Chanslor v. State

669 S.W.2d 786, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 5210
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 15, 1984
DocketNo. 01-82-00626-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 669 S.W.2d 786 (Chanslor 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
Chanslor v. State, 669 S.W.2d 786, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 5210 (Tex. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinions

OPINION

JACK SMITH, Justice.

The jury found the appellant guilty of solicitation to commit murder, and assessed his punishment at three years confinement and a $5,000 fine. In two grounds of error, he alleges that the trial court failed to include in the charge an instruction on “aiding suicide”, and the trial court erred in overruling his motion for a new trial without a hearing.

The appellant, an attorney and businessman in Houston, married Sue Sanders Chanslor in 1964. In 1979, Mrs. Chanslor suffered a cerebral aneurism or stroke and was hospitalized. Although Mrs. Chanslor received considerable rehabilitation, she eventually became wheelchair-bound. This resulted in Mrs. Chanslor becoming despondent, and although the couple moved from Houston to McAllen, Texas, this condition continued. The appellant testified that Mrs. Chanslor’s despondent condition caused her to want to take her life.

In 1981, the appellant advertised in several military magazines, under the name of John G. Thompson, to locate experts in poisons and chemical agents who would give lectures to civic groups. In one of these magazines, the appellant saw an advertisement by John Anthony Minnery for the sale of a series of books entitled “How to Kill.” In October of that year, he contacted Mr. Minnery by letter and then by telephone. In March, 1982, the appellant contacted Mr. Minnery in Branford, Canada, where Mr. Minnery lived, to obtain a non-detectable and painless poison. Arrangements were made whereby the appellant was to meet Mr. Minnery at the Toronto Airport for the purchase of the poison. Mr. Minnery contacted the police in Canada, and on April 8, when the appellant was to meet Minnery in Toronto, the police placed a recorder on Minnery and used an undercover policeman, Keith Symons, to pose as Minnery’s cousin to meet the appellant. The appellant informed these two men that the poison was for an invalid female, and gave Mr. Symons expense money to deliver the poison in Houston. The Houston police and the Texas Department of Public Safety had been notified that John G. Thompson would then be returning to Houston, and thereafter through an investigation they identified “Mr. Thompson” as the appellant.

On April 21, 1982, Symons met with the appellant in the Houston airport to deliver the poison to him and received $2,500. The appellant was arrested at that time.

When trial commenced, the parties stipulated that certain items would be admitted into evidence. These items included a statement by the appellant that while he was in Canada he met Minnery and Symons and paid for the poison to give to his wife. Also stipulated was Mrs. Chanslor’s answers to questions by the police in which she said that she did not have the nerve to take her own life.

In his first ground of error, the appellant urges that the trial court erred by refusing to instruct the jury on his requested defensive theory of “aiding suicide”. He argues that his testimony that he bought the poison in order to make it available for his wife to commit suicide raises a defensive theory of “aiding suicide” as a defense.

Renunciation is the only specific affirmative defense to criminal solicitation provided in the Texas Penal Code. See, Secs. 15.04(b), (c) and (d) (Vernon 1974). General defenses to criminal conduct are supplied in the Code in Secs. 8.01-8.07 and also in Secs. 9.01-9.44 (Vernon, 1974). These defenses included insanity, mistake of fact, mistake of law, intoxication, duress, entrapment, [788]*788and others. No mention is made of aiding suicide as a defensive theory in these latter sections of the code. Furthermore, the appellant’s assumption in his argument that aiding suicide is a lesser included offense of solicitation is a false premise. Art. 37.-09, Tex.Code Crim.Proc.Ann. states as follows:

An offense is a lesser included offense if:
(1) it is established by proof of the same or less than all the facts required to establish the commission of the offense charged;
(2) it differs from the offense charged only in the respect that a less serious injury or risk of injury to the same person, property, or public interest suffices to establish its commission;
(3) it differs from the offense charged only in the respect that a less culpable mental state suffices to establish its commission; or
(4) it consists of an attempt to commit the offense charged or an otherwise included offense.

The failure to meet the requirement of Art. 37.09(2), that “The offense differs from the offense charged only in the respect that a less serious injury or risk of injury to the same person, property, or public interest to establish its commission”, precludes the conclusion that the offense of “Aiding Suicide” is a lesser included offense of the offense of “Solicitation To Commit Murder.” Death can be the end result of either offense. Although it could be argued that “Solicitation To Commit Murder” is a felony and “Aiding Suicide” may, in some instances, be only a Class C misdemeanor, the classification of the offense or the range of punishment is not the criteria set forth in Art. 37.09(2). The criteria are “that a less serious injury or risk of injury” be involved. It could also be argued that death by suicide is a less serious injury than death by murder, when considered from a public interest viewpoint, but we do not agree with this concept.

Thus, we conclude that since the objectives in the offenses of “Solicitation to Commit Murder” and “Aiding Suicide” are death, a less serious injury or risk of injury is not involved.

Further, we note that the concept of the two offenses is completely different. In “Solicitation To Commit Murder” the theory of the offense is to punish a person if he solicits the services of a third person: (1) To assist in the commission of murder, (2) To have the third party commit the murder, or (3) To have a third party arrange to commit the murder. The primary basis of the offense is the solicitation. The commission of the offense occurs when the solicitation has been made. However, in the offense of “aiding suicide” the theory is to punish a person if he aides another person in committing suicide. The two offenses are separate and distinct and the facts required to establish the commission of the offense of “Solicitation To Commit Murder” are singularly distinct from those required in the offense of “Aiding Suicide”. Under the facts of the instant case, the State could have sought an indictment for both offenses, but it chose not to do so.

We hold that the offense of “Aiding Suicide” is not a lesser included offense of the offense of “Solicitation To Commit Murder”, and the trial court did not err in refusing to give the appellant a defensive instruction on aiding suicide. The appellant’s ground of error number one is overruled.

In his ground of error number two, the appellant alleges that the trial court erred in overruling his motion for a new trial without a hearing. He states that his motion for new trial was filed on January 10, 1983, and that the basis for the motion was newly discovered evidence of perjury by a key State witness, Mr. Symons. He further states that during the course of the trial Mr.

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Related

Drew v. State
743 S.W.2d 207 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1987)
Chanslor v. State
697 S.W.2d 393 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1985)

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Bluebook (online)
669 S.W.2d 786, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 5210, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chanslor-v-state-texapp-1984.