STATE v. YOUNG
No. 124PA14
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NORTH CAROLINA
Filed 21 August 2015
368 N.C. 188 (2015)
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. JASON LYNN YOUNG
Assembly intended that the nonexclusive contracts authorized in section
We note in closing that our holding does not deny anyone access to any public record not otherwise restricted by law. Rather, this decision acknowledges the General Assembly‘s intent to limit the methods of access to one narrow category of court records. Access to the public information maintained in ACIS remains fully available by obtaining the physical records from the appropriate Clerk of Court, through the “green screen” terminal maintained in the local courthouse, or by means of a contract with the AOC for remote access. Nor will our holding impose an undue financial burden on those seeking access to criminal records. See
This case is remanded to the Court of Appeals for consideration of plaintiffs’ remaining issues on appeal.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
Justice ERVIN did not participate in the consideration or decision of this case.
1. Appeal and Error—preservation of issues—use of civil pleadings in criminal prosecution—objection required
The Court of Appeals erred in a prosecution for first-degree murder by determining that defendant was entitled to a new trial on the grounds that the admission of evidence concerning a wrongful death and declaratory judgment action and a child custody action violated
2. Evidence—preservation of issues—risk of prejudice outweighing probative value—use of civil pleadings in criminal case
The Court of Appeals erred by awarding a first-degree murder defendant a new trial based upon the admission of evidence concerning defendant‘s response to a wrongful death and declaratory judgment action and a child custody action where defendant objected under
On discretionary review pursuant to
Staples S. Hughes, Appellate Defender, by Barbara S. Blackman, Assistant Appellate Defender, for defendant-appellee.
ERVIN, Justice.
Defendant Jason Lynn Young was convicted of the first-degree murder of his wife, Michelle Fisher Young. A unanimous panel of the Court of Appeals vacated defendant‘s conviction and ordered a new trial. We now reverse the Court of Appeals’ decision and remand this case to the Court of Appeals for consideration of defendant‘s remaining challenges to the trial court‘s judgment.
I. Factual Background
A. Substantive Facts
1. State‘s Evidence
a. Youngs’ Marital Difficulties
As of 2 November 2006, the Youngs had been married for slightly more than three years. The Youngs’ friends assumed that their courtship, which had been less than idyllic, resulted in marriage solely because Ms. Young became pregnant. The Youngs’ relationship was described as “volatile,” with the couple tending to argue in public over relatively petty matters. Ms. Young‘s sister, Meredith Fisher, thought that defendant was irresponsible and treated Ms. Young poorly. Although Meredith Fisher told Ms. Young that she should leave defendant, Ms. Young made no effort to divorce her husband. On one occasion, defendant told a friend that he was afraid that, if he and Ms. Young divorced, Ms. Young would leave the Raleigh area and move to New York with their two-and-one-half-year-old daughter, Emily.1
Among the sources of conflict which the Youngs experienced was the role played by Ms. Young‘s mother, Linda Fisher, who visited the Youngs for extended periods of time, wanted to move to North Carolina so that she could spend more time with her daughter and granddaughter, and offered to renovate the Youngs’ house so that she could live there. Although Ms. Young wanted to have her mother‘s assistance with the family cooking, cleaning, and child care responsibilities, defendant was adamantly opposed to sharing a residence with Linda Fisher.
On 12 September 2006, defendant sent an e-mail to an address that had been used by his former fiancee, Genevieve Cargol. During their engagement, defendant had engaged in acts of domestic violence against Ms. Cargol, including an incident in which he forcibly removed the engagement ring that he had given her. Although he had not had any contact with her for a couple of years, defendant professed his love for Ms. Cargol in the 12 September 2006 e-mail while indicating that he did not intend to act on his feelings. At the end of September 2006, defendant began communicating on a regular basis with Michelle Money, who was one of Ms. Young‘s college sorority sisters and who believed that her husband was being unfaithful to her. On 7 October 2006, defendant mailed an anniversary card to Ms. Young from Orlando, Florida, where he had gone to spend time with Ms. Money. Defendant had sexual intercourse with Ms. Money during his visit to her in Orlando and informed a friend that he had fallen in love with Ms. Money. In the thirty days prior to 2 and 3 November 2006, defendant
About ten days prior to Ms. Young‘s death, defendant had sexual intercourse with Carol Ann Sowerby, another family friend, in the Youngs’ residence. Ms. Young was out of town at the time that this incident occurred. On that occasion, defendant took Ms. Sowerby‘s wedding ring from her and pretended to swallow it. However, defendant returned Ms. Sowerby‘s ring on the following day.
