Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Table of Contents
State v. Pender, 243 N.C. App. 142 (Sept. 1, 2015)
In a case with multiple victims, the court rejected the defendant’s argument that the State’s evidence was too vague for the jury to infer that he pointed the gun at any particular individual. One witness testified that upon defendant’s orders, “everybody ran in the room with us … and he was waiving [sic] the gun at us[.]” Another testified that “[w]hen [defendant] came down the hall, when he told everyone to get into one room, all of them came in there … [e]ven the two little ones ….” She further testified, “I was nervous for the kids was down there hollering and carrying on, and he hollered – he point [sic] the gun toward everybody in one room. One room. And told them come on in here with me.” A third testified that once everybody was in the same bedroom, defendant pointed the shotgun outward from his shoulder.