STATE v. ATKINS
STATE of North Carolina v. Randy Lynn ATKINS.
No. 9A94.
-- October 09, 1998
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Defendant was indicted on 12 April 1993 for first-degree sexual offense and for the first-degree murder of his eight-month-old son, Lyle James Atkins. On 18 November 1993, defendant entered into a plea agreement in which he agreed to plead guilty to the first-degree murder charge and the State agreed to dismiss the pending sexual offense charge and not to submit any evidence pertaining to this or any other sexual assaults purportedly committed by defendant. Following a capital sentencing proceeding pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000, the jury recommended that defendant be sentenced to death for the murder of his infant son. Judge Saunders sentenced defendant accordingly.
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Lyle's mother, Ms. Colleen Shank, testified that on the morning of 16 March 1993, she asked defendant to watch Lyle while she washed some clothes. Ms. Shank stated that she heard a “bang.†Following the “bang,†Ms. Shank heard Lyle begin to cry, and she rushed to the living room. Ms. Shank testified that she then observed defendant hitting Lyle's head against the trailer wall a “few times.†She testified further that she saw defendant “swing him [Lyle] very strong†and that “Lyle hit the wall very hard.†Ms. Shank tried to comfort Lyle and attempted to lay the child down to rest. However, Lyle soon began to cry, and Ms. Shank noted that he was turning blue. The mother administered CPR and requested that defendant go to a neighbor's home to call 911 for emergency assistance.
Defendant then went to the home of a neighbor and called 911. The 911 operator testified that defendant responded to her questions concerning medical history related to Lyle's emergency by replying “it [Lyle] may have been sick two or three days, but no other.†Lyle's mother testified that while waiting for emergency personnel to arrive, defendant told her, “Don't say anything, because I will hurt you too.â€
Following the arrival of emergency medical personnel, Lyle was transported by helicopter to Mission Memorial Hospital in Asheville. Upon admission to the hospital, Lyle was noted to be limp, not moving, and exhibiting a slow heart rate. The admitting physician noted numerous injuries to the small child, including bruising on both sides of his head, an older bruise on his left elbow, bruising on his right wrist and right hand, a deformation of his pelvis, and an improperly healed fracture of his right lower leg.
A detective from the Woodfin Police Department questioned defendant and Ms. Shank in the waiting room of the hospital. Defendant initially told the officer that Lyle had stopped breathing “because of the Ker-O-Sun heater.†Defendant responded to the officer's further inquiry by adding that “a couple of days ago I was holding him, and he slipped and fell, and he hurt his arm.†The officer subsequently arrested both defendant and Ms. Shank and transported them to the Buncombe County jail. Later that day, while in police custody, defendant issued a written statement in which he admitted the following:
Today Lyle was crying as I was holding him, and my temper and patience snapped again, as he was crying and crying no matter how soothing and gentle I was. He just kept crying, and I couldn't handle him any more, and I started hitting him on the side of his head and trying to get him to stop crying, and he wouldn't. I kept telling him to stop it, and he wouldn't, and I kept on hitting him with my hand on his head.
Despite aggressive medical efforts to save Lyle's life, he died at Asheville's Mission Memorial Hospital on 18 March 1993. Following Lyle's death, defendant was indicted for the first-degree murder of his infant son. Defendant entered into a plea agreement dated 18 November 1993, consenting to a guilty plea to first-degree murder. As a condition to the plea, the State agreed to dismiss the first-degree sexual assault charge pending against defendant.
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You are right, we were never "bad" kids. I just hope that Morticiaa and anybody else who has been gone through shit like this can find something I said to help them be more than just a survivor. Anybody can survive...being happy after surviving hell is what is all about.
