State v. Middleton, COA24-252, ___ N.C. App. ___ (Jan. 15, 2025)

In this Gaston County case, defendant appealed his convictions for first-degree murder and  intentional child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury, arguing error in (1) denying his motion to dismiss the charges for insufficient evidence, and plain error in (2) allowing testimony that was inherently incredible, and (3) allowing testimony from a witness who interrogated defendant as an agent of the state. The Court of Appeals found no error or plain error.

In May of 2020, defendant’s girlfriend gave birth to defendant’s twin sons. The twins were born prematurely and spent several weeks in the NICU. In June, defendant’s girlfriend brought the twins home to their shared apartment. Soon after, defendant’s girlfriend left the apartment to get groceries and diapers, leaving the twins with defendant for several hours. When she returned, defendant told her the twins were fine, but the next day one twin would not feed, and after calling her pediatrician, the girlfriend took the child to the ER for further evaluation. At the ER, it became clear the child had severe injuries, and he was airlifted to a Charlotte hospital where doctors found a skull fracture with brain bleeds and a left wrist fracture. The other twin was evaluated and similar head injuries were found. The first twin to be hospitalized died from his injuries, and an autopsy found injuries consistent with non-accidental blunt force trauma. While defendant was in jail before trial, he told a fellow inmate several stories about how the injuries occurred, ultimately admitting that he became frustrated and caused the injuries intentionally. This inmate later testified against defendant at trial. Defendant was subsequently convicted of first-degree felony murder based on the underlying felony of child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury, and another count of child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury for the surviving twin.

Taking up (1), the Court of Appeals first explained that when an adult attacks a child with their hands, it can be inferred that the hands were used as deadly weapons, and “when an adult has exclusive custody of a child for a period of time during which the child suffers injuries that are neither self-inflicted nor accidental, there is sufficient evidence to create an inference that the adult intentionally inflicted those injuries.” Slip Op. at 12 (quoting State v. Liberato, 156 N.C. App. 182, 186 (2003)). The court then proceeded to examine the evidence of injuries sustained by the twins, concluding the expert testimony showed the injuries were indicative of child abuse. Defendant argued that the testimony did not establish intentional child abuse, but the court called that argument “demonstrably false,” as the testifying expert explicitly called the injuries “nonaccidental.” Id. at 14. Because the record contained sufficient evidence to support both convictions, the court held denying the motion to dismiss was not error.

Moving to (2), defendant argued the testimony of his jail cellmate was “inherently incredible” and although defendant did not object at trial, allowing the testimony was plain error. The court found the concept of “inherently incredible” from State v. Miller, 270 N.C. 726 (1967), inapplicable to the current case, as the issues with the witness’s testimony were simply discrepancies with other pieces of evidence at trial. To represent “inherently incredible” testimony, defendant would have to identify “evidence which is inherently impossible or in conflict with indisputable physical facts or laws of nature,” which defendant could not do in the current case. Slip Op. at 18 (quoting State v. Cox, 289 N.C. 414, 422-23 (1976)).

Reaching (3), the court explained that defendant failed to preserve this issue predicated on constitutional arguments. Because defendant did not object at trial, the issue was waived and not eligible for plain error review on appeal.