When the Court writes “attaining the status of a habitual felon,” it sounds like it’s an accomplishment.
Herman Anthony Maynor’s reward for achieving this high honor: 8-10 years in prison. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
The facts of the case involve a lot of named parties: friends, neighbors, uncles, maybe a cousin or two. It’s a lot. But the gist is this: Maynor was helping his niece move out of her ex-boyfriend’s house (assisted by his buddies, Jimmie and Bobo) when some sleight occurred between Maynor and the boyfriend, maybe over a pool table or a broken radio.
The next day, Maynor showed back up at the boyfriend’s house with gun in hand and started shooting at the boyfriend, who was standing in the driveway. The boyfriend shot back. Maynor retreated to his car and continued shooting out the window as he drove away.
A four year old boy was sitting in a car in the driveway and saw it all. He started crying. Poor kid.
Maynor did not kill the boyfriend but he wounded him badly. A witness suggested that the boyfriend might have started trying to pull a gun from his pocket when he saw Maynor show up, and Maynor used that to claim that he only started shooting in self-defense.
I’ve written before about how even felons can claim self-defense (or “justification”) as an affirmative defense, if the circumstances are right.
Here, the circumstances weren’t right. Even though the court gave the jury an instruction on self-defense, it also instructed them that if Maynor was committing the felony of being a felon in possession of a firearm (and there was a “causal nexus” between that crime and the shooting), then the self-defense justification was not available to him.
Based on all the evidence presented, including witness statements, the recovery location of the many fired cartridge casings, and a ShotSpotter report that corroborated details of the shooting, the jury conclude that Maynor was the aggressor and convicted him of assault with a deadly weapon, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and being a habitual felon.
Maynor appealed, complaining that the trial court did not correctly instruct the jury on his claim of self-defense. Last month, the Court of Appeals of North Carolina found that the jury instructions accurately stated the law and therefore were not in error.
Conviction upheld. Maynor remains in prison, where he can proudly boast that he is not just a felon, but that he is a habitual one.
An honor, indeed.
You can read the opinion here.