State v. Eldridge

588 A.2d 1222, 134 N.H. 118, 1991 N.H. LEXIS 28
CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
DecidedApril 23, 1991
DocketNo. 89-399
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 588 A.2d 1222 (State v. Eldridge) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Eldridge, 588 A.2d 1222, 134 N.H. 118, 1991 N.H. LEXIS 28 (N.H. 1991).

Opinion

Brock, C.J.

The defendant, Timothy Eldridge, was convicted after a jury trial in the Superior Court (O’Neil, J.) for the second degree murder of Travis Wiggin. RSA 630:l-b, 1(b). He appeals his conviction, arguing (1) that there was insufficient evidence to prove that he acted “recklessly under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life”; and (2) that statements elicited from him after he asserted his right to counsel should have been excluded from evidence. For reasons that follow, we affirm.

We first turn to the defendant’s sufficiency issue and the facts relevant thereto. When asked to overturn a conviction because of insufficient evidence, we consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, State v. Elbert, 125 N.H. 1, 12, 480 A.2d 854, 860 (1984), and uphold the jury’s verdict unless no rational trier of fact could have found guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Sadvari, 123 N.H. 410, 413, 462 A.2d 102, 103-04 (1983). The defendant has the burden of showing that the evidence was insufficient to prove guilt. State v. Smith, 127 N.H. 433, 436, 503 A.2d 774, 776 (1985).

With this standard in mind, we review the evidence presented at trial. On the evening of July 30, 1988, a group of young people, including the twenty-one-year-old defendant and his fifteen-year-old girl friend, Tracy Gurley, gathered at the Chocorua Village Store after an aborted trip to the car races at Epping. Some members of the group, including the defendant, had been consuming alcohol throughout the evening. While at the store, the defendant asked his stepsister to telephone fifteen-year-old Travis Wiggin.

The defendant and Travis were on bad terms because the defendant’s girl friend, Tracy, had been Travis’ girl friend until recently. However, even after Tracy began to date the defendant, Travis continued to visit her by climbing into her bedroom window late at night. Apparently, the defendant wanted Travis to stay away from her and had, on three different occasions, threatened to kill Travis. The last [120]*120of these threats occurred on July 8, when the defendant told Travis’ brother Gary to tell Travis “to come through the window because I sleep with a .357 and I will kill him.”

Pursuant to the defendant’s request, his stepsister telephoned Travis, and they agreed to meet at a local gas station near Travis’ grandmother’s home. The defendant’s group arrived at the station first, whereupon the defendant asked two of his friends to hide and wait for Travis in order to prevent Travis from running away. The defendant hid behind the station and waited for Travis.

Before Travis left his house, his brother Gary expressed some apprehension to Travis about the meeting. Although Travis assured his brother that he would be cautious, Gary, nevertheless, waited about five minutes and then decided to follow Travis to the station. He drove to the station but initially did not see his brother. When Travis did appear, he was intercepted by the defendant, temporarily placed into a headlock, and escorted to the defendant’s car. At trial there was repeated testimony that during this time Travis was holding his hands up in the air and appeared to be frightened.

The defendant and Travis got into the front seat of the car and two of the girls from the group got into the back seat. They decided to go to Chocorua Lake, so the group, including Gary, proceeded in that direction. En route to the lake, the defendant pulled out a .357 magnum revolver, pointed it at Travis, cocked it and continued to drive with his other hand. Despite Travis’ pleas not to be hurt, the defendant continued to point the cocked revolver at Travis. When they arrived at the lake, the defendant told Travis to get out of the car, but, before Travis could do so, the defendant fired the gun, fatally wounding Travis.

After the shooting, the defendant was distraught and repeatedly told his friends that the shooting was an accident. Nevertheless, after initially throwing the gun out of the car window, the defendant decided to throw the revolver into the nearby lake. He then later asked members of the group to retrieve the gun and to fill it with empty shells. He also unsuccessfully tried to get money from his friends in order to leave the State.

On appeal, the defendant argues that, although reckless, his conduct does not reach the level of conduct exhibiting an extreme indifference to the value of human life. He contends in his brief that our holding in State v. Dufield, 131 N.H. 35, 37, 549 A.2d 1205, 1206-07 (1988) requires the State to prove that his conduct was more serious than mere recklessness and must show “a degree of divergence from the norm of acceptable behavior even greater than the ‘gross devia[121]*121tion’ from the ‘law-abiding’ norm, by which reckless conduct is defined.” He contends that the facts of his situation are analogous to the facts in the case of People v. Magliato, 110 A.D.2d 266, 494 N.Y.S.2d 307 (1985), appeal granted, 67 N.Y.2d 653, 499 N.Y.S.2d 1050, 490 N.E.2d 566, appeal dismissed, 67 N.Y.2d 829, 501 N.Y.S.2d 658, 492 N.E.2d 786, aff'd, 68 N.Y.2d 24, 505 N.Y.S.2d 836, 496 N.E.2d 856 (1986), where a second degree murder conviction was reduced to manslaughter, since firing of a gun at the victim at a distance of forty-five feet was found not to support the verdict.

We are not persuaded by the defendant’s argument. In our view, the defendant’s conduct in cocking a loaded revolver and holding it point-blank against the victim, particularly after consuming alcoholic beverages, exhibits such a blatant disregard of an unjustifiable risk as to manifest extreme indifference to the value of human life. This conclusion is further supported by evidence revealing that the defendant was experienced in the safe use and operation of firearms. The defendant’s reliance on the cases of People v. Magliato, 110 A.D.2d 266, 494 N.Y.S.2d 307, and People v. France, 57 A.D.2d 432, 394 N.Y.S.2d 891 (1977), is misplaced, as the facts of those cases are not analogous to the facts of the case before us.

Considering the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, we conclude that a rational juror could have found, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant’s conduct exhibited circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life. Thus, the record supports the conviction.

We next address the defendant’s claim that his State and federal constitutional rights were violated after he asserted his right to counsel, under State v. Tapply, 124 N.H. 318, 470 A.2d 900 (1983), and that any statements made after he requested counsel should have been excluded from evidence at his trial. The circumstances surrounding this alleged violation are as follows.

After the shooting, that same night at approximately 1:30 a.m., the defendant went to the local State Police station to turn himself in. There he was met by Trooper McElwee and told the trooper, “[M]y name is Timothy Eldridge. I shot Travis Wiggin.” Trooper McElwee called his supervisor, Sergeant Schwatka.

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708 A.2d 55 (Supreme Court of New Hampshire, 1998)
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677 A.2d 675 (Supreme Court of New Hampshire, 1996)
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Bluebook (online)
588 A.2d 1222, 134 N.H. 118, 1991 N.H. LEXIS 28, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-eldridge-nh-1991.