Lickliter v. Commonwealth

142 S.W.3d 65, 2004 Ky. LEXIS 173, 2004 WL 1906447
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 26, 2004
Docket2002-SC-0487-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 142 S.W.3d 65 (Lickliter v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Kentucky Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lickliter v. Commonwealth, 142 S.W.3d 65, 2004 Ky. LEXIS 173, 2004 WL 1906447 (Ky. 2004).

Opinions

WINTERSHEIMER, Justice.

This appeal is from a judgment based on a jury verdict which convicted Lickliter of murder and tampering with physical evidence. He was sentenced to a total of twenty-five years in prison.

The questions presented are whether Lickliter was entitled to instructions on voluntary intoxication, second-degree manslaughter and insanity; whether the trial judge properly denied the motion to suppress Lickliter’s confession; whether testimony regarding the decomposition of the victim’s body was reversible error; and whether reversible error occurred with respect to the jury instructions on reasonable doubt, first-degree manslaughter and other instructions.

Lickliter and the victim were together on an out of state truck-driving job. When Lickliter returned to Kentucky, the victim was no longer with him. About a week later, an individual happened upon the body of the victim in a wooded area near Tazewell, Tennessee. A forensic expert determined that the victim had been dead five to seven days when the body was found. A medical examiner concluded that the cause of death was two gunshot wounds, one to the chest and one to the abdomen. Two bullet holes were found in Lickliter’s truck and a projectile was recovered from the cab.

Originally, Lickliter denied any wrongdoing, but during his third interview with police, he admitted killing the victim. He was charged with murder and tampering with physical evidence. Among other evidence, the written statement made by Lickliter was read at his trial. In that statement, Lickliter alleged that the victim threatened to kill him and his family. He stated that he was so afraid of the victim that when the victim fell asleep, he reached into the victim’s bag, got out a gun and shot the victim. Lickliter stated that he did this between exits 100 and 104 on interstate 75, and that he threw the gun out of the truck somewhere near exit 63. He admitted leaving the body of the victim in the woods. It was noted that exits 100 to 104 on Interstate 75 are in Fayette County, Kentucky.

Testifying for the defense, a psychologist stated that he examined Lickliter and concluded that his extended use of amphetamines caused him to have paranoid and delusional thinking. He told the jury: “I believe that his mental condition was so severe at one point that he felt that his life and wife and his children were really threatened, that they could be killed and that he lacked what we call the capacity to control his behavior.” A licensed clinical psychologist also testified and concluded that: “... Lickliter’s judgment at that period of time was affected by and his behavior was affected by the symptoms that he had been experiencing including the hallucinations and delusions, and that that may well have had an effect upon his behavior at the time of the incident.” The two experts did not give any opinion that the accused suffered from a mental illness as defined by the statute. Lickliter did not testify at trial.

[68]*68The jury convicted Lickliter of murder and tampering with physical evidence. He was sentenced to twenty-five years and five years on the respective charges, said sentences to run concurrently for a total of twenty-five years in prison. This appeal followed.

I. Instructions Denied

Lickliter argues that the trial judge erred when she refused to instruct the jury on the defense of voluntary intoxication, second-degree manslaughter and the defense of insanity. We disagree.

In order to justify an instruction on intoxication, there must be evidence that not only was the defendant drunk, but that he was so drunk that he did not know what he was doing. Springer v. Commonwealth, Ky., 998 S.W.2d 439 (1999). Voluntary intoxication is a defense if it negates the existence of an element of the offense. KRS 506.080(1). See also 1 Cooper, Kentucky Instructions to Juries (Criminal) § 11.30 (1999). Here, there was no evidence that Lickliter was intoxicated to the extent that his intoxication negated the element of intent with respect to the killing of the victim. Lickliter confessed to the police that he intentionally killed the victim. Although there was evidence that he was acting under a delusional state of mind, the fact remains that he killed the victim intentionally. Thus, the trial judge properly declined to instruct the jury on voluntary intoxication. Because Lickliter was not entitled to an instruction on the defense of intoxication, he was also not entitled to an instruction on the related offense of second-degree manslaughter. See Fields v. Commonwealth, Ky., 12 S.W.3d 275 (2000).

Nor was Lickliter entitled to an instruction on insanity. Pursuant to KRS 504.060(5), Insanity “means that, as a result of mental condition, lack of substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of one’s conduct or to conform one’s conduct to the requirements of law.” The “mental condition” referred to in this definition, must be a mental illness or mental retardation. See 1 Cooper, Kentucky Instructions to Juries (Criminal) § 11.31 (1999). Drug addiction, by itself, is not a disease constituting or leading to “mental illness.” Commonwealth v. Tate, Ky., 893 S.W.2d 368 (1995).

Here, there was evidence that Lickliter abused illegal drugs, but there was no evidence of mental illness. The supporting evidence presented by the two experts was not sufficient, when taken as a whole, for the jury to be given an insanity instruction. There was no possibility that the jury could infer a “reasonable probability” that the condition of insanity existed. Cf. Cannon v. Commonwealth, Ky., 777 S.W.2d 591 (1989). See also Rogers v. Sullivan, Ky., 410 S.W.2d 624 (1966).

The two defense experts did not give any opinion that Lickliter suffered from insanity as defined by KRS 504.060(5). At best, they recited only symptoms. Thus, Lickliter was not entitled to an insanity instruction and the trial judge properly rejected the requested instruction.

We recognize that Lickliter did present evidence that he killed the victim based on delusional thoughts, which manifested itself because of chronic abuse of metham-phetamines. Nevertheless, under the current state of the law in Kentucky, there is no basis for either of the instructions sought by Lickliter. The legislature of this state has not expressed any intention that drug addiction arising from the voluntary ingestion of drugs, by itself, affords a defense to a criminal charge based on mental illness. Tate, supra. “Any action in this state to recognize voluntary drug addiction, standing alone, as a mental ill[69]*69ness, is to be accomplished, if ever, by the legislature rather than by judicial decree.” Tate, 893 S.W.2d at 372.

II. Suppression

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Bluebook (online)
142 S.W.3d 65, 2004 Ky. LEXIS 173, 2004 WL 1906447, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lickliter-v-commonwealth-ky-2004.