State v. Heath

666 P.2d 922, 35 Wash. App. 269, 1983 Wash. App. LEXIS 2591
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJuly 5, 1983
Docket4898-5-III; 4920-5-III
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 666 P.2d 922 (State v. Heath) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Heath, 666 P.2d 922, 35 Wash. App. 269, 1983 Wash. App. LEXIS 2591 (Wash. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinions

Roe, C.J.

Jeffrey Heath appeals a conviction of first degree murder. We affirm.

On September 27, 1980, Jeffrey Heath and Earl Weagley were fighting; many people were present. Although there is conflicting testimony as to how the fight began, two witnesses agreed Earl Weagley (the victim) struck the first blow. The fight ended when Heath shot and killed Weagley.

His appeal and personal restraint petition were consolidated and present several issues.

Prior to trial, Heath requested the jury be sequestered because of potential adverse publicity. This potential existed because of Heath's association with a motorcycle club and the prominence of a murder trial in a town the size of Wenatchee. The actual newspaper coverage generally gave a factual account of the events in court. The only major exceptions were reference to Heath's acquittal in another murder case a few months before this trial and a short story on the motion for a mistrial and continuance which had occurred outside the jury's presence. Heath argues the news coverage was so prejudicial he was denied a fair trial.

State v. Cunningham, 27 Wn. App. 834, 620 P.2d 535 (1980), review denied, 95 Wn.2d 1010 (1981) set forth criteria to be considered by trial courts in deciding motions based on pretrial publicity. Several of these are applicable when only in-trial publicity is involved, including (1) the inflammatory or noninflammatory nature of the publicity; [271]*271(2) the publicity's scope in both quantity and geographical dissemination; and (3) the sensational aspects of the case. Applying these factors, the trial court should order sequestration when the circumstances involve a probability of prejudice to the defendant. Cunningham, at 838. Actual prejudice need not be shown. Here, except as noted above the stories only cover what was said to and seen by the jury at trial. There is no suggestion any juror read any of the newspaper stories, contrary to the constant admonishment by the court. The jury is presumed to follow the instructions of the court. State v. Grisby, 97 Wn.2d 493, 647 P.2d 6 (1982). Although the more prudent course may be to order sequestration, we find there was not a high probability of prejudice in this case. Therefore, it was not error to allow the jury to separate.

Heath contends there was insufficient evidence to present the aggressor/self-defense instruction. It is prejudicial error to submit an issue to the jury when there is not substantial evidence concerning it. Albin v. National Bank of Commerce, 60 Wn.2d 745, 754, 375 P.2d 487 (1962). Jury instruction 17 provided:

No person may by any unlawful act create a necessity for acting in self-defense and thereupon kill another person. Therefore, if you find beyond a reasonable doubt the defendant was the aggressor and that defendant's acts and conduct provoked or commenced the fight, then self-defense is not available as a defense.

WPIC 16.04; see State v. Hawkins, 89 Wash. 449, 154 P. 827 (1916).

Although two witnesses testified Weagley struck the first blow, this is not determinative of who provoked the fight. State u. Hawkins, supra. Rather, the question is whether Heath's words or actions precipitated the situation. State v. Currie, 74 Wn.2d 197, 443 P.2d 808 (1968). Here, there was testimony Heath blocked a doorway, refusing to let Weagley pass, and said some very coarse words before Weagley hit him. These words and actions may have precipitated the fight, making Heath the provoker. Since [272]*272there was evidence Heath provoked the fight, the provoker/ self-defense instruction was proper.

Heath suggests the trial court erred in denying his motion for mistrial or continuance when he discovered the State had not told him his home had been searched shortly after the shooting and had not provided him with the names of some persons who had been questioned. Although the trial court denied both motions, it did order the information disclosed.

There are two aspects to this issue. The first involves the defendant's constitutional right to a fair trial. To ensure this right, prosecutors are required to divulge certain information prior to trial. See Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 10 L. Ed. 2d 215, 83 S. Ct. 1194 (1963). However, the prosecutor's failure to disclose information amounts to constitutional error only when the information is material. United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 49 L. Ed. 2d 342, 96 S. Ct. 2392 (1976). Here, there is no showing any of the undisclosed information was material. There was no evidence from the search used during trial and the undisclosed persons questioned were not witnesses to the shooting. Therefore, the prosecutor's failure to disclose was not constitutional error.

The second aspect to the disclosure issue was whether the trial court abused its discretion when it failed to grant the defendant's motion for a mistrial or continuance. CrR 4.7(h)(7)(i) grants the trial court the power to impose sanctions for violation of the discovery rules. "Reversal for noncompliance with this statute arises from an abuse of discretion by the trial court or some substantial injury to the defendant." State v. Vavra, 33 Wn. App. 142, 144, 652 P.2d 959 (1982). As discussed above, the undisclosed information was of minimal value to the defendant, so the failure to disclose did not cause substantial injury to the defendant. We find the court did not abuse its discretion in denying Heath's motions.

The fourth issue concerns the trial court's refusal to give several proposed self-defense instructions. The single self-[273]*273defense instruction given to the jury provided:

It is a defense to a charge of murder that the homicide was justifiable as defined in this instruction.
Homicide is justifiable when committed in the lawful defense of the slayer when the slayer has reasonable ground to believe that the person slain intends to inflict death or great bodily harm and there is imminent danger of such harm being accomplished.
The slayer may employ such force and means as a reasonably prudent person would use under the same or similar conditions as they appeared to the slayer at the time.

See WPIC 16.02. Although a party is entitled to instructions when there is substantial evidence to support it, State v. McCullum, 98 Wn.2d 484, 656 P.2d 1064 (1983), he is not entitled to repetitious instructions. State v. Hicks, 75 Wn.2d 73, 448 P.2d 930 (1968). We have reviewed the proposed instructions and find they were unnecessarily repetitious and the instructions given were adequate.

Heath also argues the self-defense instruction given was an inaccurate statement of the law.

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Bluebook (online)
666 P.2d 922, 35 Wash. App. 269, 1983 Wash. App. LEXIS 2591, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-heath-washctapp-1983.