied, 429 U.S. 932, 50 L. Ed. 2d 301 (1976). When defendant does not object to comments made by the prosecutor during closing arguments, only an extreme impropriety on the part of the prosecutor will compel this Court to hold that the trial judge abused his discretion in not recognizing and correcting ex mero motu an argument that defense counsel apparently did not believe was prejudicial when originally spoken. State v. Johnson, 298 N.C. 355, 368-69, 259 S.E.2d 752, 761 (1979). The prosecutor\u2019s argument that defendant \u201chasn\u2019t told the entire truth yet,\u201d rather than referring to defendant\u2019s failure to testify, concerned defendant\u2019s pretrial statements. This comment was designed to prepare the jury for the prosecutor\u2019s ensuing analysis showing that defendant\u2019s statements did not comprise the whole truth. The prosecutor indicated as much when telling the jury that the State \u201cis going to show you based on the testimony that\u2019s been presented in this case why he hasn\u2019t told the truth.\u201d (Emphasis added.) The purpose of N.C.G.S. \u00a7 8-54 is not to restrict the prosecutor from making such comments upon the evidence and drawing such deductions therefrom so long as the prosecutor does not call attention to defendant\u2019s failure to testify. Smith, 290 N.C. at 167, 226 S.E.2d at 21. The prosecutor\u2019s arguments did not improperly comment on defendant\u2019s failure to testify. This assignment of error is without merit and is overruled.\nDefendant next assigns error to the trial court\u2019s instruction to the jury during the capital sentencing proceeding with respect to questions from the jury about an aggravating circumstance. During the jury\u2019s sentencing deliberations, the jury foreperson asked questions regarding the aggravating circumstance that the murder was committed while defendant was engaged in the commission of robbery. See N.C.G.S. \u00a7 15A-2000(e)(5) (Supp. 1995). These questions had to do with whether the jury could find this aggravating circumstance only if it found that defendant murdered the victim for the purpose of robbing her.\nThe trial court had initially instructed the jury that it could find the (e)(5) circumstance from the evidence in this case if it found that\nwhen the defendant killed the victim, the defendant was taking and carrying away credit cards from the person and presence of Sherry St. Germain, without her voluntary consent, by violence or by putting her in fear, the defendant knowing that he was not entitled to take it and intending at that time to deprive her of its use permanently....\nAfter receiving questions from the jury about the timing of the robbery with respect to the killing and whether the aggravating circumstance required proof that the murder was committed because of the robbery, the trial court reinstructed the jury that\nthe first aggravating factor [sic] for you to consider is, was this murder committed by the defendant while the defendant was engaged in the commission of robbery?\nRobbery is the taking and carrying away any personal property of another from her person or in her presence without her consent, by violence or by putting her in fear, with the intent to deprive her of its use permanently, the taker knowing that he is not entitled to take it. A killing is committed in the commission of robbery when there is no break in the chain of events leading from the act causing death to the robbery.\nDefendant argues that the instruction did not properly define the proof necessary for the jury to find this circumstance, as proof of the (e)(5) circumstance requires a closer nexus between the felony and the killing.\nWe preliminarily note that this case does not involve a situation like that encountered in State v. Cherry, 298 N.C. 86, 257 S.E.2d 551 (1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 941, 64 L. Ed. 2d 796 (1980). While this Court ruled in Cherry that a robbery could not be used to aggravate a first-degree felony murder through the (e)(5) circumstance where the robbery was an essential element of the capital murder conviction, this case involves a robbery in the context of a first-degree felony murder in which the predicate felony supporting the first-degree murder conviction was not the robbery. This Court enumerated the rule barring the \u201cdouble counting\u201d of evidence with respect to aggravating circumstances in State v. Quesinberry, 319 N.C. 228, 354 S.E.2d 446 (1987). In Quesinberry, a majority of this Court stated that\nin the context of a robbery-murder it is neither appropriate nor equitable to submit a statutorily-enumerated aggravating factor that overlaps with another. It is apparent that, in the particular context of a premeditated and deliberate robbery-murder where evidence is presented that the robbery was attempted or effectuated for pecuniary gain the submission of both the aggravating factors enumerated at N.C.G.S. 15A-2000(e)(5) [robbery] and (6) [pecuniary gain] is redundant and that one should be regarded as surplusage. We therefore hold that it was error to submit both of these aggravating factors to the jury.\nId. at 239, 354 S.E.2d at 453.