The Youngs e-mailed each other on 24 October 2006 about the extent to which they should undergo marriage counseling. Although defendant reiterated his willingness to attend counseling sessions, he reminded Ms. Young that the two of them had agreed that she would obtain individual counselling first. During a session with a therapist on 27 October 2006, Ms. Young stated that she was upset that defendant waited until the end of the weekend before doing his household chores, that their childless friends had more money than the Youngs did, that defendant wanted their relationship to be more sexual in nature, and that defendant drank at tailgate parties. On the other hand, Ms. Young told the therapist that her current pregnancy was planned.
About three weeks prior to Ms. Young‘s death, defendant told a friend after having had an argument with his wife that “he was done.” On 27 October 2006, defendant stated in the presence of both Ms. Young and Meredith Fisher that “all of this would just, you know, go away if you‘d let me have a girl on the side.” Although Ms. Young did not claim to have been physically abused by her husband, the therapist concluded that Ms. Young had experienced verbal abuse. Ms. Young told Meredith Fisher that defendant had thrown a remote control device at her on 1 November 2006.
b. Events Occurring on 2-3 November 2006
i. Events Involving Ms. Young
As a result of the fact that defendant was scheduled to conduct a sales call in Clintwood, Virginia, at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, 3 November 2006, Ms. Young made plans to spend the evening of 2 November 2006 with her friend Shelly Schaad, whose husband was also expected to be out of town on the evening in question. When Ms. Schaad arrived at the Youngs’ residence at approximately 6:30 p.m. on 2 November 2006, she was surprised to discover that defendant was still at home. Although he was invited to stay and dine with Ms. Schaad and Ms. Young, defendant declined this invitation and indicated that he planned to eat at a Cracker Barrel while en route to Galax, Virginia, where he intended to spend the night before continuing on to Clintwood in the morning.
After Ms. Schaad and Ms. Young ate dinner, they bathed Emily, diapered her, and dressed her in her pajamas. During this process, Ms. Young told Ms. Schaad that she and defendant had been arguing about plans for the upcoming holidays. Although Ms. Young wanted Linda Fisher to stay with the family from Thanksgiving through Christmas, defendant was opposed to such a lengthy visit. While Ms. Schaad and Ms. Young watched Grey‘s Anatomy, defendant made one of the seven calls that he placed to the house that evening.
In view of the fact that she had an “eerie feeling” that the house was being watched, Ms. Schaad asked Ms. Young to walk her to her car when she left the Youngs’ residence between 10:00 and 10:30 p.m. According to Terry Tiller, a newspaper delivery person, certain interior, exterior, and driveway lights were on and a light-colored SUV was positioned in the yard or on the street in front of the Youngs’ residence when she passed it between 3:30 and 4:00 a.m. on 3 November 2006.
ii. Events Involving Defendant
After buying gas in Raleigh at 7:30 p.m. on 2 November 2006, defendant called his mother, Pat Young. During this conversation, defendant discussed his business trip, his plans for the Thanksgiving holiday, and certain items of furniture that his mother planned to give him. Among other things, defendant told Pat Young that he would check with Ms. Young to see if he could spend Friday night at his mother‘s residence in Brevard in order to pick up the furniture
After purchasing dinner at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Greensboro at 9:25 p.m., defendant traveled in his white Ford Explorer to Hillsville, Virginia, where he checked into a Hampton Inn at 10:54 p.m. According to surveillance camera footage taken at both the Hampton Inn and the Cracker Barrel, defendant was wearing a light shirt, jeans, and brown slip-on shoes. Although defendant entered his hotel room using a key card at 10:56 p.m., he never used that key card again. Just before midnight, hotel surveillance cameras showed defendant at the front desk and as he walked down a hallway leading to both the stairs providing access to the upper floors and to an exit door on the western end of the hotel. At that time, defendant was wearing a darker-colored shirt with a light-colored horizontal stripe across the chest. No further images of defendant appear on surveillance footage taken at the hotel during the remainder of the night of 2 to 3 November 2006.
Keith Hicks, an employee of the Hillsville Hampton Inn, slid checkout receipts under the doors leading to occupied guest rooms between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m. on 3 November 2006. At approximately the same time, Mr. Hicks hung copies of the weekend edition of USA Today on the door handles of the same rooms. After taking advantage of the Hampton Inn‘s express checkout service, defendant left the hotel on 3 November 2006 without going to the front desk. As a result of the fact that he did not check out in person, the Hampton Inn had no record of the actual time at which defendant left the premises. However, defendant did call his mother at 7:40 a.m. on 3 November, with this call having been made using a cell tower near Wytheville, Virginia. Defendant arrived about thirty minutes late for his 10:00 a.m. sales call.
iii. Defendant‘s Testimony at the First Trial
In his testimony at the first trial, which the State introduced into evidence at the second trial, defendant denied having killed his wife, having been present when she was killed, or having any knowledge of who had killed her. Although defendant admitted that he had not been a good husband, he claimed that he loved his wife, wanted their marriage to work, and was ecstatic that his wife had become pregnant with a boy before her death. Defendant did not believe that he and Ms. Young argued more than other couples. Instead, defendant thought that the only difference between the Youngs and other couples was that the Youngs argued more in public. Defendant denied having ever assaulted his wife.
