City of Columbus v. Bee

425 N.E.2d 409, 67 Ohio App. 2d 65, 21 Ohio Op. 3d 371, 1979 Ohio App. LEXIS 8509
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided December 13, 1979·No. 79AP-368·Published·Cited by 42 cases

Opinion

McCormac, J.

Defendant-appellant, Faye Bee, has appealed her conviction in the Franklin County Municipal Court of negligent homicide of her husband, asserting the following assignments of error:

“1. Whether the verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence.
“2. Whether the trial court erred in not giving defendant’s requested jury instruction on the defense of accident; thereby confusing the jury as to the role accident should play in their deliberation and violating the defendant’s due process right to present a defense.
“3. Whether the trial court erred in refusing to give defendant’s requested jury instruction clarifying the difference between criminal negligence and ordinary negligence.
“4. Whether the trial court erred in penalizing the defendant for her decision to exercise her right to a trial, by ignoring statutory sentencing guidelines and by sentencing the defendant to the maximum period of confinement.
“5. Whether the trial court erred in denying defense counsel an opportunity to participate in an in camera inspection of a prosecution witness’ prior written statement, thereby denying counsel the opportunity to discover that the wrong statement was provided the court for inspection, thus denying the defendant any inspection at all of the proper statement.
“6. Whether the trial court erred in failing to give appellant’s requested instruction concerning circumstantial evidence with the general charge and by identifying the instruction as one requested by the appellant.
“7. Whether the statutory definition of reasonable doubt, R. C. §2901.05(D), which was read to the jury, violated appellant’s right to due process of law by permitting conviction by a standard of proof which is less than the constitutionally mandated proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”

*67 Appellant’s first assignment of error is that the jury verdict is against the manifest weight of the evidence.

Appellant testified that she and her husband were sitting at their kitchen table when he decided that he should show her how to use his rifle so that she could protect herself because he was going into the hospital in the near future and felt that the neighborhood was not safe. They both had been drinking — he having consumed about eight beers and she having had a double vodka. He was also taking prescription tranquilizers and should not have been mixing alcohol with them. He obtained the rifle from his bedroom despite her protests. She was not familiar with guns, was frightened of them and had never handled a gun before. When he insisted, she told him to be sure that the gun was not loaded and he assured her that it was not. Upon returning to the kitchen with the gun, he handed it to her and told her to push down the bolt. He then told her to point the gun at him. At this time, they were both seated at the kitchen table. She was very nervous about handling the gun and did not check for herself to see if the gun was loaded, because of her fear of and unfamiliarity with guns as well as her knowledge that her husband was a rifle expert. She stated that the gun went off, striking her husband in the chest, but she did not remember pulling the trigger. She called the telephone operator to report the shooting, and the fire and police departments were summoned to the scene.

In other testimony, presented by the prosecution, the officers, who first arrived at the scene, testified that they observed appellant sitting calmly in a living room chair near the decedent’s body and that she exhibited signs of a person who had been drinking, i.e., glassy eyes and unclear speech.

The investigating detectives testified that appellant gave a statement to police in which she said that she and the decedent were at home drinking and had had an argument; that after the argument had subsided, decedent proceeded to show her how to use the rifle in the event someone tried to break into their apartment while he was in the hospital; and, that he handed her the weapon, assuring her that it was unloaded, and told her to cock the weapon, point it at him and pull the trigger, which she did, at which time it discharged.

A police chemist, who examined the decedent’s clothing, found powder burns at the location of the entrance wound and *68 testified that the wound was a contact wound, indicating that the barrel of the rifle was in contact with the clothing when the rifle discharged.

The defense presented an expert witness who testified that the trigger pull on the rifle was so light that it would be possible for the gun to “go off spontaneously” without being touched or for a person holding the gun to cause it to go off without realizing that he had pulled the trigger.

Based upon the above evidence, the jury found appellant guilty of negligent homicide under Section 2303.05 of the Columbus City Code, which provides:

“(A) No person shall negligently cause the death of another by means of a deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance as defined in Section 2323.01 of the Columbus City Codes.
“(B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of negligent homicide, a misdemeanor of the first degree.” (Cf. R. C. 2903.05.)

Appellant argues that the city failed to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that she negligently caused her husband’s death. Negligence is defined by Section 2301.06(D) of the Columbus City Code, as follows:

“A person acts negligently when, because of a substantial lapse from due care, he fails to perceive or avoid a risk that his conduct may cause a certain result or may be of a certain nature. A person is negligent with respect to circumstances when, because of a substantial lapse from due care, he fails to perceive or avoid a risk that such circumstances may exist.” (Cf. R. C. 2901.22[D].)

Appellant relies upon the case of State v. Lovejoy (1976), 48 Ohio Misc. 20, in which a defendant who was charged with negligent homicide was acquitted. In Lovejoy, the defendant was acting in defense of the safety of his home. During a struggle in which he was trying to prevent the victim from entering his home, the defendant unintentionally pulled the trigger of his pistol; and, the discharge resulted in the intruder’s death. The court in Lovejoy, supra, at page 26, stated:

“It is the law that where one is assaulted in his home, or the home itself is attacked, the slayer may use such means as the slayer in good faith believes are necessary to repel the assailant from the house, or to prevent the assailant’s forcible *69 entry, or his material injury to the slayer’s home, even to the taking of life.

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City of Columbus v. Bee, 425 N.E.2d 409, 67 Ohio App. 2d 65, 21 Ohio Op. 3d 371, 1979 Ohio App. LEXIS 8509 (Ohio Ct. App. 1979).

425 N.E.2d 409 (City of Columbus v. Bee) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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