\nQuesinberry was distinguishable from the situation in State v. Oliver, 302 N.C. 28, 274 S.E.2d 183 (1981), in which this Court held that when robbery is the underlying felony in a felony murder conviction, the trial court was allowed to submit the (e)(6) pecuniary gain aggravating circumstance. As the robbery constitutes an essential element of the felony murder in such situations, the focus with respect to the guilt phase is on a defendant\u2019s conduct. In the capital sentencing proceeding, however, the focus of the (e)(6) circumstance is on a defendant\u2019s motive in committing the murder and does not require proof that defendant actually committed the underlying felony of robbery. Id. at 62, 274 S.E.2d at 204.\nDefendant contends that Oliver and Quesinberry dictate the conclusion that, since the scope of the (e)(5) circumstance is different from that of felony murder, the (e)(5) circumstance requires both proof that the robbery and killing were committed as part of the same criminal episode and proof that the robbery was the motive for the killing. This argument, however, misinterprets this Court\u2019s holding in Quesinberry. The majority did not hold in Quesinberry that the submission of both the (e)(5) and (e)(6) aggravating circumstances was error because both circumstances dealt with defendant\u2019s motive for the murder. Quesinberry merely stands for the proposition that different aggravating circumstances cannot be submitted to aggravate a first-degree murder when \u201cone [circumstance] plainly comprises the other.\u201d Quesinberry, 319 N.C. at 238, 354 S.E.2d at 452. The Court acknowledged with respect to the (e)(6) circumstance that \u201csituations are conceivable in which an armed robber murders motivated by some impulse other than pecuniary gain,\u201d id., but concluded that the same evidence constituted proof of both circumstances in that case.\nIn this case, however, the issue is not the redundancy of aggravating circumstances, but whether an armed robbery accomplished in the context of a first-degree murder must be the motivation for the killing to constitute the (e)(5) circumstance. While the (e)(5) circumstance does require that the robbery and the murder be part of the same criminal episode, a Quesinberry/ Oliver-type analysis is inappropriate in this case. The (e)(5) circumstance by its own language does not limit use of the robbery aggravator to cases where evidence shows that robbery was the motive for the killing, as it states in relevant part that a murder will be aggravated where\n[t]he capital felony was committed while the defendant was engaged, or was an aider or abettor, in the commission of, or an attempt to commit, or flight after committing or attempting to commit, any homicide, robbery, rape or a sex offense ....\nN.C.G.S. \u00a7 15A-2000(e)(5). Furthermore, the (e)(5) robbery circumstance is distinguishable from the (e)(6) pecuniary gain circumstance. The (e)(6) circumstance necessarily takes into account a defendant\u2019s motivation in committing a murder, while the (e)(5) circumstance deals strictly with the actions of a defendant within the same criminal episode involving the commission of a murder. We hold that the trial court properly submitted the (e)(5) circumstance in this situation where defendant was convicted of first-degree felony murder and the armed robbery was not the felony supporting the felony murder conviction. This argument is without merit.\nDefendant further argues with respect to this assignment of error that the trial court\u2019s instruction on the continuous transaction doctrine was erroneous. He contends that, as a robbery committed as an afterthought cannot be the motive for a murder, the (e)(5) circumstance excludes robberies committed as afterthoughts. While defendant contends that the phrase \u201cwhile the defendant was engaged ... in the commission of . . . any robbery\u201d means that the murder and the robbery have to be committed simultaneously, thereby excluding afterthought robberies, defendant misconstrues the statute\u2019s plain language. In State v. Handy, 331 N.C. 515, 419 S.E.2d 545 (1992), this Court held that neither the commission of armed robbery in the context of a killing nor the commission of felony murder based on armed robbery is contingent upon \u201cwhether the intention to commit the taking of the victim\u2019s property was formed before or after the killing.\u201d Id. at 529, 419 S.E.2d at 552. Accordingly, the focus of the offense of armed robbery in the context of a killing is not the time of the robbery, but the use of force to accomplish the robbery; once the State establishes a robbery and a use of force to achieve the robbery, the State\u2019s only burden is to show that the robbery and the use of force are transactionally related. Therefore, when the (e)(5) aggravating circumstance uses the phraseology \u201cany robbery,\u201d the circumstance includes a robbery occurring during the same criminal episode as the murder itself. This assignment of error is overruled.\nDefendant next assigns as error the trial court\u2019s refusal to submit as a mitigating circumstance his age at the time of the crime. In State v. Bowie, 340 N.C. 199,6 456 S.E.2d 771, cert. denied, - U.S. -, 133 L. Ed. 2d 435 (1995), we held that \u201cchronological age is not the determinative factor with regard to this mitigating circumstance. The defendant\u2019s immaturity, youthfulness, or lack of emotional or intellectual development at the time of the crime must also be considered.