In November 2006, defendant had obtained a new job selling electronic health records software. After his employer set up the Clintwood sales call for relatively early on the morning of 3 November 2006, defendant decided to stay overnight at a hotel between Raleigh and Clintwood instead of attempting to make the entire drive that morning. Upon checking in at the Hillsville Hampton Inn on the night of 2 November, defendant called both his wife and Ms. Money. As a result of the fact that he was nervous about the sales call that he was scheduled to make the following morning, defendant decided to review the demonstration software that he intended to use during that meeting. However, when he began the review process, defendant discovered that he had left his laptop charger in his car.
Upon making this determination, defendant left the door to his room unlatched and walked downstairs to the exit nearest to the place where he had parked. In view of the fact that the exit door would not open from the exterior without a key card and the fact that he had left his key card in his room, defendant broke a stick off of a nearby shrub and stuck it in the door while he went to retrieve his charger. After returning to his room and reviewing the materials for the upcoming sales meeting, defendant decided to obtain a copy of USA Today and smoke a cigar.2 As a result, defendant left his room without fully closing the door for a second
iv. Testimony of Ms. Calhoun
The Four Brothers BP in King, North Carolina, a service station located at an exit along the most direct route between Raleigh and Hillsville, was the only location at which gasoline could be purchased at that exit in the early morning hours of 3 November 2006.3 According to Gracie Calhoun, an employee at the Four Brothers BP station, a man drove a white SUV to the farthest pump at approximately 5:00 to 5:30 a.m. on 3 November 2006 and made repeated efforts to pump gas. After the man entered the store and cursed her because the pumps were not operational, Ms. Calhoun told the prospective customer that, at that time of day, customers must provide money or identification before the gasoline pumps would be activated. At that point, the man, whom Ms. Calhoun identified from a photograph presented to her by investigating officers and in open court as defendant,4 threw twenty dollars in cash at
her, returned to the pump at which his vehicle was parked, and pumped fifteen dollars’ worth of gasoline into his vehicle before driving off without collecting his change. According to receipts obtained by investigating officers, a fifteen dollar gasoline purchase was made at the Four Brothers BP station at 5:27 a.m. on 3 November 2006 and a twenty dollar gasoline purchase was made at the Four Brothers BP station some nine minutes later.
v. Hampton Inn Security Cameras
Early on 3 November 2006, Mr. Hicks discovered that the first floor emergency door that led from the western stairwell to the exterior of the hotel and that is ordinarily locked between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. had been propped open with a small red rock that had been obtained from a nearby landscaping bed. After removing the rock, Mr. Hicks shut the door. Upon returning to the front desk, at which still images from the ten surveillance cameras utilized in the hotel could be observed on a rotating basis, Mr. Hicks noticed that the camera in the stairwell associated with the door that had been propped open was not working and returned to that stairwell to investigate the situation. At that point, Mr. Hicks noticed that the camera had been unplugged, with the last image shown on that camera having been made at 11:19:59 p.m. on 2 November 2006. No images were made on the camera in question from 11:20:13 p.m. on 2 November 2006 until Elmer Goad, a Hampton Inn maintenance employee, plugged it back in at 5:50 a.m. on 3 November 2006. However, the camera in question did not remain fully operational for long, since someone pointed it toward the ceiling between 6:34 and 6:35 a.m.
c. Discovery of Ms. Young‘s Body
Meredith Fisher arrived at the Youngs’ residence at around 1:00 p.m. on 3 November 2006 in response to a request from defendant, who had left a voice mail on her cell phone asking her to go the house to pick up the printouts relating to an eBay search for Coach purses that defendant had conducted before leaving on his sales trip so that Ms. Young would not find them. According to Meredith Fisher, defendant claimed that he had been thinking of surprising his wife with a purse as a belated anniversary present.
After arriving at the house, Meredith Fisher entered the residence through the unlocked garage and went into the kitchen. As she walked upstairs in the direction of the home office, Meredith Fisher saw what
As Meredith Fisher called 911, Emily, who was not wearing a diaper, emerged from under the covers on the bed in the master bedroom. Emily repeatedly asked that she be given band-aids on the grounds that Ms. Young had “boo-boos everywhere.”5 In response to an inquiry posed by the 911 operator about the extent to which Ms. Young had “personal problems,” Meredith Fisher replied, “Um not really. You know her and her husband fight a little bit, but nothing too ridiculous.”
