Beagel v. State

813 P.2d 699, 1991 Alas. App. LEXIS 44, 1991 WL 113650
CourtCourt of Appeals of Alaska
DecidedJune 28, 1991
DocketA-3457
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 813 P.2d 699 (Beagel v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Alaska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beagel v. State, 813 P.2d 699, 1991 Alas. App. LEXIS 44, 1991 WL 113650 (Ala. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

OPINION

COATS, Judge.

Lesley R. Beagel was charged with murder in the first degree for the death of her husband, David Beagel. AS 11.41.100. A jury convicted Beagel of the lesser-included offense of manslaughter. AS 11.41.120. Beagel appeals, raising several issues. We reverse Beagel’s conviction.

On the evening of August 20, 1989, Lesley Beagel called 911 for assistance. The telephone call was tape-recorded. During this call, Beagel stated that her husband had been shot at their house and needed an ambulance. When asked who shot her husband, Beagel responded, “Yes. I shot my husband.” The following exchange then occurred:

DC [911 operator]: What did you shoot him with?
LB [Beagel]: I don’t know. It’s his gun, he gave it to me, he told me to shoot him. DC: Is it a pistol?
LB: Yes, its a small gun. I don’t know what it is.
DC: Okay.
LB: He gave it to me and he said, we were fighting and he said, “Fine, shoot this,” and I did. I didn’t think it had anything in it.
DC: Okay. Where’s the pistol now? LB: I don’t know. I think I laid it down. I don’t know where it is. It’s laying in the living room. I don’t know.
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LB: But I shot him in the head, God.

Officers from the Anchorage Police Department and the Alaska State Troopers arrived at the Beagel residence shortly after the paramedics. Beagel was sobbing and hysterical. She told Trooper Gibson that her husband had handed her the gun and told her to shoot him. Gibson then saw David Beagel lying on his back in the living room area; there was a bullet wound near the center of his forehead, but he was still alive.

Trooper Zabala arrived a few minutes later, and was instructed to relieve Trooper Rowe who had taken Beagel to the master bedroom. Zabala testified that Beagel was being kept in the master bedroom so that she would not interfere with the investigation in the living room. Mr. Beagel was still in the living room where several paramedics were attending to him. Before Rowe left the bedroom, Beagel made statements such as “I killed him, I killed him.”

Zabala asked Rowe to get a tape recorder. Rowe went outside and returned with the tape recorder. During the time she was in the bedroom, Beagel was not physically restrained. Prior to making the recorded statements, Beagel was not given *702 Miranda warnings. However, Zabala testified that if Beagel had tried to leave after making her initial unrecorded statements, he probably would not have let her leave the residence.

After Zabala turned on the tape recorder, Beagel made the following statements:

ZABALA: I’m at a residence at, uh, 12440 Alpine Drive.
BEAGEL: I, did I kill him? Oh my God! I want him back now, bring him back please. Oh no, I want David back. We’re going on vacation in a week, and now I want him back now. I want him back. Oh no, God. I want him back. Oh (crying). He gave me the gun, he did, he said, he knocked everything over cause he was mad at me, and, oh shit.

Zabala continued to ask preliminary questions concerning the victim’s name and age. When Zabala asked to see Beagel’s driver’s license, she responded:

Oh my God. He gave me the gun and he never loads his gun. He never does. I never use guns. I don’t know, I don’t know.

When Zabala asked Beagel if she was taking any drugs, she stated:

I don’t do drugs. I want David. Can I, I want to go to the hospital now, okay. I want to see David. No I want to see David. I’ll probably be arrested for murder huh? Oh Jesus. We’re going on vacation. We’re gonna get, we’re gonna be married fifteen years, we’re gonna renew our wedding vows. All the above, like in two weeks, week and a half. Damn him for giving me that fucking gun. He walked up and gave it to me and he was just so mad because I was gonna go to a doctor, he gave me that gun. He never loads his gun, he never does. I don’t understand, I don’t understand this at all (crying). God, is he alright, I want him to be alright, we’re going on vacation. Soon, real soon, we’re going on vacation. Damn him with that fucking gun of his. Oh shit, do you think he is going to be alright?

When Beagel made this last remark, she was standing on the porch of the house with Zabala. She wanted to leave and go to the hospital. When she started walking down the steps to the house, Zabala grabbed her arm and directed her back inside to the “TV room.” At that point, Zabala decided that Beagel was not free to leave and he read her her Miranda rights.

After Zabala read Beagel her rights, the following exchange occurred:

ZABALA: Okay. Having these rights in mind, do you wish to talk to me?
BEAGEL: I don’t know. No, I guess not. I don’t know. What am I going to say to you? He brought me, we were fighting and he brought me the gun out, and he, that’s what he did. I don’t know shit. No, I don’t want to talk to you I guess. Oh, I want David back, just bring him back and it will all be over okay. Please do it, just please do it. (crying) I want him back. Oh, God. I bet I killed him didn’t I. I love him. I’m gonna remarry him. Oh Jesus. We (inaudible) fight tonight. Oh God. Oh God. Oh Jesus, I don’t believe this. Oh God, what is this. I killed him, I bet I killed him. Oh God. Why did he give me that fucking gun, God damn him. I’m mad at him for that, (inaudible) even loaded. He never loads it. Why he probably did it on purpose. I bet he did it on purpose. How could he do that on purpose. Oh my God. We're gonna get remarried in a week and a half in Las Vegas, we’re gonna renew our 5th. We’ve been married 15 years. We were gonna renew it. Oh shit. I want him back now. I want him back. He got mad at me tonight. We fought, we did ya know, oh God. How is he. He’s not good, is he?
ZABALA: Ma’am, do you have any kids?
BEAGEL: No, I don’t have any children. I can’t have children. That’s our problem. That’s why we were fighting tonight because I was gonna go to a fertility specialist and do something about it, and we got in a knock-down, drag-out fight, and he knocked everything over upstairs and then he came out and he handed me the gun. Oh God. Why did he have bullets in it, he never has bullets in that damn gun. Damn his ass. He *703 fucked everything up. He never does. Oh God. I bet you’re taping everything, aren’t you. Can I call my parents? I got arrested for murder, or what?

Zabala continued to tape-record the statements which Beagel was making, and she continued to make incriminating remarks such as “I guess I’m a good shot, huh?” and “Oh God, I shot him right in the head, oh my God, oh God.”

At some point during this time, Zabala went to check the telephone to see if Beag-el could call her parents. He testified that it appeared to be a party-line, and every time he picked it up there was someone else on it.

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Bluebook (online)
813 P.2d 699, 1991 Alas. App. LEXIS 44, 1991 WL 113650, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beagel-v-state-alaskactapp-1991.