\u201d Id. at 203, 456 S.E.2d at 773 (citations omitted). While Bowie was twenty years old at the time he committed the murder at issue, defendant in this case was twenty-three. The evidence at sentencing in this case tended to show that defendant came from a stable background and had performed competently in school until dropping out in the tenth grade. There simply was no evidence indicating that defendant was emotionally immature or suffered from impaired development. This case is distinguishable from that in State v. Turner, 330 N.C. 249, 410 S.E.2d 847 (1991), where the defendant grew up in a dysfunctional environment with no stability or guidance and was emotionally neglected and abused as a child. Id. at 268-69, 410 S.E.2d at 858. This assignment of error is without merit and is overruled.\nBy another assignment of error, defendant argues that the trial court should have submitted as a mitigating circumstance that defendant confessed at the prompting of Detective Eubanks, showing that defendant has a \u201cmoral core that indicates the potential for rehabilitation.\u201d Assuming arguendo that there was evidence to support this mitigating circumstance as presented to the trial court, any error caused by the failure of the trial court to submit the circumstance was harmless. The trial court submitted the mitigating circumstance that the \u201cdefendant confessed to the crime,\u201d and one or more jurors found this circumstance to exist and to have mitigating value. The refusal of a trial court to submit a nonstatutory mitigating circumstance that is sufficiently supported by the evidence is not error where the requested circumstance is subsumed, as here, by a mitigating circumstance that is submitted. State v. Lee, 335 N.C. 244, 288, 439 S.E.2d 547, 570, cert. denied, - U.S. -, 130 L. Ed. 2d 162 (1994). Accordingly, this assignment of error is overruled.\nDefendant\u2019s next assignment of error concerns the trial court\u2019s refusal to give an instruction with respect to racial considerations. Defendant contends that the failure to give the proposed instruction, which would have told the jurors that they should prevent racial concerns from influencing their consideration of defendant\u2019s sentence, violated his constitutional rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. The United States Supreme Court noted the importance of dealing with the issue of racial bias within the jury in Turner v. Murray, 476 U.S. 28, 90 L. Ed. 2d 27 (1986). We discussed the scope of Turner in State v. Robinson, 330 N.C. 1, 409 S.E.2d 288 (1991):\nIn Turner v. Murray, the United States Supreme Court held that a capital defendant accused of an interracial crime is entitled to have prospective jurors informed of the race of the victim and questioned on the issue of racial bias. This rule, the Court announced, is \u201cminimally intrusive,\u201d and the \u201ctrial judge retains discretion as to the form and number of questions on the subject, including the decision whether to question the venire individually or collectively.\u201d\nId. at 13, 409 S.E.2d at 295 (citation omitted) (quoting Turner, 476 U.S. at 37, 90 L. Ed. 2d at 37) (emphasis omitted). In this case, the trial court followed the directive of Turner, allowing defense counsel wide latitude to question prospective jurors on the issue of racial bias and other issues of racial significance. Turner only requires that the trial court allow some examination of prospective jurors with respect to racial bias. Turner is not authority for the proposition that a trial court in the trial of an interracial crime must instruct the jury to disregard racial considerations where defendant requests such an instruction. This assignment of error is overruled.\nBy another assignment of error, defendant argues that the trial court erred in finding as an aggravating factor under the version of the Fair Sentencing Act in effect at that time, see N.C.G.S. \u00a7 15A-1340.1-.7 (1988), that defendant was armed at the time of the kidnapping. Defendant contends that there was no evidence that defendant was armed during the time period beginning when he entered St. Germain\u2019s car and ending when they arrived at the scene of the murder. Dr. Radisch\u2019s testimony, however, indicated that there were linear abrasions on St. Germain\u2019s throat that were consistent with a knife wound; these abrasions give rise to the reasonable inference that defendant held a knife to St. Germain\u2019s throat while he forced her to drive out into the country. Defendant argues that the State is not entitled to use this inference because it is bound by defendant\u2019s statement, which the State introduced. We held in State v. Carter, 335 N.C. 422, 430, 440 S.E.2d 268, 272 (1994), that the State is not bound by an exculpatory statement that it introduced if there is other evidence tending to show the circumstances of the homicide in a different light. Dr. Radisch\u2019s testimony constitutes just such \u201cother evidence.