Smith v. State

459 N.E.2d 355, 1984 Ind. LEXIS 746
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 8, 1984
Docket1181S333
StatusPublished
Cited by128 cases

This text of 459 N.E.2d 355 (Smith v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. State, 459 N.E.2d 355, 1984 Ind. LEXIS 746 (Ind. 1984).

Opinions

PRENTICE, Justice.

Following a trial by jury, Defendant (Appellant) was convicted of Attempted Murder, a class A felony, Ind.Code §§ 385-41-5-1 and 385-42-1-1 (Burns 1979) and sentenced to thirty (80) years imprisonment. His direct appeal presents seven (7) issues for review, one of which compels us to reverse the judgment of the trial court.

In an amended Information the Defendant was charged as follows:

"On or about the Slist day of July, 1980, in St. Joseph County, State of Indiana, DELL RAY SMITH a/k/a DELL RAY WATFORD did attempt to commit the crime of murder by knowingly striking, cutting, and stabbing at and against the body of Vanessa Frison with a knife, then and there held in the hand of the said DELL RAY SMITH a/k/a DELL RAY WATFORD with the intent to kill the said Vanessa Frison and did thereby cause serious bodily injury to the said Vanessa Frison, which conduct constitut[357]*357ed a substantial step toward the commission of the said crime of Murder.
All of which is contrary to the form of the Statute in such cases made and provided, to-wit: Ind.Code 35-41-5-1 and Indiana Code 85-42-1-1(1), and against the peace and dignity of the State of Indiana."

Following the presentation of evidence, the court gave, among others, the following instruction:

"STATES INSTRUCTION NO. 2
You are instructed that the essential elements of the crime of attempted Murder which the State of Indiana must prove beyond a reasonable doubt are the following:
1. That the Defendent (sic) knowingly,
2. Engaged in conduct that constituted a substantial step toward the commission of Murder."

Defendant contends, and we agree, that the instruction, which purports to state the essential elements of the crime of attempted murder, fails to include an essential element of the offense, namely, that the Defendant must have had the specific intent to commit murder in order to be found guilty of attempted murder.

We note initially that the record states that there were no objections to the instructions given and that a timely objection to the giving of an instruction is generally required to preserve error on appeal. Bonds v. State, (1982) Ind., 486 N.E.2d 295, 300; Henderson v. State, (1979) 271 Ind. 633, 637, 395 N.E.2d 224, 228. However, when the record reveals blatant violations of basic and elementary principles, and the harm or the potential for harm cannot be denied, we will review an issue which was not properly raised and preserved. Webb v. State, (1982) Ind., 487 N.E.2d 1330, 1332; Nelson v. State, (1980) Ind., 409 N.E.2d 637, 638. This case is one in which the error rises to what is known as fundamental error, one which, if not rectified, would deny the defendant fundamental due process. Nelson v. State, 409 N.E.2d at 688.

The general attempt statute, Ind.Code § 35-41-5-1 (Burns 1979) provides in pertinent part:

"(a) A person attempts to commit a crime when, acting with the culpability required for commission of the crime, he engages in conduct that constitutes a substantial step toward commission of the crime. An attempt to commit a crime is a felony or misdemeanor of the same class as the crime attempted. However, an attempt to commit murder is a class A felony."

The murder statute, Ind.Code 835-42-1-1 provides in pertinent part:

"A person who: (1) Knowingly or intentionally kills another human being; . commits murder, a felony."

In Zickefoose v. State, (1979) 270 Ind. 618, 622, 388 N.E.2d 507, 510, this Court held that there are two necessary elements of the crime of attempted murder: "First, the defendant must have been acting with a specific intent to commit the crime, and second, he must have engaged in an overt act which constitutes a substantial step toward the commission of the erime." Accord Scott v. State, (1980) Ind., 413 N.E.2d 902, 904.

When an instruction purports to set forth all of the elements of a crime necessary to a conviction, the instruction is fatally defective if a necessary element is omitted. Duling v. State, (1976) 170 Ind. App. 607, 618, 354 N.E.2d 286, 292 (and cases cited therein). The State contends that the instructions, considered as a whole, do inform the jury of the "specific intent" requirement. The State is correct in noting that instructions are to be considered as a whole and in reference to each other. @reen v. State, (1982) Ind., 488 N.E.2d 266, 268. In the case at bar, the trial court read, as part of the instructions, the charging Information with the added statement that the State has the burden to prove all of the material allegations of the Information beyond a reasonable doubt. The court also read the attempt and murder statutes noted above as well as Defend[358]*358ant's Instruction No. 4, which reads as follows:

"DEFENDANT'S INSTRUCTION NO. 4
Statutes of this State were in effect on July 31, 1980, which defined the basis for criminal liability. Among those statutes are the following:
A person commits an offense only if he voluntarily engages in conduct in violation of the statute defining the offense. Culpability.-
(a) A person engages in conduct 'intentionally' if, when he engages in the conduct, it is his conscious objective to do so.
(b) A person engages in conduct 'knowingly' if, when he engages in the conduct, he is aware of a high probability that he is doing so.
(c) A person engages in conduct 'recklessly' if he engages in the conduct in plain, conscious, and unjustifiable disregard of harm that might result and the disregard involves a substantial deviation from acceptable standards of conduct.
(d) Unless the statute defining the offense provides otherwise, if a kind of culpability is required for commission of an offense, it is required with respect to every material element of the prohibited conduct."

Nowhere in these instructions, however, is there any statement to the effect that if the Defendant is to be found guilty of attempted murder, there must first be a finding that when he engaged in the conduct proscribed, he intended to kill Vanessa Frison. Nor did any of the instructions modify, explain, or nullify the erroneous instruction which was given. Thus, we are left with instructions which would lead the jury to believe that the Defendant could be convicted of attempted murder if he knowingly engaged in conduct which constituted a substantial step toward the commission of murder. Although one may be guilty of murder, under our statute, without entertaining a specific intent to kill the victim, he cannot be guilty of attempted murder without entertaining such intent.

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Bluebook (online)
459 N.E.2d 355, 1984 Ind. LEXIS 746, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-state-ind-1984.