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[T] State v. Stanton6/17/2003
An unpublished opinion of the North Carolina Court of Appeals does not constitute controlling legal authority. Citation is disfavored, but may be permitted in accordance with the provisions of Rule 30(e)(3) of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure.
Defendant Henry Emory Stanton was tried before a jury at the 4 September 2001 Session of Bladen County Superior Court after being charged with one count of first-degree rape and one count of first-degree kidnapping. The State's evidence at trial showed that the victim, Ms. Emileigh Barker, was a salesperson for Bardusch Corporation, a uniform supply company in Lumberton, North Carolina. On 28 July 1999, a caller named Mr. Smalls indicated he wanted to place an order for uniforms and was directed to call back the next day to speak to Ms. Barker. The next day, the caller, who identified himself as Dwayne Smalls, informed Ms. Barker that he wanted to purchase twelve uniforms for workers at his company, Pullium Construction. Ms. Barker testified that Mr. Smalls did notgive her a phone number or address, but did give her directions to his office. Mr. Smalls said his office had no sign, but that she would see a trailer 1/2 mile past the county line. Ms. Barker called information, but was unable to get a phone number for Mr. Smalls or Pullium Construction Company.
A short time later, Ms. Barker left to meet Mr. Smalls. She drove her Jeep and took sample uniforms and other materials for sales calls. On the way, she deposited her paycheck and withdrew some cash. As she approached the area Mr. Smalls described, she saw a man, later identified as defendant, flagging her down. She pulled over, and the man asked, "Are you Emileigh?" Ms. Barker asked if he was Mr. Smalls, to which defendant replied "yes." He told Ms. Barker to pull in front of the trailer, and she complied. She retrieved her samples and apologized to defendant for interrupting his lunch.
Defendant told Ms. Barker that he had to run some errands, and that his wife was in the trailer waiting to pick out the uniforms. Ms. Barker entered the trailer and looked for defendant's wife. When she got to the end of the hall, she discovered no one was there. Ms. Barker turned around to face defendant, who tackled her and threw her to the floor. According to Ms. Barker, defendant tied her arms and wrists together using electrical cord, tied her ankles together, then forced her to lay face down while he tied her hands to her ankles. Defendant then stuffed a cloth ball in Ms. Barker's mouth, and wrapped a bungee cord around the back of her head and attached the hook into the cloth in her mouth. Defendantthen wrapped her head in tape, which covered the gag and partially covered her nose. Ms. Barker testified she was scared for her life and had great difficulty breathing.
Defendant left the room for several minutes, then came back and started asking, "Where's Mike? Where's Mike? Where -- Mike should -- Mike should be here by now. Where is he?" Defendant paced back and forth, then left momentarily and returned with a large kitchen knife. Ms. Barker told defendant she could not breathe and defendant used the kitchen knife to cut off the tape, then removed the gag and the cord. She asked for a cigarette and told defendant that her hands were numb. Defendant cut the cord that held her ankles and hands tied together and moved her from room to room before retying her hands in front of her body and retying her ankles together. Defendant also tied a scarf around Ms. Barker's eyes. As he did so, defendant began talking about drug cartels, money owed by a man named Mike, and his belief that the drug cartels were after him. Defendant untied Ms. Barker's ankles, walked her down the hall, a
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