## Facts

- William Dennis Moose, after drinking beer and liquor throughout the day, drove a pickup truck with two female passengers on the night of March 26, 1982.
- Phillip Kincaid and Ransom Connelly drove ahead of Moose on Zion Road; Moose followed them closely for about 1.3 miles, honking and bumping their car at an intersection despite opportunities to pass.
- Kincaid and Connelly pulled into a drug store parking lot; Moose pulled alongside the driver’s side of their car.
- A shotgun barrel emerged from the passenger-side window of Moose’s truck and was pointed at the victims’ car for about five seconds before it fired.
- The blast shattered the driver’s window and killed Connelly; Kincaid survived and testified as an eyewitness.
- Moose admitted retrieving a shotgun and stated he intended to shoot “over” the car to scare its occupants, claiming the shooting was accidental rather than intended to kill.
- The State introduced evidence that Moose expressed hostility toward African-Americans; Connelly was African-American.
- A private prosecutor assisted the elected public prosecutor at trial.
- Moose was convicted of first-degree murder; the jury recommended death, and the trial court imposed a death sentence.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence was sufficient to allow a jury to find premeditation and deliberation beyond a reasonable doubt for first-degree murder.
2. Whether voluntary intoxication negated Moose’s ability to form the specific intent required for premeditated and deliberate murder.
3. Whether participation by a private prosecutor assisting the public prosecutor violated Moose’s rights or rendered the trial unfair.
4. Whether errors in the capital sentencing phase required vacating the death sentence and ordering a new sentencing proceeding.

## Decision

- The court affirmed the first-degree murder conviction, holding there was substantial evidence from which the jury could infer premeditation and deliberation.
- The court held voluntary intoxication did not bar a finding of premeditated and deliberate intent because the evidence did not show impairment so extreme that Moose could not form the required intent.
- The court found no reversible error from the use of a private prosecutor because the record did not show the private prosecutor ignored the interests of justice or undermined trial fairness.
- The court vacated the death sentence and remanded for a new capital sentencing proceeding due to defects affecting the reliability of the sentencing determination.

## Legal Principles

- Premeditation and deliberation may be inferred from circumstantial evidence and may be formed in a short time; the jury may infer reflection and intent from conduct such as pursuit, arming oneself, aiming a deadly weapon, and other surrounding circumstances.
- Evidence of motive, including biased or hostile statements, may be admissible as circumstantial evidence bearing on intent when considered with other facts.
- Voluntary intoxication negates first-degree murder only if it renders the defendant incapable of forming a deliberate and premeditated purpose to kill; evidence of purposeful, goal-directed actions may support a finding of capacity.
- Assistance by a private prosecutor is not unconstitutional per se; absent proof that the private prosecutor disregarded the interests of justice or compromised fairness, participation does not require reversal.
- Capital sentencing must be conducted in a manner that yields a reliable weighing of aggravating and mitigating circumstances; material errors in that process require a new sentencing hearing.

## Conclusion

The court upheld Moose’s first-degree murder conviction because the pursuit and aimed shotgun firing permitted an inference of premeditation and deliberation despite evidence of drinking, rejected a categorical challenge to a private prosecutor’s participation absent unfairness, and vacated the death sentence due to sentencing-phase errors requiring resentencing.


State v. Moose, 313 S.E.2d 507 (N.C. 1984)