\u201d Furthermore, even if defendant\u2019s contention that he was not armed during the trip from the mall out into the country were to be valid, sufficient evidence to support the aggravator still exists. As the kidnapping continued from the time defendant began his restraint of St. Germain to the time that he killed her, defendant\u2019s own statement shows that he was armed with a deadly weapon during the kidnapping. This assignment of error is without merit and is overruled.\nAnother assignment of error concerns a statement made by the prosecutor during closing arguments in the capital sentencing proceeding. Defendant contends that the trial court erred in its failure to intervene ex mero mo tu when the prosecutor characterized defendant as an \u201canimal\u201d in describing the violent nature of the attack on St. Germain. It is axiomatic that counsel are given wide latitude in arguments to the jury and are permitted to argue the evidence that has been presented and all reasonable inferences that can be drawn from that evidence. State v. Hunt, 323 N.C. 407, 373 S.E.2d 400 (1988), sentence vacated on other grounds, 494 U.S. 1022, 108 L. Ed. 2d 602 (1990). We have noted that we do not sanction comparisons of criminal defendants to members of the animal kingdom. State v. Hamlet, 312 N.C. 162, 173, 321 S.E.2d 837, 845 (1984). However, in State v. Ali, 329 N.C. 394, 407 S.E.2d 183 (1991), we held that a prosecutor\u2019s comparative use of the term \u201canimal\u201d did not prejudice the defendant given the isolated nature of the commentary. So it is in the present case. The prosecutor\u2019s singular use of the term in the context of a discussion of the brutality of the injuries inflicted on St. Germain does not descend to the level of gross impropriety that would require the trial court to intervene ex mero motu. Therefore, this assignment of error is overruled.\nWith commendable candor, defendant also raises six additional assignments of error that he concedes have been decided contrary to his position previously by this Court. He raises these issues for the purpose of permitting this Court to reexamine its prior holdings and also for the purpose of preserving them for any possible further judicial review of this case. We have carefully considered defendant\u2019s arguments on these issues and find no compelling reason to depart from our prior holdings. Therefore, we overrule these assignments of error.\nHaving concluded that defendant\u2019s trial and separate capital sentencing proceeding were free from prejudicial error, we turn to the duties reserved by N.C.G.S. \u00a7 15A-2000(d)(2) exclusively for this Court in capital cases. It is our duty in this regard to ascertain (1) whether the record supports the jury\u2019s findings of the aggravating circumstances on which the sentence of death was based; (2) whether the death sentence was entered under the influence of passion, prejudice, or other arbitrary consideration; and (3) whether the death sentence is excessive or disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases, considering both the crime and defendant. N.C.G.S. \u00a7 15A-2000(d)(2). After thoroughly examining the record, transcripts, and briefs in the present case, we conclude that the record fully supports the two aggravating circumstances found by the jury. Further, we find no indication that the sentence of death in this case was imposed under the influence of passion, prejudice, or any other arbitrary consideration. We must turn then to our final statutory duty of proportionality review.\nIn the present case, defendant was convicted of first-degree murder based on the theory of felony murder with first-degree rape as the underlying felony. The jury found as aggravating circumstances that defendant committed the murder while engaged in the commission of a robbery, N.C.G.S. \u00a7 15A-2000(e)(5), and that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, N.C.G.S. \u00a7 15A-2000(e)(9). One or more jurors found the following mitigating circumstances: (1) defendant had no significant history of prior criminal activity, (2) defendant was a person of good character and was well-liked in his community prior to his arrest (3) defendant had never physically abused any human being prior to 11 December 1992, (4) defendant confessed to the crimes charged, (5) defendant told the authorities where to locate the credit cards and subsequently called his mother so that the credit cards could be located and turned over to police, (6) defendant confessed because he felt an emotional need to tell someone about his involvement in the murder, (7) defendant assisted elderly neighbors in his community by picking up groceries for them and driving them wherever they needed to go, (8) defendant was a help to his mother and father in caring for the grandchildren while his parents were at work, (9) defendant is a caring and loving brother who has always provided close companionship for his brothers and sisters, (10) defendant was a well-behaved and well-liked student who had no history of violence or trouble and was well-liked by his teachers in school, (11) defendant was reared by hard-working parents as one of seven children and worked to help out the family while at home, and (12) the catchall mitigating circumstance.