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North Carolina v. Thomas11/19/1992
ant assaulted the victim, he knocked her back into the sleeper. Defendant then hit the victim on the head numerous times, bit her breasts until they were bleeding, and then proceeded to insert his fingers into her vagina. The entire time the assault was occurring, the victim was fighting, kicking, and screaming. After putting his fingers into the victim's vagina, defendant took the time to reach for the waterless hand cleaner on the front seat floorboard, lubricated his hands with it, and then penetrated the victim again with his entire hand to a point past his wrist "a couple of times. " Upon tearing out part of the victim's large intestine, defendant drove the truck around closer to the woods. When the victim began to crawl out of the truck, defendant went around to the passenger door. The victim fell to the ground, and defendant dragged her into the woods, approximately 120 feet, on her back. Defendant knew that the victim was still conscious because she begged him to "leave me alone, let me die."
Defendant also dealt lethal blows to the victim after she was rendered helpless. Defendant admitted in his statement that he beat the victim about the head and face and bit her breasts until they bled, all while the victim was conscious. After the victim succumbed to defendant's beating, she removed her clothes, and he then began penetrating the victim with his fingers. Because the victim was in the sleeper portion of the truck, which was
approximately three feet by six feet by five feet, she was basically imprisoned and unable to escape the defendant's brutal assault. After applying hand cleaner to his hands, defendant then inserted his hand approximately ten inches into the victim's vagina and into the peritoneal cavity which holds the intestines. Defendant then tore out the rectovaginal septum, the wall between the vaginal and the anal openings. He proceeded to tear out part of the victim's colon and her right kidney. The pathologist testified that the victim would have remained conscious for ten to twenty minutes and that up until the time she lost consciousness, the victim would have been able to feel and experience pain. In fact, defendant dragged the victim on her back 120 feet into the woods, and the detectives found the victim lying on her stomach, grasping leaves and pine straw. The victim was obviously conscious for some amount of time after being left to die. There is no question in this case that the killing was done in a vicious manner.
In addition, the nature and number of the victim's wounds clearly provide substantial evidence that the killer premeditated and deliberated. In State v. Zuniga, 320 N.C. 233, 357 S.E.2d 898, cert. denied, 484 U.S. 959, 98 L. Ed. 2d 384 (1987), this Court found that there was sufficient evidence from which the jury could properly have inferred premeditation and deliberation, where a pathologist testified that the killing was accomplished by a person stabbing the victim through the neck, partially removing the knife, and then plunging it home again. In the case at bar, defendant inserted his hand past his wrist into the victim's vagina a "couple of times." He not only tore her kidney out of the kidney bed, but also pulled twenty inches of her colon out of her body. As the pathologist stated, this could only be accomplished through multiple penetrations.
Following the incident, defendant left the victim to die without attempting to obtain assistance for her. In fact, defendant went to a convenience store and asked for directions so that he could find Hoggard High School. Once at Hoggard, he cleaned up the truck and then went to sleep for approxima
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