Arabie v. State

421 S.W.3d 111, 2013 WL 5663286, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 12999
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 17, 2013
DocketNo. 10-12-00439-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 421 S.W.3d 111 (Arabie v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arabie v. State, 421 S.W.3d 111, 2013 WL 5663286, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 12999 (Tex. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION

TOM GRAY, Chief Justice.

John Carl Arabie, Jr. was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 19.02 (West 2011). Because the trial court did not err in denying his requested punishment phase jury instruction on temporary insanity due to intoxication, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.

Background

David Sanders was shot at his home during the early morning hours of October 28, 2011. Someone had been at his front door while Sanders was watching a ball game. Sanders did not open the door but saw that a person with a dark shirt and light pants was at the door. When the person left the front door, Sanders went to check his back door. Sanders’s wife heard a shot and then found her husband, with a gunshot wound to his head, inside the back door. He had been shot through the back door window. A person matching the description of the individual at Sanders’s front door was located and taken into custody behind Sanders’s property soon after the shooting. A gun was also located in the area. Sanders’s wife told police that Sanders had recently sold a vehicle to Arabie. The person in custody was Ara-bie. The car which Sanders sold to Arabie was parked down the street from Sanders’s home.

Temporary Insanity-Intoxication

In one issue, Arabie argues the trial court should have instructed the jury at the punishment phase regarding the mitigating issue of temporary insanity due to intoxication. Arabie requested the inclusion of the instruction in the charge on punishment. Although Arabie directed the trial court to evidence in the record of Arabie’s intoxication, he did not direct the trial court to evidence which Arabie believed would show that because of his intoxication, he did not know his conduct was wrong. The State pointed out this deficiency, and the trial court denied Arabie’s requested instruction.

Law

Insanity is an affirmative defense to prosecution that, at the time of the conduct charged, the actor, as a result of severe mental disease or defect, did not know that his conduct was wrong. Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 8.01(a) (West 2011). Voluntary intoxication is not a defense to the commission of a crime; but evidence of temporary insanity caused by intoxication may be introduced by the actor in mitigation of his punishment.1 Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 8.04(a), (b) (West 2011). In other words, unlike the defense of insanity which would bar the conviction of a crime, evidence of temporary insanity caused by intoxication, could be used by a jury to [114]*114lessen the punishment, i.e., time in jail/prison or fine or both, it assesses for the convicted person.

When temporary insanity is relied on as a defense and the evidence tends to show that the insanity was caused by intoxication, the court is to charge the jury in accordance with the provisions of section 8.04.2 Id. (c). The trial court, however, is not prohibited from giving a mitigation instruction if circumstances, different than those outlined in subsection (c), otherwise raise an issue under either subsection (a), voluntary intoxication, or (b), temporary insanity due to intoxication. Taylor v. State, 885 S.W.2d 154, 156 (Tex.Crim.App.1994).

Like the affirmative defense of insanity and any other defensive issue, whether an appellant was entitled to a mitigation instruction under section 8.04(b) depends upon whether the issue is raised by the evidence. San Miguel v. State, 864 S.W.2d 493, 495-496 (Tex.Crim.App.1993) (temporary insanity); cf. Coble v. State, 871 S.W.2d 192, 202 (Tex.Crim.App.1993) (insanity); Ferrel v. State, 55 S.W.3d 586, 591 (Tex.Crim.App.2001) (self-defense). However, before it is necessary for the trial court to affirmatively instruct the jury on voluntary intoxication as mitigating evidence at the punishment stage of the trial, the defendant must establish that he was intoxicated and that the intoxication rendered him temporarily “insane.” Arnold v. State, 742 S.W.2d 10, 14 (Tex.Crim.App.1987); Cordova v. State, 733 S.W.2d 175, 190 (Tex.Crim.App.1987). To do this, the affirmative defense of insanity is considered together with the mitigation issue of temporary insanity due to intoxication. Id. Thus, the defendant must establish that his voluntary intoxication caused him to not know his conduct was wrong. Mendenhall v. State, 77 S.W.3d 815, 817-818 (Tex.Crim.App.2002). See also Ex parte Martinez, 195 S.W.3d 713, 722 (Tex.Crim.App.2006). He must do more than merely present evidence of intoxication or even gross intoxication. Arnold, 742 S.W.2d at 14.

When to give the mitigation instruction for temporary insanity due to intoxication is more problematic than most defensive or mitigation instructions. The often stated standard for giving any defensive-type instruction is “An accused is entitled to an instruction on every defensive or mitigating issue raised by the evidence... regardless of whether the evidence is strong or weak, unimpeached or contradicted and regardless of whatever the trial judge may think about the credibility of the evidence.” Arnold v. State, 742 S.W.2d 10,13 (Tex.Crim.App.1987) (temporary insanity). See also Allen v. State, 253 S.W.3d 260, 267 (Tex.Crim.App.2008) (consent); Ferrel v. State, 55 S.W.3d 586, 591 (Tex.Crim.App.2001) (self-defense); Granger v. State, 3 S.W.3d 36, 38 (Tex.Crim.App.1999) (mistake of fact). This standard indicates that “some” evidence is sufficient. Trevino v. State, 100 S.W.3d 232, 238 (Tex.Crim.App.2003). In determining whether a defense is raised, the court must rely on its own judgment, formed in the light of its own common sense and experience, as to the limits of rational inference from the facts proven. Shaw v. State, 243 S.W.3d 647, 658 (Tex.Crim.App.2007). The evidence presented must be such that it will support a rational jury finding as to each element of the defense or mitigation issue.3 See id.

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Bluebook (online)
421 S.W.3d 111, 2013 WL 5663286, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 12999, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arabie-v-state-texapp-2013.