State v. Battle

32 S.W.3d 193, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 1720, 2000 WL 1725432
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 21, 2000
DocketNo. ED 76669
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 32 S.W.3d 193 (State v. Battle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Battle, 32 S.W.3d 193, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 1720, 2000 WL 1725432 (Mo. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

MARY RHODES RUSSELL, Judge.

Demetrius Battle (“defendant”) appeals from a judgment entered after a jury verdict convicting him of murder in the second degree in violation of section 565.021 RSMo 19941 and armed criminal action in violation of section 571.015. Defendant was sentenced to concurrent terms of life imprisonment for second-degree murder and thirty years for armed criminal action. Defendant contends that the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on the lesser included offenses of voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter. We agree in that the court must instruct on a lesser included offense if there is a basis for acquittal of the charged offense and conviction of the lesser included offense. We reverse and remand for a new trial.

In determining whether a basis existed to support a lesser included offense instruction, we recite the facts and review the evidence in the light most favorable to the defendant. State v. Hill, 17 S.W.3d 157, 159 (Mo.App.2000). In the early morning on May 10, 1998, defendant went to a nightclub in downtown St. Louis, where he met his girlfriend. The victim, King Wade Jones (“victim”), who had formerly dated and had a child with defendant’s girlfriend, was also at the nightclub. Victim apparently believed that defendant and his girlfriend were interfering with his ability to see his child. While at the nightclub, victim made sarcastic remarks to defendant’s girlfriend and continuously stared at her and defendant. Victim nudged defendant several times with his elbow so as to spill defendant’s drink and, while glaring at him in an intimidating manner, stated, “What the f_you looking at?” and “You ain’t going to keep me from my kid.”

Defendant and his girlfriend left the nightclub at 3 a.m., just as it was closing. As defendant and his girlfiiend were standing near defendant’s car, victim parked his car nearby and began complaining to a friend that defendant’s girlfriend would not let him see his child. He stated that he wished he had not bought her something for Mother’s Day. Victim became enraged when he heard someone yelling from the direction of defendant and his girlfriend. He jumped out of his car and yelled towards defendant and his girlfriend, “What the f_did you say?” Defendant and his girlfriend did not reply, but got in defendant’s car and left. Victim remained in the parking lot for a few more minutes, while his friend tried to calm him down. Victim then left by himself and followed after defendant and his girlfriend.

While travelling west on Interstate 70, victim pulled up behind defendant’s car and began flashing his headlights. Victim then pulled his car alongside defendant’s and demanded that defendant pull over. [196]*196When defendant refused, victim swerved at defendant’s car several times in an unsuccessful attempt to run defendant’s car off the road. Defendant sped up but was unable to elude victim, who followed defendant to his St. Charles County residence at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour.

As defendant was pulling into his driveway, he told his girlfriend, “Let’s run inside.” Defendant then parked the car with the lights on and the engine running, jumped out, and ran to the front door of his residence. Before his girlfriend could get out of the car, however, victim was at her door. Victim reached inside the car and struck defendant’s girlfriend in the face. Defendant’s girlfriend then exited the car screaming and crying. She repeatedly implored victim to leave, at which point victim grabbed her shirt and neck and said, “You stupid bitch, I’ll f_kill you. You don’t know who I am.”

While unlocking the door to his residence, defendant witnessed the altercation between his girlfriend and victim. He was frightened and ran inside “to try to find something to scare [victim] off.” He stumbled down his basement stairs and, upon hearing his girlfriend screaming outside, grabbed a gun from his bedroom. He ran outside with the gun pointed at victim and, in a scared and frightened voice, commanded him to leave. Victim replied, “You stupid f_, you don’t know who the f— I am.... F_you, you ain’t doing shit to me. You don’t know who I am. This is — this is not over.” After defendant told him to leave three or four times, victim started to get into his ear, but the two men continued arguing. As victim was getting into the car, he grabbed the gun and tried to pull it away from defendant. The gun, however, discharged. Defendant did not know where the first shot went, but saw victim turn and lean toward the passenger seat in the direction of the glove compartment. Defendant believed victim was trying to grab a weapon, so he panicked and fired two more shots. The gun discharged a fourth time when it hit the car door as defendant was backing away from the car.

Evidence adduced at trial indicated that all four shots struck victim. The first bullet entered victim’s left cheek, just below the cheekbone. There was no evidence that this wound rendered victim unconscious. The sequence of the final three shots was unclear. One of the bullets grazed the back of victim’s left shoulder. The other two bullets struck victim in the left back area, puncturing victim’s lung and aorta. These were the fatal shots.

The jury was instructed on first-degree murder, second-degree murder, self-defense, and armed criminal action. Defendant was convicted of murder in the second degree and armed criminal action, for which he was sentenced to concurrent terms of life imprisonment and thirty years, respectively. He now appeals.

Defendant contends the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on the lesser included offenses of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.

A trial court must instruct on a lesser included offense if there is a basis for acquittal of the charged offense and conviction of the lesser included offense. Section 556.046.2; Hill, 17 S.W.3d at 159. A defendant is entitled to a requested instruction that is supported by the evidence and any inferences logically flowing from the evidence. Id. The court should submit a requested instruction, “if the evidence arguably shows lack of an essential element of the higher offense which would not only authorize acquittal of the higher, but sustain conviction of the lesser.” Id. Any doubts about whether to instruct on a lesser included offense should be resolved in favor of instructing on the lesser offense, leaving it to the jury to decide which of two or more grades of an offense, if any, the defendant is guilty of. Id.; State v. Santillan, 948 S.W.2d 574, 577 (Mo. banc 1997).

Voluntary manslaughter occurs when one causes the death of another under [197]*197circumstances that would constitute murder in the second degree except that the death was caused “under the influence of sudden passion arising from adequate cause.” Section 565.023.1(1). “Sudden passion” means “passion directly caused by and arising out of provocation by the victim or another acting with the victim which passion arises at the time of the offense and is not solely the result of former provocation.” Section 565.002(7). “Adequate cause” means “cause that would reasonably produce a degree of passion in a person of ordinary temperament sufficient to substantially impair [his] capacity for self-control.” Section 565.002(1).

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Bluebook (online)
32 S.W.3d 193, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 1720, 2000 WL 1725432, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-battle-moctapp-2000.