\nIn our proportionality review, it is proper to compare the present case with other cases in which this Court has concluded that the death penalty was disproportionate. State v. McCollum, 334 N.C. 208, 240, 433 S.E.2d 144, 162 (1993), cert. denied, - U.S. -, 129 L. Ed. 2d 895 (1994). We find this case is not substantially similar to any case in which this Court has found the death penalty disproportionate and entered a sentence of life imprisonment. Each of those cases is distinguishable from the present case.\nIn State v. Benson, 323 N.C. 318, 372 S.E.2d 517 (1988), the defendant was convicted of first-degree murder based on the theory of felony murder with pecuniary gain as the only aggravating circumstance. The jury found several mitigating circumstances, including that defendant was under the influence of mental or emotional disturbance at the time of the crime.\nIn State v. Stokes, 319 N.C. 1, 352 S.E.2d 653 (1987), the defendant was one of four individuals who was involved in the beating death of a robbery victim. Again, the defendant was found guilty of felony murder, and only one aggravating circumstance was found, that the crime was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel. The Court, in finding that the death sentence was disproportionate, noted that none of the defendant\u2019s accomplices were sentenced to death, although they \u201ccommitted the same crime in the same manner.\u201d Id. at 27, 352 S.E.2d at 664. Furthermore, the Court deemed it important that the defendant was only seventeen. The jury found, in contrast to the present case, that defendant suffered from impaired capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct, that he was under the influence of a mental or emotional disturbance at the time of the murder, and that his age at the time of the crime had mitigating value.\nIn State v. Rogers, 316 N.C. 203, 341 S.E.2d 713 (1986), overruled on other grounds by State v. Vandiver, 321 N.C. 570, 364 S.E.2d 373 (1988), the defendant was convicted of first-degree murder for mistakenly shooting the victim in a parking lot during an argument with the victim\u2019s friend. The only aggravating circumstance found was that the murder was part of a course of conduct which included the commission by the defendant of other crimes of violence against another person or persons. The Court found that the \u201cseemingly senseless shooting simply did not contain the viciousness and the cruelty present\u201d in other death cases that involved only the \u201ccourse of conduct\u201d aggravating circumstance. Id. at 234, 341 S.E.2d at 731.\nIn State v. Young, 312 N.C. 669, 325 S.E.2d 181 (1985), the defendant, after drinking all day, robbed and stabbed a man, killing him. The Court concentrated on the fact the defendant had been drinking heavily all day and wanted to kill the victim to buy more liquor.\nIn State v. Hill, 311 N.C. 465, 319 S.E.2d 163 (1984), the evidence was speculative as to how the murder occurred or how defendant acted when he encountered the victim, a law enforcement officer. This Court emphasized the \u201cunqualified cooperation\u201d of the defendant during the investigation.\nIn State v. Bondurant, 309 N.C. 674, 309 S.E.2d 170 (1983), the defendant shot his victim after the defendant had spent the night drinking. There was no motive for the killing, and immediately after the victim was shot, defendant sought medical help for the victim.\nIn State v. Jackson, 309 N.C. 26, 305 S.E.2d 703 (1983), the victim was shot twice in the head. The defendant had flagged down the victim\u2019s car earlier, telling his companions that he intended to rob the victim. This court found the death sentence disproportionate because there was \u201cno evidence of what occurred after defendant left with the victim.\u201d Id. at 46, 305 S.E.2d at 717.\nIn this case, defendant kidnapped Sherry St. Germain from a parking lot, forced her to drive to a secluded location, brutally raped her, and stabbed her several times, killing her. The jury found aggravating circumstances that defendant committed the murder while perpetrating a robbery and that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel. We have upheld the death sentence in numerous cases where the jury found the heinous, atrocious, or cruel circumstance. Furthermore, this Court has never found a death sentence disproportionate in a case involving a victim of first-degree murder who was also sexually assaulted. The case sub judice is distinguishable from the seven cases in which we have held the death sentence to be disproportionate.\nIt is also proper for this Court to \u201ccompare this case with the cases in which we have found the death penalty to be proportionate.\u201d McCollum, 334 N.C. at 244, 433 S.E.2d at 164. Although we have repeatedly stated that we review all of the cases in the pool when engaging in this statutory duty, it is worth noting again that \u201cwe will not undertake to discuss or cite all of those cases each time we carry out that duty.\u201d Id. It suffices to say here that we conclude the present case is more similar to certain cases in which we have found the sentence of death proportionate than to those in which we have found the sentence disproportionate or those in which juries have consistently returned recommendations of life imprisonment. Accordingly, we conclude that the sentence of death recommended by the jury and ordered by the trial court in the present case is not disproportionate.