(Download) "North Carolina v. Travis" by Court of Appeals of North Carolina No. 7625SC920 * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: North Carolina v. Travis
- Author : Court of Appeals of North Carolina No. 7625SC920
- Release Date : January 01, 1977
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 55 KB
Description
Defendant first assigns error to the court's consolidating for trial the charges against him with identical charges against one Kerry Gant. Joinder for trial of the charges against the two defendants was authorized by G.S. 15A-926(b) (2)a. Moreover, ""[o]rdinarily, unless it is shown that irreparable prejudice will result therefrom, consolidation for trial rather than multiple individual trials is appropriate when two or more persons are indicted for the same criminal offense(s)."" State v. Jones, 280 N.C. 322, 333, 185 S.E.2d 858, 865 (1972). Defendant contends that consolidation for trial resulted in prejudice to him in the present case because one of his witnesses was the attorney who appeared in the case representing Gant. We find no irreparable prejudice from this fact. The witness did testify for the defendant concerning the hostility which defendant's father, a witness for the State, had expressed toward defendant and his mother in a conversation prior to defendant's trial when defendant's father had tried to employ the attorney to represent him in connection with nonsupport charges then pending against him. This evidence was, of course, material to defendant, since it tended to show the bias of one of the State's principal witnesses against him. However, defendant was in no way deprived of the benefit of this evidence by the consolidation of the cases for trial, nor do we perceive how the effect of the testimony was weakened or why the jury should have accorded it less credence because it was given by the attorney who had appeared for his co-defendant, Gant. At the time the testimony was given, the charges against Gant had already been dismissed on his motion for nonsuit made at the close of the State's evidence, and there was ample additional evidence to show the antagonism existing between defendant's father and mother. Defendant has failed to show that irreparable prejudice resulted from the consolidation of the cases for trial. In the absence of a showing that the joint trial deprived defendant of a fair trial, the exercise of the trial court's discretion in ordering the consolidation will not be disturbed upon appeal. State v. Phifer, 290 N.C. 203, 225 S.E.2d 786 (1976). Defendant's first assignment of error is overruled.
 "North Carolina v. Travis" by Court of Appeals of North Carolina No. 7625SC920 * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}