State v. Graham

2004 ME 34, 845 A.2d 558, 2004 Me. LEXIS 34
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedMarch 10, 2004
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 2004 ME 34 (State v. Graham) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Graham, 2004 ME 34, 845 A.2d 558, 2004 Me. LEXIS 34 (Me. 2004).

Opinion

CLIFFORD, J.

[¶ 1] Edwin Graham appeals from a judgment of conviction for manslaughter (Class A), 17-A M.R.S.A. § 203(1)(A) (Supp.2003),1 entered after a jury verdict in the Superior Court (Hancock County, Marden, J.). Graham contends that the court erred when it failed to instruct the jury on sexual self-defense and that this [560]*560error deprived him of his right to a fair trial. We disagree and affirm the judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

[¶ 2] The evidence at trial disclosed the following: On Friday, December 21, 2001, Graham attended a Christmas party hosted by his employer, George Carter, at Carter’s store. Zachary Savoy, who lived above the party’s location, arrived at the party with a beer in his hand and was more outgoing than usual, according to several of the party-goers. Graham and Savoy were introduced at the party, conversed, and agreed to meet at Graham’s trailer after the party ended.

[¶ 3] After visiting at the home of a friend, Graham testified that he went back to his trailer, and found Savoy already inside.2 The two men chatted for a while and drank some beer or vodka. Savoy began to talk about a swingers’ bar in Boston and got up to change the track playing on the stereo. Returning to his seat, Savoy put his hand on Graham’s shoulder. When Graham turned to look in Savoy’s direction, Savoy’s face was close to his. Graham then took Savoy’s arm and gently placed him back into his seat. Graham told Savoy to respect his space, believing that Savoy had made a pass or a sexual advance. Savoy continued to talk about the swingers’ club.

[¶ 4] After this incident, Savoy and Graham talked about “outdoor stuff.” Savoy pulled out some marijuana. Graham,' who had recently quit smoking marijuana and was planning on applying for his commercial driver’s license,- told Savoy to put the marijuana away or leave. Savoy began to get agitated, and Graham offered him a homemade tinfoil pipe that Graham once used to smoke marijuana. Graham, however, then took Savoy’s marijuana and threw it in the trash. He attempted to pull Savoy toward the door. Savoy stated “I’m olzi hime of all time. Don’t f— with me,”3 and lunged toward Graham. A fistfight ensued.

[¶ 5] The fight escalated and moved outside the trailer as Graham continued to kick and punch Savoy, causing Savoy to bleed significantly. Graham hit Savoy across the bridge of his nose with a baseball bat, causing the bat to break in half. Savoy managed to land only three punches during the altercation, one to Graham’s face and two to his arms. At some point during the altercation, Savoy was lying in the snow and Graham went to get help. Graham then heard snow crunching behind him and thought it was Savoy coming after him. Graham testified that at this point, “everything started going red” and his “world went black.”

[¶ 6] When the fight finally ended, Graham went to get his neighbor, and told the neighbor that he had been in a fistfight. The neighbor then walked over to the scene with Graham. After viewing Savoy’s “bloody and swollen” condition, and hearing what he described as a “death rattle,” the neighbor went back to his home and asked his wife to call an ambulance.

[¶ 7] Savoy had suffered numerous injuries, including multiple blunt force injuries to the back of his head, a broken nose, extensive injuries to his face, abrasions and bruises on his face and lips, a chipped tooth, a knocked-out tooth, crushed cartilage and a crushed hyoid bone in his throat, abrasions and bruises to his shoul[561]*561ders and torso, and five stab wounds, one of which deflated his right lung. The chief medical examiner concluded that Savoy’s death, which occurred at 7:30 A.M. on December 22, was caused by those injuries. Savoy had traces of morphine in his blood and a blood-alcohol level of .17, indicating that he had a blood-alcohol level of .27 at the time of the altercation. Graham had virtually no injuries.

[¶ 8] The State charged Graham with intentional or knowing murder, 17-A M.R.S.A. § 201(1)(A), and depraved indifference murder, 17-A M.R.S.A. § 201(1)(B). At trial, Graham presented evidence that when he was a child, his older brother chased him into the woods and sexually assaulted him. Dr. Geoffrey Thrope, the State psychologist, testified that Graham suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, and that he believes that when Graham heard footsteps from behind, he entered a dissociative state, triggered by his childhood memories and the related disorder.

[¶ 9] At the conclusion of the trial, Graham requested a jury instruction on sexual self-defense. 17-A M.R.S.A. § 108(2)(A)(2) (1983 & Supp.2003).4 The court declined to instruct on sexual self-defense, finding that the evidence did not generate such an instruction. The court found that “the jury would have to make a significant leap under all of the circumstances ... to suggest that there is evidence that would justify a use of deadly force defense of being, in effect, a threat of forcible sexual violence.” The court did, however, instruct the jury as to traditional self-defense. 17-A M.R.S.A. § 108(2)(A)(1) (1983 & Supp.2003).5

[¶ 10] After deliberating for six hours, the jury returned a verdict, finding Graham not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter. Graham was sentenced to thirty years imprisonment, with all but eighteen years suspended, and six years of probation. This appeal by Graham followed.

II. DISCUSSION

[¶ 11] Graham contends that the evidence presented in this case generated a sexual self-defense instruction, which he requested and which the court improperly denied.

[¶ 12] We review a trial court’s decision to deny a party’s request for a jury instruction for prejudicial error. State v. Doyon, 1999 ME 185, ¶ 7, 745 A.2d 365, 367. A defendant is entitled to an instruction on the use of deadly force in defense of a person when the evidence is “sufficient to make the existence of all the facts constituting the defense a reasonable hypothesis for the fact-finder to entertain.” State v. Glidden, 487 A.2d 642, 644 (Me.1985). When determining whether the evidence is sufficient to raise the issue of sexual self-defense, the evidence must be [562]*562viewed in the light most favorable to the defendant. State v. Michaud, 1998 ME 251, ¶ 17, 724 A.2d 1222, 1280. If the evidence is sufficient to generate the issue of sexual self-defense, the State has the burden to negate the existence of sexual self-defense, beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Smith, 472 A.2d 948, 951 (Me.1984).

[¶ 13] Pursuant to. the applicable version of 17-A M.R.S.A. § 108(2)(A)(2), “[a] person is justified in using deadly force upon another person ... [w]hen the person reasonably believes it necessary and reasonably believes such other person is ... Committing or about to commit ... a violation of section 258, subsection 1, paragraph A, [gross sexual assault as a result of compulsion] against the person.” A defendant must actually believe that deadly force is necessary to repel a forcible gross sexual assault that is being committed, or is about to be committed, against him. Smith, 472 A.2d at 950. Moreover, this actual belief of the defendant must be objectively reasonable.

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Bluebook (online)
2004 ME 34, 845 A.2d 558, 2004 Me. LEXIS 34, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-graham-me-2004.