\nFor the foregoing reasons, we hold that the defendant received a fair trial, free from prejudicial error, and that the sentence of death entered in the present case must be and is left undisturbed.\nNO. 93CRS347, FIRST-DEGREE MURDER: NO ERROR.\nNO. 93CRS348, ROBBERY WITH A DANGEROUS WEAPON: NO ERROR.\nNO. 93CRS349, FIRST DEGREE KIDNAPPING: NO ERROR.", "type": "majority", "author": "MITCHELL, Chief Justice." } ], "attorneys": [ "Michael F. Easley, Attorney General, by G. Patrick Murphy, Special Deputy Attorney General, for the State.", "Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr., Appellate Defender, by Benjamin Sendor, Assistant Appellate Defender, for defendant-appellant." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. MARTIN ALEXANDER RICHARDSON\nNo. 11A94\n(Filed 8 March 1996)\n1. Indigent Persons \u00a7 5 (NCI4th)\u2014 appointment of counsel\u2014 motion by privately retained counsel to be appointed \u2014 no withdrawal\nThe trial court correctly ruled that defendant was not indigent and refused to change the status of defendant\u2019s privately retained counsel to appointed counsel in a prosecution for first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense, and armed robbery where the court provided funds for an investigator and experts. Under N.C.G.S. \u00a7 15A-143, a defendant who has retained counsel who has made a general appearance on his behalf is no longer considered indigent within the meaning of the statutory framework; unless retained counsel is allowed to withdraw from the case, there is no requirement to redetermine defendant\u2019s status. Here defendant\u2019s retained counsels\u2019 general notice of appearance meant that they were required to represent defendant through the entry of final judgment, defense counsel acknowledged that they were in the case whether compensated or not and never moved to withdraw, and defense counsel continued their zealous representation of defendant throughout the case. N.C.G.S. \u00a7 7A-450(c); N.C.G.S. \u00a7 7A-455.\nAm Jur 2d, Criminal Law \u00a7\u00a7 976, 989; Trial \u00a7 228.\nComment Note. \u2014 Constitutionally protected right of indigent accused to appointment of counsel in state court prosecution. 93 ALR2d 747.\n2. Jury \u00a7 256 (NCI4th)\u2014 capital murder \u2014 jury selection\u2014 Batson challenge \u2014 first African-American peremptorily challenged\nThe trial court did not err in a prosecution for first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense, and armed robbery by allowing the prosecution to exercise a peremptory strike against an African-American prospective juror. Although defendant argued that a pattern of strikes against African-American jurors could not be shown the first time the State struck such a juror, the trial court\u2019s questioning of defense counsel with respect to the \u201cpattern\u201d was in response to counsel\u2019s use of the term; the court did not limit defense counsel to showing a pattern of discriminatory challenges in establishing a prima facie case of purposeful discrimination and defendant failed to show that racial discrimination was the basis of the prosecution\u2019s dismissal of this juror.\nAm Jur 2d, Jury \u00a7\u00a7 234, 244.\nUse of peremptory challenge to exclude from jury persons belonging to a class or race. 79 ALR3d 14.\n3. Robbery \u00a7 76 (NCI4th)\u2014 armed robbery and murder \u2014 taking of property as afterthought \u2014 evidence sufficient\nThe trial court did not err in a prosecution for first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense, and armed robbery by refusing to dismiss the armed robbery charge because defendant had stated that he did not notice the credit cards on which the charge was based until after he had killed the victim and was driving her car back to the mall, so that he possessed the credit cards for some time before he intended to steal them. There is sufficient evidence that defendant kidnapped the victim to rape and rob her and possessed the intent to permanently deprive her of her property from the moment he entered her car. The State is not bound by the statements of defendant which it has introduced where they are contradicted by other evidence; when viewed in the light most favorable to the State and giving the State every reasonable inference that may be drawn from the evidence, the evidence introduced at trial was sufficient. N.C.G.S. \u00a7 14-87(a).\nAm Jur 2d, Homicide \u00a7 46; Robbery \u00a7\u00a7 17, 65.\n4. Kidnapping and Felonious Restraint \u00a7 21 (NCI4th)\u2014 intent to inflict serious bodily harm \u2014 sufficiency of evidence\nThe trial court did not err in a prosecution for first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense, and armed robbery by not dismissing the first-degree kidnapping charge on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence that defendant intended to inflict serious bodily harm on the victim at the time of the kidnapping. Although the victim agreed to take defendant where he wanted to go if he did not harm her, defendant locked the door after he got in the car, directed the victim to drive into the country and ordered her to drive down a dead-end road, made sexual advances toward her, she agreed to have sexual intercourse only if defendant did not hurt her, and defendant shortly thereafter stabbed her several times.