Court upholds conviction of Metzger
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on September 21, 2016 9:57 AM
The North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld the first-degree murder conviction of Gary Metzger Tuesday for the 2011 strangulation death of his adopted sister, Jean Hubbard.
Metzger, who received a life sentence, appealed his conviction in October of 2014, nearly immediately after he was convicted, and the court of appeals heard the case earlier this year.
According to a court opinion, Metzger appealed his case on the grounds that the evidence was insufficient to prove his actions were premeditated and deliberate, and also on the grounds that the closing arguments in his October 2014 trial were improper.
There was no evidence supporting these claims by Metzger, the documents read.
During the trial, Metzger contended that there was no evidence of "hatred, ill will or violence" between Metzger and Hubbard prior to her killing.
But the documents state this was not the only evidence of premeditation in the murder.
The court opinion details financial disputes between Metzger and Hubbard, which Metzger's wife, Ann Metzger, was also determined to be involved in.
According to the documents, Hubbard was giving large sums of money to the Metzgers after inheriting everything from Hubbard and Metzger's mother when she died in 2011. This included large sums of money, totaling up to $100,000 at one point, the documents read.
Bank officials became concerned with the amount of money Hubbard was giving to Ann Metzger, according to the documents, and the bank manager asked Hubbard if she was under duress or needed help, and after the bank's fraud expert became involved, the bank believed Hubbard was uncomfortable with giving money to Ann Metzger and wanted to stop.
Shortly before Hubbard's death, she visited the bank on July 29, 2011, because she was concerned about having enough money to pay her bills. Her checking account balance was $95 at this time, the documents read.
According to the documents, there were multiple withdrawals from Hubbard's account after her death.
The documents go on to address Metzger's claims that the closing arguments in his trial were improper.
Specifically, the documents focus on the medical examiner who performed the autopsy saying the strangulation of Hubbard was consistent with manual and ligature strangulation through the use of plastic bags.
Metzger claimed to have choked Hubbard with his hands and then placed plastic bags over her head afterward, while the prosecution stated the plastic bags were actively used during the strangulation.
"In this case, the edges of these two plastic bags put over the head and tied so tightly that the blood cannot go up and down, and you couldn't breathe," reads the closing argument Metzger appealed as being improper. "And so this, this is the deadly weapon. That's how she died. Plastic grocery bags."
The medical examiner said the strangulation could be sufficient to illustrate a ligature-type strangulation, or one that requires binding or tying up, but the examiner did not definitively state it did in the case of Hubbard.
"Nonetheless, based on this testimony, and reviewing the overall sting of the state's closing argument in addition to this one small excerpt, we decline to hold that this minor slip of the tongue, relative to the closing argument as a whole, was improper," the documents read. "This argument is without merit."
Ann Metzger pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2015 for her involvement in the events surrounding Hubbard's death, and was sentenced to 180 to 225 months in prison. She has not appealed her case since she pleaded guilty.
District Attorney Matt Delbridge, who was the prosecuting attorney in Metzger's trial, said there are two possibilities that can come to fruition now that the court of appeals has upheld the conviction if Metzger chooses to continue to challenge it.
Metzger can petition the North Carolina Supreme Court to review his case, and he can also take the case to federal court if he feels his rights have been violated, Delbridge said.
The decision by the court of appeals to uphold the conviction was unanimous, Delbridge said.
"When there's a split decision its easier to look at it, but when it's a unanimous decision it's relatively rare (the North Carolina Supreme Court) would take it up and look at it themselves," Delbridge said. "I think it's relatively unlikely that they would."