State v. Patton

102 P.3d 1195, 33 Kan. App. 2d 391, 2004 Kan. App. LEXIS 1301
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedDecember 23, 2004
Docket90,906
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 102 P.3d 1195 (State v. Patton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Patton, 102 P.3d 1195, 33 Kan. App. 2d 391, 2004 Kan. App. LEXIS 1301 (kanctapp 2004).

Opinions

McAnany, J.:

Kevin L. Patton appeals from his convictions for attempted first-degree murder, aggravated robbery, and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. We affirm.

Patton, age 16, and Phillip Boyce, both residents of a foster home in Scranton, Kansas, sneaked out, stole a pickup truck, and went to Arrington, Kansas, where they spent the night at the house of a woman Boyce knew. After abandoning the truck in Jefferson County, the boys found their way to Atchison County where they stayed the night in Boyce’s father’s barn. The next day, Boyce stole [393]*393a gun and the boys hitched a ride to a location near the home of Roy Blauvelt.

Patton and Boyce arrived at Blauvelt’s home. They were without transportation, and their plan was to steal a vehicle from Blauvelt. Before knocking on the door, Boyce asked Patton several times to join him in shooting Blauvelt. Patton testified that he refused each request. Boyce suggested that they could get Blauvelt in the car and push him out. Patton agreed that they could.

Blauvelt invited Patton and Boyce into his house. The boys told Blauvelt that their vehicle was stuck in the mud and asked if he could help. Blauvelt, who was 80 years old, told them he was too old to help but after he finished his meal he would give them a ride to someone who might be able to help them.

After returning to his meal, Blauvelt noticed Patton pacing back and forth with a cigarette in his hand. Patton testified that he was nervous at the time because he was concerned about what Boyce might do. Blauvelt then heard a “boom,” threw a hand up, and saw blood run down his arm. Blauvelt believed that a blood vessel in his head had burst. When Blauvelt asked for help, he saw Patton and Boyce run out of the house. Blauvelt then went outside and saw Patton driving off in his truck. Blauvelt went to his daughter s house to call 911. When he arrived at the hospital, Blauvelt learned that he had been shot behind the right ear.

After the shooting, Patton and Boyce jumped into Blauvelt’s diesel truck, with Patton driving, and escaped by crashing through a gate. Blauvelt testified that the diesel truck had to have been running before he was shot in order to warm it up before driving off. They drove to Boyce’s ex-girlfriend’s house in St. Joseph, Missouri. They hid the gun in St. Joseph and drove on to Richmond, Missouri.

Two weeks after the shooting, Patton surrendered at the Atchison County Sheriffs Office. After Patton and his parents signed a waiver of rights form, Patton described what happened and where the gun could be found. Patton claimed that after Boyce shot Blauvelt, Boyce handed him the gun and told him to shoot Blauvelt but that he refused. Boyce was arrested and admitted that he shot Blauvelt.

[394]*394Patton was charged with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated robbery, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery. The State moved to prosecute Patton as an adult, and Patton conceded the motion. Patton was tried as an adult and was convicted on all four counts. The district court later dismissed the charge of conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery, finding that it merged with the conspiracy to commit first-degree murder charge. Patton was sentenced to 31.0 months’ imprisonment. Patton appeals.

Premeditation

The trial court did not define the term “premeditation” when it instructed the jury on the elements of first-degree murder. Patton did not object to this omission. Accordingly, we review this omission using the clearly erroneous standard. State v. Pabst, 273 Kan. 658, 660, 44 P.3d 1230, cert. denied 537 U.S. 959 (2002). If the omission is erroneous, we will find it clearly erroneous if we are firmly convinced there is a real possibility that the jury would have rendered a different verdict had the error not occurred. State v. Davis, 275 Kan. 107, 115, 61 P.3d 701 (2003).

We must keep in mind that the concept of premeditation applies to Boyce’s act in shooting Blauvelt. The State pursued an aiding and abetting theory in charging Patton with attempted first-degree murder. Thus, Patton had to act with the intent to aid and abet Boyce in shooting Blauvelt. The issue of premeditation applies to Boyce’s state of mind when the shooting took place, not Patton’s. Instruction 9 detailed the elements of attempt. Instruction 16 dealt with aiding and abetting. Instruction 15 listed the elements of first-degree murder.

Instruction 15 generally complies with PIK Crim. 3d 56.01. However, the PIK committee suggests that the term “premeditation” should be defined when giving the instruction. No Kansas case has addressed whether the failure to define premeditation constitutes clear error. Florida and Michigan have addressed this issue. In Anderson v. State, 276 So. 2d 17 (Fla. 1973), the court stated;

[395]*395“ ‘It is rudimentary, and should require no citation of authority, that the one essential element which distinguishes first-degree murder from second-degree murder is premeditation. The term “design” as mentioned in each of the two degrees, means the specific intent to kill, and in second-degree murder such specific intent may, or may not, be present. The difference is, that in second-degree murder, if it is present, it is not premeditated. Thus, premeditation is the ever-present distinguishing factor; and no doubt should be left in the minds of the jury as to its complete and full legal import. No door should be left open for confusion as to what it means. Without the full and complete definition of premeditation, the jury would have neither an understanding of what they were looking for to determine it, nor what to exclude to reject it.’ [Citation omitted.]
“Failure to define premeditation’ in a first degree murder charge is reversible error, even where no objection was made by the defendant. [Citation omitted.]” 276 So. 2d at 18-19.

See also Taylor v. State, 695 So. 2d 1293 (Fla. Dist. App. 1997), in which the court concluded that the district court’s inadvertent error in failing to define premeditation required reversal.

Michigan takes a different approach. In People v. Bodley, 38 Mich. App. 27, 195 N.W.2d 803 (1972), the district court did not define premeditation but instructed the jury that in order to find the defendant guilty, it must find that the killing was done with “ ‘deliberation, premeditation, and malice.’ ” 38 Mich. App. at 31. On appeal, the court stated that while it did not encourage the trial court to fail to expand on the everyday meaning of premeditation, the instruction given by the trial court was legally sufficient. The court was not convinced that a different result would have been reached by the jury had it been instructed on the definition of premeditation.

While no Kansas case has dealt with this precise situation, there are Kansas cases which are instructive. In State v. Mitchell, 269 Kan. 349, 355, 7 P.3d 1135 (2000), the court stated:

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State v. Patton
102 P.3d 1195 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2004)

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Bluebook (online)
102 P.3d 1195, 33 Kan. App. 2d 391, 2004 Kan. App. LEXIS 1301, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-patton-kanctapp-2004.