\nAm Jur 2d, Abduction and Kidnapping \u00a7\u00a7 27, 48-50.\nSeizure or detention for purpose of committing rape, robbery, or similar offense as constituting separate crime of kidnapping. 43 ALR3d 699.\n5. Criminal Law \u00a7 427 (NCI4th)\u2014 capital murder \u2014 guilt phase \u2014 prosecutor\u2019s arguments \u2014 not a comment on defendant\u2019s failure to testify\nThe trial court did not err by failing to intervene ex mero mo tu to prevent the prosecutor from making closing arguments in the guilt phase which defendant contended improperly commented on defendant\u2019s right not to testify at trial. The prosecutor\u2019s argument that defendant \u201chasn\u2019t told the entire truth yet\u201d concerned defendant\u2019s pretrial statements and was designed to prepare the jury for the ensuing analysis showing that defendant\u2019s statements did not comprise the whole truth. The purpose of N.C.G.S. \u00a7 8-54 is not to restrict the prosecutor from making such comments upon the evidence and drawing such deductions therefrom so long as the prosecutor does not call attention to defendant\u2019s failure to testify.\nAm Jur 2d, Trial \u00a7\u00a7 577, 579.\n6. Criminal Law \u00a7 1340 (NCI4th)\u2014 capital sentencing\u2014 felony murder \u2014 use of robbery as aggravator\nThe trial court properly submitted the aggravating circumstance that the murder was committed while defendant was engaged in robbery, N.C.G.S. \u00a7 15A-2000(e)(5), where defendant was convicted of first-degree felony murder and the armed robbery was not the felony supporting the felony murder conviction. The issue was not the redundancy of aggravating circumstances, but whether an armed robbery accomplished in the context of a first-degree murder must be the motivation for the killing to constitute the (e)(5) aggravating circumstance. While the (e)(5) circumstance requires that the robbery and murder be part of the same criminal episode, the circumstance by its own language does not limit use of the robbery aggravator to cases where evidence shows that robbery was the motive for the killing, and the (e)(5) robbery circumstance is distinguishable from the (e)(6) pecuniary gain circumstance. The (e)(6) circumstance necessarily takes into account a defendant\u2019s motivation in committing a murder, while the (e)(5) circumstance deals strictly with the actions of a defendant within the same criminal episode involving the commission of a murder.\nAm Jur 2d, Criminal Law \u00a7\u00a7 598, 599; Homicide \u00a7\u00a7 552-555.\nSufficiency of evidence, for purposes of death penalty, to establish statutory aggravating circumstance that murder was committed for pecuniary gain, as consideration or in expectation of receiving something of monetary value, and the like \u2014 post-Gregg cases. 66 ALR4th 417.\n7. Criminal Law \u00a7 1340 (NCI4th)\u2014 capital sentencing \u2014 aggravating circumstances \u2014 murder committed during another crime \u2014 continuous transaction doctrine \u2014 instructions\nThe trial court did not err in a capital sentencing proceeding in its instruction on the continuous transaction doctrine. Although defendant contends that the N.C.G.S. \u00a7 15A-2000(e)(5) aggravating circumstance (murder committed during commission of another crime) excludes robberies committed as afterthoughts, once the State establishes a robbery and a use of force to achieve the robbery, the State\u2019s only burden is to show that the robbery and the use of force are transactionally related. When the (e)(5) aggravating circumstance uses the phrase \u201cany robbery,\u201d the circumstance includes, a robbery occurring during the same criminal episode as the murder itself.\nAm Jur 2d, Criminal Law \u00a7\u00a7 598, 599; Homicide \u00a7\u00a7 552-555.\n8. Criminal Law \u00a7 1362 (NCI4th)\u2014 capital sentencing \u2014 mitigating circumstances \u2014 age of defendant \u2014 not submitted\nThe trial court did not err in a capital sentencing hearing by not submitting the age of defendant at the time of the crime as a mitigating circumstance where defendant was twenty-three, came from a stable background, and had performed competently in school until dropping out in the tenth grade. There was no evidence that defendant was emotionally immature or suffered from impaired development.\nAm Jur 2d, Criminal Law \u00a7\u00a7 598, 599; Homicide \u00a7\u00a7 552-555.\n9.Criminal Law \u00a7 1363 (NCI4th)\u2014 capital sentencing\u2014 defendant\u2019s confession \u2014 requested nonstatutory mitigating circumstance \u2014 subsumed within submitted circumstance\nThere was no prejudicial error in a capital sentencing proceeding where the trial court refused to submit as a nonstatutory mitigating circumstance that defendant had shown a moral core indicating a potential for rehabilitation by confessing at the prompting of a detective, but submitted the mitigating circumstance that defendant confessed to the crime and one or more jurors found that circumstance to exist and to have mitigating value. The refusal of a trial court to submit a nonstatutory mitigating circumstance that is sufficiently supported by the evidence is not error where the requested circumstance is subsumed by a mitigating circumstance that is submitted.