RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina appellate court has again ruled that a woman found guilty of murdering her partner deserves a new trial. The court maintains that the inclusion of text messages and photographs retrieved from her cellphone was unfairly introduced to the jury, likely affecting their decision on her self-defense claims.
On Tuesday, a divided panel of three judges from the state’s intermediate-level Court of Appeals determined that the trial judge had made a mistake in 2019 by permitting the prosecutors to use this evidence without adequately instructing the jury on how it should be interpreted. Wendy Dawn Lamb Hicks was convicted of second-degree murder for the shooting of Caleb Adams, who was shot twice in the back at her home in Randolph County in 2017. Following her conviction, Hicks was sentenced to serve between 15 and 19 years behind bars.
The inclusion of the text messages and photos primarily highlighted Hicks’ private life rather than clarifying whether her actions in shooting Adams were justified. In the ruling written by Court of Appeals Judge April Wood, she stated that the evidence presented had a prejudicial impact on Hicks by diverting attention from the central issue of self-defense.
“We conclude there was substantial and persuasive evidence presented at trial demonstrating that the Defendant acted in self-defense,” Judge Wood articulated in the majority opinion. She suggested that the jury might have acquitted Hicks had the controversial evidence not evoked an emotional response that distorted their judgment against her.
This ruling follows a 2022 opinion also authored by Wood, where she advocated for a new trial due to flawed jury instructions surrounding the legal parameters for using deadly force within one’s home. This previous decision was reversed by the state’s Supreme Court in September 2023, which upheld the conviction while clarifying that the trial judge’s instructions could be appropriate based on the evidence suggesting Hicks might have been perceived as the aggressor.
However, the justices emphasized that the Court of Appeals needed to investigate whether admitting the text messages and photos constituted a significant judicial error. In her statement on Tuesday, Judge Wood pointed out that both Hicks and other witnesses had already disclosed troubling aspects of her personal life, including affairs and drug use, which rendered further details about her lifestyle unnecessary and potentially detrimental.
The introduction of these explicit messages, which involved references to sexual acts and violence, likely diverted the jury’s focus toward a personal judgment against Hicks rather than the evidence of self-defense. Wood noted that enlarged images of Hicks and Adams engaged in sexual behaviors would only serve to shock the jurors, exacerbating their biases against her.
Judge Julee Flood concurred with Wood’s opinion, while Judge Hunter Murphy dissented, believing that the original murder conviction should stand. Murphy expressed skepticism that excluding the contested evidence would have led the jury to arrive at a different conclusion.
Following Tuesday’s ruling, the state Supreme Court may reconsider the case after this second appellate decision. This ruling was part of a series of decisions from the court, coinciding with some judges preparing to exit their judicial roles by 2025. Murphy, along with Judge Carolyn Thompson, faced electoral defeats in 2024, while Judge Jefferson Griffin continues in a competitive race for a state Supreme Court position against Justice Allison Riggs.