A paramedic who came to the Youngs’ residence in response to Meredith Fisher‘s call confirmed that Ms. Young had been dead for some time. In addition, the paramedic checked Emily and determined that she was calm, had not sustained any injuries, and was not dehydrated. As a result of the fact that Emily was clean except for the presence of dried blood on her toenails and the bottom and seat of her pajama pants, an officer asked Meredith Fisher if she had cleaned Emily and received a negative answer.
d. Investigative Discoveries
A large amount of dried blood was found around Ms. Young‘s body, which was discolored, cold, and stiff. In addition, blood spattering appeared on the walls of the master bedroom. According to Dr. Thomas Clark, who performed the autopsy on her body, Ms. Young died from blunt force trauma to her head. Although he did not express any opinion concerning the time at which Ms. Young had died, Dr. Clark did state that Ms. Young had sustained at least thirty blows, the most serious of which had probably been inflicted with a heavy blunt object featuring a rounded surface that caused crescent-shaped skull fractures. In addition, Dr. Clark found signs that Ms. Young had been subjected to manual strangulation. Although Ms. Young had sustained a broken jaw, skull fracturing, brain hemorrhaging, lacerations, abrasions, and dislodged teeth, there was no evidence that she had been the victim of a sexual assault. Ms. Young was approximately twenty weeks pregnant with a son at the time of her death.
Emily‘s bloody footprints were visible on the floor of the master bedroom, her bathroom, and the second floor landing. In addition, blood smears at the level of a child‘s height were present in Emily‘s bathroom. The only blood found outside of the second floor of the Youngs’ home appeared on the doorknob leading from the kitchen to the garage, with the DNA markers present in this bloodstain being consistent with Ms. Young‘s DNA.
Although defendant‘s DNA and fingerprints were present in the bedroom, none of his fingerprints were blood-stained. At the time that he was examined by officers of the Wake County Sheriff‘s Office on 7 November 2006, defendant did not have any cuts, bruises, or other injuries to his hands or body aside from a bruised and broken toenail. In addition, investigating officers failed to find any evidence of blood in or on defendant‘s vehicle, defendant‘s clothes, or the hotel room in which defendant stayed on 2 November 2006.
According to Agent Michael Smith of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Agent Andy Parker of the Raleigh/Wake City-County Bureau of Identification, and Special Agent Karen Morrow of the State Bureau of Investigation, bloody footwear impressions made by two distinct shoe types appeared on pillows found near Ms. Young. One of these two sets of footprints was consistent with the impressions that would be made by size twelve Hush Puppy Orbital, Sealy, and Belleville shoes, all of which have the same outsole design. The other set of impressions was made by a shoe type consistent with a size ten Air Fit or Franklin athletic shoe. According
A careful examination of the Youngs’ residence indicated that there were no signs that entry had been forced or that the house had been ransacked. However, investigating officers determined that two drawers had been removed from a jewelry box in the master bedroom. DNA testing performed on the jewelry box revealed the presence of four markers that were not consistent with either of the Youngs’ DNA. According to Meredith Fisher, Ms. Young “didn‘t really have a lot of fancy jewelry” with the exception of her wedding and engagement rings, which she rarely removed and did not keep in the jewelry box. Neither of the rings that Meredith Fisher mentioned was found on Ms. Young‘s body or ever recovered. According to Agent Beth Whitney of the CCBI, Internet searches for purses were made on the Youngs’ computer between 7:05 p.m. and 7:23 p.m. on 2 November 2006. Although three fingerprints were lifted from the eBay printouts generated as a result of these searches, only one of them was defendant‘s, with the other two fingerprints remaining unidentified at the time of trial. In addition, investigating officers determined that someone had checked defendant‘s personal e-mail account and that MapQuest inquiries for directions between Raleigh and Clintwood had been made on the Youngs’ computer on the evening of 2 November 2006 as well. Agent Whitney also discovered that, at some undetermined time, Internet searches concerning the “anatomy of a knockout,” “head trauma blackout,” “head blow knockout,” and “head trauma” had been conducted on the Youngs’ computer, which defendant explained as having been related to an accident that he had witnessed. Finally, an examination of defendant‘s laptop computer revealed no indication that that machine had been used for any work-related purpose on the night of 2 to 3 November 2006.
2. Defendant‘s Evidence
On the afternoon of 3 November 2006, Linda Fisher called Pat Young and told her that Ms. Young was dead. At that time, defendant was driving from Virginia to Pat Young‘s residence in Brevard. After defendant‘s arrival in Brevard, his stepfather told defendant of Ms. Young‘s death. Upon receiving this information, defendant sank to the ground in disbelief. In addition, defendant sobbed after Meredith Fisher told him that Ms. Young‘s death had been a homicide.