\nAm Jur 2d, Criminal Law \u00a7\u00a7 598, 599; Homicide \u00a7\u00a7 552-555.\n10. Criminal Law \u00a7 1318 (NCI4th)\u2014 capital sentencing\u2014 instructions \u2014 racial considerations\nThe trial court did not err in a capital sentencing hearing by refusing to instruct the jurors that they should prevent racial concerns from influencing their consideration of defendant\u2019s sentence. The trial court followed the directive .of Turner v. Murray, 476 U.S. 28, allowing defense counsel wide latitude to question prospective jurors on the issue of racial bias and other issues of racial significance. Turner only requires that the trial court allow some examination of prospective jurors with respect to racial bias and is not authority for the proposition that a trial court in an interracial crime must instruct the jury to disregard racial considerations where defendant requests such an instruction.\nAm Jur 2d, Homicide \u00a7 555; Trial \u00a7 1441.\n11. Criminal Law \u00a7 1152 (NCI4th)\u2014 Fair Sentencing Act\u2014 aggravating factor \u2014 defendant armed\nThe trial court did not err when sentencing defendant for kidnapping under the version of the Fair Sentencing Act in effect at that time, N.C.G.S. \u00a7 15A-1340.1-.7 (1988), by finding in aggravation that defendant was armed at the time of the kidnapping. Although defendant contended that the State was bound by his statement, which the State introduced, the State is not bound by an exculpatory statement that it introduced if there is other evidence tending to show the circumstances of the homicide in a different light. Here, the pathologist\u2019s testimony of abrasions consistent with a knife held to the victim\u2019s throat constitutes just such other evidence; moreover, the kidnapping continued to the time defendant killed the victim, so that defendant\u2019s own statement shows that he was armed with a deadly weapon during the kidnapping.\nAm Jur 2d, Criminal Law \u00a7\u00a7 598, 599; Homicide \u00a7 554.\n12. Criminal Law \u00a7 450 (NCI4th)\u2014 prosecutor\u2019s argument\u2014 defendant as animal\nThe trial court did not err in a capital sentencing hearing by not intervening ex mero motu when the prosecutor characterized defendant as an animal. Although the comparison of defendants to members of the animal kingdom is not sanctioned, the use of the term in the context of a discussion of the brutality of the injuries inflicted on the victim does not descend to the level of gross impropriety that would require the trial court to intervene ex mero motu.\nAm Jur 2d, Trial \u00a7 681.\n13. Criminal Law \u00a7 1373 (NCI4th)\u2014 death penalty \u2014 not disproportionate\nA sentence of death for a first-degree murder was not disproportionate where defendant kidnapped the victim from a parking lot, forced her to drive to a secluded location, brutally raped her, and stabbed her several times, killing her. The jury found the aggravating circumstances that defendant committed the murder while perpetrating a robbery and that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel; the death sentence has been upheld in numerous cases where the jury found the especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel circumstance; and a death sentence involving a first-degree murder victim who was also sexually assaulted has never been held disproportionate. The record supports the two aggravating circumstances found by the jury, there is no indication that the sentence of death was imposed under the influence of passion, prejudice, or any other consideration and this case was not substantially similar to any case in which the death penalty was found disproportionate but is more similar to certain cases in which the death sentence was found to be proportionate.\nAm Jur 2d, Criminal Law \u00a7 628.\nSufficiency of evidence, for purposes of death penalty, to establish statutory aggravating circumstance that murder was heinous, cruel, depraved, or the like \u2014 post-Gregg cases. 63 ALR4th 478.\nSufficiency of evidence, for purposes of death penalty, to establish statutory aggravating circumstance that murder was committed for pecuniary gain, as consideration or in expectation of receiving something of monetary value, and the like \u2014 post -Gregg cases. 66 ALR4th 417.\nAppeal as of right by defendant pursuant to N.C.G.S. \u00a7 7A-27(a) from a judgment imposing a sentence of death entered by Helms, J., on 22 November 1993 in Superior Court, Union County, upon a jury verdict finding defendant guilty of first-degree murder. Defendant\u2019s motion to bypass the Court of Appeals as to his robbery and kidnapping convictions was allowed by this Court on 1 May 1995. Heard in the Supreme Court 9 October 1995.\nMichael F. Easley, Attorney General, by G. Patrick Murphy, Special Deputy Attorney General, for the State.\nMalcolm Ray Hunter, Jr., Appellate Defender, by Benjamin Sendor, Assistant Appellate Defender, for defendant-appellant." }, "file_name": "0772-01", "first_page_order": 804, "last_page_order": 828 }