Melli v. State

265 N.W. 79, 220 Wis. 419, 1936 Wisc. LEXIS 269
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 4, 1936
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 265 N.W. 79 (Melli v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Melli v. State, 265 N.W. 79, 220 Wis. 419, 1936 Wisc. LEXIS 269 (Wis. 1936).

Opinion

Martin, J.

There are twelve assignments of error. The first and second may be considered together. They are, (1) that “the court erred in refusing to set aside the verdict because of reasonable doubt as to whether defendant fired fatal shot,” and (2) that “the court erred in refusing to set aside verdict because intent to kill necessary to first degree murder was not established beyond reasonable doubt.” We do not deem it necessary to enlarge on the statement of facts. The evidence is voluminous. There is a sharp conflict between the evidence adduced by the state and that given by the defendant and the members of his family. The case does present an unusual factual situation. In addition to defendant’s denial of guilt, the defense is that another person fired the fatal shot, and defendant’s sister, Anna, testified that it was she who fired the shot.

The defendant has the right to have his guilt determined by the court as well as by the jury. He has the right to have “the solemn opinion of the judge who tried the cause, after a careful hearing of all that may be alleged against its justice, that it ought to stand.” Fie also has “the right, upon writ of error, ... to demand the deliberate opinion and judgment of this court upon the question whether his guilt was sufficiently proven.” Parke v. State, 204 Wis. 443, 444, 235 N. W. 775, and cases there cited. The trial court’s disposition of the motion after verdict to discharge defendant and in the alternative for a new trial manifests its approval of the verdict as returned by the jury and its solemn opinion as to the defendant’s guilt.

[429]*429This court has carefully considered all the evidence and all the facts and surrounding circumstances as disclosed by the evidence, and it is our deliberate opinion and judgment that defendant’s guilt was sufficiently proven, and, if it were not for the errors to which reference will be hereinafter made, we would not interfere with the verdict and judgment of conviction.

The third assignment of error is that “the court erred in instructing the jury as to presumption of intent to kill.” In this regard the instruction was as follows:

“You are instructed that the law presumes that every reasonable person intends all the natural, usual and probable consequences of his acts; and that when a person points a loaded gun, which the law says is a dangerous weapon, at a vital part of the body of another and fires, and the life of the person thus fired upon is taken in consequence of such act, then the law presumes that the natural and ordinary consequence of that act was intended, and hence that death was intended. Intent is not to be judged from the act alone, but is to be gathered, if at all, from the act and all surrounding circumstances and all the evidence in the case bearing thereon. It is not necessary in order to find intent that the intent be proved by direct and positive evidence. It may be inferred from all the credible evidence in the case if you are satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt of its existence. Proof of motive to commit a crime is not indispensable or essential to conviction, and the state is not required to prove motive on the part of the defendant in order to convict him if you are satisfied by the credible evidence beyond reasonable doubt of his guilt. The state charges the defendant with first degree murder. The defendant says he did not fire the fatal shot which killed Officer Schumacher. That is the primary issue in the case.”

Defendant’s counsel contends that this instruction does not state the rebuttable character of any presumption; that it makes no mention of any qualifications; that it assumes the gun was pointed at a vital part of the body; that the term [430]*430“intentionally points” is not used; and, for all that appears in the instruction, the aim may have been accidental and yet a conclusive presumption of guilt of first degree murder would follow.

In Hedger v. State, 144 Wis. 279, 303, 304, 128 N. W. 80, the court had occasion to consider an instruction as to presumption of intent to kill. The instruction there approved by this court contained the qualifying phrases which defendant’s counsel contends should have been included in the instruction in the instant case. That is, in the Hedger Case, the instruction approved, in part, is as follows:

“When there are no circumstances to prevent or rebut the presumption, the law will presume that the unlawful act was intentional and malicious, and was prompted and determined on by the ordinary natural operations of the mind. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, he who takes the life of another by the infliction of a wound or some act naturally and probably calculated to produce death, is presumed to have intended that result and to be. guilty of murder at the common law, and murder in the first degree under our statute.”

The instruction in the instant case as to presumption of intent, in part, is as follows :

“You are instructed that the law presumes that every reasonable person intends all the natural, usual and probable consequences of his acts; and that when a person points a loaded gun, which the law says is a dangerous weapon, at a vital part of the body of another and fires, and the life of the person thus fired upon is taken in consequence of such act, then the law presumes that the natural and ordinary consequence of that act was intended, and hence that death was intended," etc.

It will be noted that the qualifying clause, “When there are no circumstances to prevent or rebut the presumption,” included in the instructions in the Hedger Case, is entirely omitted from the instruction in the instant case. The in[431]*431struction in the instant case would naturally lead the jury to believe that the presumption of intent to kill was conclusive. In the Hedger Case the inference is referred to as existing in the absence of evidence to the contrary. The presumption is stated to be done away with by facts raising a reasonable doubt. In Beauregard v. State, 146 Wis. 280, 287, 131 N. W. 347, the following instruction was held prejudicial:

“In deciding whether the defendant is guilty of murder or of manslaughter, you will bear in mind that the law presumes that the person intended the consequences óf his acts.”

The court said regarding this instruction:

“There is very little, if any, justification for giving such an unguarded instruction as a warrant for finding the specific intent to kill a human being essential to the highest degree of criminal homicide. . . . The rule which the trial court improperly stated, is most safely and commonly phrased as suggested in Cupps v. State, 120 Wis. 504, 515, 97 N. W. 210, 98 N. W. 546, this way:
‘In the absence of evidence to the contrary, he who takes the life of another by the infliction of a wound or some act naturally and probably calculated to produce death, is presumed to have intended that result.’ ”

The instruction here complained of makes no mention of any qualifications, and we believe failure to do so must be held to be prejudicial error.

The fourth assignment of error is that “the court erred in ruling and instructing jury that the absence of search warrant had no bearing on case except as to credibility of officers.” In this regard the court instructed:

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Related

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92 Wis. 2d 875 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 1979)
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187 N.W.2d 328 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1971)
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State v. Carlson
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281 N.W. 703 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1938)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
265 N.W. 79, 220 Wis. 419, 1936 Wisc. LEXIS 269, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/melli-v-state-wis-1936.