Shortly after his arrival in Brevard, defendant and various members of his family left for Raleigh in defendant‘s Explorer, from which defendant‘s luggage had not been removed. As he traveled to Raleigh, defendant received calls from friends who told him that investigating officers had been asking Meredith Fisher and others if the Youngs had been having marital problems and suggested that he refrain from talking to investigating officers before consulting an attorney. In accordance with advice that he received from his counsel, defendant never answered any questions posed by investigating officers or discussed Ms. Young‘s death with friends or family members.
A newspaper delivery person drove by the Youngs’ home at approximately 3:50 a.m. on 3 November 2006 without noticing anything unusual. Cynthia Beaver noticed that the house and driveway lights were on and that a light-colored “soccer-mom car” in which a white male was seated in the driver‘s seat and another person, who was possibly female, was seated in the passenger seat, was positioned at the edge of the driveway associated with the Youngs’ residence when she drove by at approximately 5:20 to 5:30 a.m. on the same date. When Fay Hinsley drove past the Youngs’ house at approximately 6:15 a.m. on 3 November 2006, she observed an empty SUV positioned at the edge of the
B. Procedural History
On 14 December 2009, the Wake County Grand Jury returned a bill of indictment charging defendant with murdering Ms. Young. The charge against defendant came on for trial before the trial court and a jury at the 31 May 2011 criminal session of the Superior Court, Wake County. On 27 June 2011, the trial court declared a mistrial after the jury announced that it could not reach a unanimous verdict.
The charge against defendant came on for trial a second time at the 17 January 2012 session of the Superior Court, Wake County, before the trial court and a jury. On 5 March 2012, the jury returned a verdict convicting defendant of first-degree murder. Based upon the jury‘s verdict, the trial court entered a judgment sentencing defendant to a term of life imprisonment without parole. Defendant noted an appeal to the Court of Appeals from the trial court‘s judgment.
Before the Court of Appeals, defendant argued that the trial court had committed prejudicial error by allowing the admission of evidence concerning a complaint that had been filed and default judgments that had been entered in a wrongful death and declaratory judgment action that had been brought against him by Linda Fisher as executrix of Ms. Young‘s estate and a complaint that had been filed in an action in which Linda Fisher and Meredith Fisher sought to obtain custody of Emily from defendant. State v. Young, ___ N.C. App. ___, ___, 756 S.E.2d 768, 778 (2014). On 1 April 2014, the Court of Appeals filed an opinion holding that the trial court had committed prejudicial error by admitting evidence concerning the complaint and default judgments in the wrongful death and declaratory judgment action and the complaint in the child custody case on the grounds that the admission of the challenged evidence violated
II. Legal Analysis
A. Relevant Factual Information
1. Wrongful Death Action
At the second trial, the State was allowed to introduce evidence concerning a civil action that had been filed against defendant. On 29 October 2008, Linda Fisher, acting in her capacity as the executrix of Ms. Young‘s estate, filed a complaint seeking a damage recovery from defendant for wrongful death and a declaration that defendant was disqualified from receiving any monetary benefit as the result of Ms. Young‘s death pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 31A of the General Statutes. After defendant failed to file an answer or other responsive pleading, the estate sought the entry of default judgments against defendant. The estate‘s motion for the entry of a default judgment in the declaratory judgment action was heard before the trial court on 5 December 2008, at which point the trial court reviewed the record and certain affidavits that had been submitted in support of the estate‘s request for a declaratory judgment and entered a judgment determining that defendant had “unlawfully killed” Ms. Young, and was a “slayer” as that term is used in
At trial, the State called Lorrin Freeman, who served as Clerk of Superior Court for Wake County at that time, for the purpose of testifying concerning the wrongful death and declaratory judgment action.7 At that point, defendant‘s trial counsel objected “to the entire line of questioning about the wrongful death case.” Defense counsel added: “And
elected to be defaulted and in response to the wrongful death action and permitted by law for the Court to enter
a judgment disqualifying him from benefiting from the death of Michelle Young may be a factor, that is, might be relevant to any number of matters that the jury has already heard and will hear and are considering, and so I do believe it‘s relevant and I do believe that the probative value outweighs any prejudicial effect.
After making this ruling, the trial court indicated that it would instruct the jury about “the law relating to a civil action and a civil judgment,” “the obligation of the defendant named to answer,” and the law allowing entry of a default judgment in the event that a defendant failed to file an answer or other responsive pleading.
After the prosecutor asked Ms. Freeman whether a civil action had been filed against defendant by Linda Fisher on behalf of Ms. Young‘s estate, defendant lodged another objection. After overruling the objection, the trial court outlined the procedures utilized in civil actions, advised the jury that judgment could be entered in the plaintiff‘s favor in the event that the defendant failed to respond to the plaintiff‘s complaint, explained to the jury that allegations made in a civil complaint are deemed to have been admitted when no responsive pleading is filed “whether actually true or not,” and instructed the jury that the entry of a “civil judgment is not a determination of guilt by any court that the named defendant has committed any criminal offense.” Following the delivery of these instructions, which the trial court indicated would be supplemented at the conclusion of the trial, Ms. Freeman explained the nature of a wrongful death action and an action pursuant to
On cross-examination, Ms. Freeman testified that the attorneys representing Ms. Young‘s estate in the wrongful death and declaratory judgment action filed affidavits in support of the estate‘s motion for the entry of a default judgment, described the items that those attorneys examined during their investigation into the validity of the claims that the estate had asserted against defendant, and stated the amount of money that the estate and its attorneys had obtained as a result of the entry of these default judgments. On redirect examination, Ms. Freeman testified that an autopsy report concerning the cause of Ms. Young‘s death was
At the conclusion of the trial, the trial court delivered additional instructions to the jury concerning the manner in which they should consider the evidence that they had heard concerning the wrongful death and declaratory judgment action. More specifically, the trial court instructed the jury that:
I further instruct you there is evidence that tends to show that a civil complaint was filed in the Civil Superior Court of Wake County against the defendant by Linda Fisher on behalf of the Estate of Michelle Young and that a civil summons was issued by the clerk of the court commanding the defendant to answer or otherwise respond to the allegations of that civil complaint within the time required by law. There is further evidence that tends to show that the defendant was timely served with these documents and that he did not file an answer or otherwise respond to the complaint and that a default judgment was entered against him by reason of that failure.
As I previously instructed you, when a defendant in a civil action has been properly served with the civil summons and the civil complaint and fails to timely respond, upon motion of the plaintiff the Court is authorized to enter a civil judgment against the defaulting defendant. For purpose of the civil law, the allegations of the complaint which have not been denied, whether actually true or not, are deemed to be admitted for the purpose of allowing the plaintiff to have a civil judgment entered against the defendant. The burden of proof in a civil case requires only that the plaintiff satisfy the Court or the jury by the greater weight of the evidence that the plaintiff‘s claims are valid. This means that the plaintiff must prove that the facts are more likely than not to exist in the plaintiff‘s favor. When there is a default, that burden of proof is deemed in law to be met.
The entry of a civil default judgment is not a determination of guilt by any court that the named defendant has committed any criminal offense.
Neither party lodged any objection to this portion of the trial court‘s instructions to the jury concerning the evidence relating to the wrongful death and declaratory judgment action.
2. Child Custody Action
On 17 December 2008, Linda Fisher and Meredith Fisher filed a complaint seeking the entry of an order awarding them custody of Emily after defendant had denied their requests for access to his daughter. In their complaint, Linda Fisher and Meredith Fisher alleged that defendant had “brutally murdered” Ms. Young and that, “[u]pon information and belief, [Emily] was in the residence at the time [defendant] murdered her mother.” In their prayer for relief, Linda Fisher and Meredith Fisher requested that defendant be subject to discovery and submit to a psychological evaluation. After the filing of this custody action, defendant entered into a consent judgment with Linda Fisher and Meredith Fisher pursuant to which the parties agreed that Meredith Fisher would have primary physical custody of Emily and that no discovery or psychological examination of defendant would be conducted.
The child custody action initially came to the jury‘s attention during the cross-examination of Meredith Fisher, when defendant‘s trial counsel asked her about the filing of the child custody complaint and the request that defendant be subject to a psychological examination. After the State, without objection, sought and obtained the admission of the child custody complaint into evidence, Mr. Schilawski testified, also without objection, that Linda Fisher and Meredith Fisher had alleged in the child custody complaint that, “[i]n the early morning hours of November 3rd, 2006 the defendant brutally murdered [Ms. Young] at their residence” at a time when Ms. Young “was pregnant with defendant‘s son” and, upon information and belief, when Emily “was in the residence.”
B. Admissibility of the Challenged Evidence
The Court of Appeals held that the trial court erred by allowing the admission of evidence concerning the wrongful death and declaratory judgment complaint and default judgments and the child custody complaint on the grounds that the trial court‘s decision contravened
1. N.C.G.S. § 1-149
[1] In seeking relief from the Court of Appeals’ decision, the State contends that the Court of Appeals erred by determining that defendant was entitled to a new trial on the grounds that the admission of evidence concerning the wrongful death and declaratory judgment action and the child custody action violated
According to the Court of Appeals, the fact that defendant did not object to the admission of evidence concerning the complaint filed and default judgments entered in the wrongful death and declaratory judgment action and the complaint filed in the child custody action on the basis of
As an initial matter, we note that the extent to which the admission of evidence related to civil actions in criminal proceedings is subject to appellate review despite the failure of the defendant to object under
A careful comparison of the statutory provisions that this Court has treated as “mandatory” with the language contained in
The language contained in
The necessity for the trial court to conduct such an inquiry is repeatedly noted in this Court‘s jurisprudence concerning
On the other hand, in State v. McNair, 226 N.C. 462, 38 S.E.2d 514 (1946), we recognized that a party‘s decision to seek the admission of a civil judgment in a criminal case does “not necessarily use the pleading as proof of any fact therein alleged,” id. at 464, 38 S.E.2d at 516, and stated that the admissibility of a civil pleading in a criminal trial hinges on the purpose for which the challenged evidence is offered, id. at 463-64, 38 S.E.2d at 516. In upholding the trial court‘s decision to permit the prosecutor to cross-examine the defendant concerning a civil suit in which the defendant had claimed to be the owner of a vehicle that he was alleged to have stolen, this Court stated that:
The solicitor announced that the object of the cross-examination relative to the complaint in the civil action, was “to impeach the witness or to contradict him,” and not to prove any of the facts alleged therein, as they were at variance with the theory of the State‘s case. The purpose of the solicitor was to use the allegations of the complaint in the civil action, not “as proof of a fact admitted or alleged in it,”
but to show that the defendant had made two contradictory statements about the matter, neither of which was correct.
Id. at 463-64, 38 S.E.2d at 516. Similarly, in State v. Phillips, 227 N.C. 277, 279, 41 S.E.2d 766, 767 (1947), we held that evidence concerning an annulment action brought against the defendant by his second wife, which had been offered for the purpose of proving that he had a motive to kill his first wife rather than to prove that he was a party to a bigamous marriage, was properly admitted. Thus, this Court has clearly allowed the admission of evidence concerning the contents of criminal pleadings for purposes other than showing the truth of the allegations and admissions contained in those documents.
As a result, given the fact that
2. N.C.G.S. § 8C-1, Rule 403
[2] Secondly, the State contends that the Court of Appeals erred by holding that the trial court abused its discretion in overruling defendant‘s objection to exclude evidence of the civil suits under
“Although relevant, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence.”
The Court of Appeals held that the trial court abused its discretion by allowing the admission of the challenged evidence for two basic reasons. Young, ___ N.C. App. at ___, 756 S.E.2d at 783. As an initial matter, the Court of Appeals held that the substantial prejudice resulting from the introduction of this evidence “irreparably diminished” defendant‘s presumption of innocence and “vastly outweighed [its] probative value.” Id. at ___, 756 S.E.2d at 783. We do not find this logic convincing.
As a general proposition, appellate decisions holding that a trial court erroneously failed to sustain an objection lodged pursuant to
A careful review of the record demonstrates that the evidence relating to the wrongful death and declaratory judgment action had at least some material probative value for the purpose of challenging the validity of defendant‘s alibi defense. Evidence has “probative value” if it “tends to prove or disprove a point in issue.” Probative Evidence, Black‘s Law Dictionary (8th ed. 2004). As a result, the extent to which evidence does or does not have probative value depends upon the extent to which a reasonable mind would be more or less influenced by the introduction of the evidence in question in determining whether a disputed fact did or did not exist.
This Court has repeatedly upheld the admission of evidence concerning a defendant‘s actions after the commission of a crime on the theory that such evidence was relevant to the issue of whether the defendant committed the crime in question. See State v. McDougald, 336 N.C. 451, 457, 444 S.E.2d 211, 215 (1994) (finding that the probative value of evidence to the effect that the defendant had escaped from jail before trial was not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice on the grounds that the challenged evidence “tended to show the defendant‘s consciousness of his guilt“); State v. Stager, 329 N.C. 278, 321-22, 406 S.E.2d 876, 900-01 (1991) (upholding the admission of evidence to the effect that, among other things, the defendant exhibited a calm demeanor on the morning of her husband‘s death and that the defendant had disposed of some of her husband‘s personal effects the day after his funeral). In other words, there is no blanket rule prohibiting the admission of evidence concerning a defendant‘s conduct after the commission of a crime as long as that evidence has a tendency to shed light on the issue of whether the defendant committed the crime for which he is standing trial. As a result, in order to evaluate the validity of defendant‘s argument in reliance upon
The strategy employed by the State in defendant‘s second trial included an attempt to demonstrate that the alibi evidence that defendant presented at the first trial was false. As part of that process, the State attempted to demonstrate that defendant had attempted to “sandbag” the prosecution by waiting until after he had heard the State‘s evidence before offering up his own version of what had happened, thereby gaining for himself the opportunity to provide an explanation for all of the incriminating evidence that the State had amassed against him. The admission of evidence that, at a substantial economic cost, defendant allowed the entry of a default judgment against himself in the wrongful death and declaratory judgment action rather than offering up a defense and subjecting his account of the events of 2 and 3 November 2006 to scrutiny by others, including agents of the State, in that proceeding did tend to bolster the validity of the State‘s attack upon the credibility of defendant‘s alibi. As a result, we are unable to say that the evidence concerning defendant‘s response to the wrongful death and declaratory judgment action that the trial court admitted at defendant‘s second trial had no probative value in light of the fact that the credibility of a defendant‘s account of what happened is always of significant interest to jurors.13
followed the trial court‘s instructions, State v. Tirado, 358 N.C. 551, 581, 599 S.E.2d 515, 535 (2004) (citation omitted), cert. denied, 544 U.S. 909 (2005), the record reflects that the trial court took action that is presumed to have been effective to protect defendant against the exact harm about which he expresses concern.
Although the members of this Court might well have reached a different result from the trial court after balancing the probative value of the evidence concerning defendant‘s failure to respond to the wrongful death and declaratory judgment action against the risk of unfair prejudice associated with the admission of that evidence, the applicable standard of review requires us to simply determine whether the trial court could have made a reasoned decision to allow the admission of the evidence in question. State v. Locklear, 363 N.C. 438, 449, 681 S.E.2d 293, 302-03 (2009) (stating that, “[i]n our review, we consider not whether we might disagree” with the trial court but whether “the trial court‘s actions are fairly supported by the record” (quoting State v. Whaley, 362 N.C. 156, 160, 655 S.E.2d 388, 390 (2008))). In view of the fact that the evidence concerning defendant‘s response to the wrongful death and declaratory judgment action had material probative value and the fact that the trial court recognized and made a serious attempt to address the risk of unfair prejudice that would inevitably flow from the admission of that evidence, we cannot conclude that the trial court erred in determining that the risk of unfair prejudice resulting from the introduction of the challenged evidence did not substantially outweigh its probative value.
In awarding defendant a new trial, the Court of Appeals relied upon this Court‘s decision in State v. Scott, 331 N.C. 39, 43, 413 S.E.2d 787, 789 (1992), for the proposition that, “[w]hen the intrinsic nature of the evidence itself is such that its probative value is always necessarily outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, the evidence becomes inadmissible under [Rule 403] as a matter of law.” Young, ___ N.C. App. at ___, 756 S.E.2d at 783 (second alteration in original) (quoting Scott, 331 N.C. at 43, 413 S.E.2d at 789). In Scott, this Court concluded that the admission of evidence of a prior alleged offense for which the defendant “had been tried and acquitted” in an earlier trial constituted an abuse of discretion “as a matter of law” on the grounds that the probative value of the evidence in question depended on the extent to which the defendant
motu, decided to deliver concerning that subject, defendant is not entitled to complain that the prejudicial effect of the challenged evidence was compounded by the trial court‘s failure to instruct the jury concerning the purposes for which the challenged evidence could properly be considered.
had actually committed the prior alleged offense and that
The second justification advanced by the Court of Appeals in support of its decision to hold that the trial court had abused its discretion by allowing the admission of evidence concerning defendant‘s response to the wrongful death and declaratory judgment action was that the trial court admitted the challenged evidence while subject to a misapprehension of law. Young, ___ N.C. App. at ___, 756 S.E.2d at 783. According to well-established North Carolina law, “[w]here a ruling is based upon a misapprehension of the applicable law, the cause will be remanded in order that the matter may be considered in its true legal light.” Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co. v. Chantos, 298 N.C. 246, 252, 258 S.E.2d 334, 338 (1979) (citation omitted). In support of this determination, the Court of Appeals held that the trial court had an obligation, even in the absence of an objection, to conduct an inquiry for the purpose of determining whether the admission of the challenged evidence would violate
judgment action, defendant is not entitled to relief from the trial court‘s judgment on the basis of the admission of that evidence.
III. Conclusion
Thus, for the reasons set forth above, we conclude that the Court of Appeals erred by awarding defendant a new trial based upon the admission of evidence concerning defendant‘s response to the wrongful death and declaratory judgment action and the child custody action that were filed against him by members of Ms. Young‘s family.16 As a result, the Court of Appeals’ decision should be, and hereby is, reversed, and this case should be, and hereby is, remanded to the Court of Appeals for consideration of defendant‘s remaining challenges to the trial court‘s judgment, including the issues raised by the motion for appropriate relief that defendant filed before the Court of Appeals.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.