State v. Steed

501 P.2d 585, 18 Ariz. App. 316, 1972 Ariz. App. LEXIS 852
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedOctober 5, 1972
DocketNo. 1 CA-CR 408
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 501 P.2d 585 (State v. Steed) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Steed, 501 P.2d 585, 18 Ariz. App. 316, 1972 Ariz. App. LEXIS 852 (Ark. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

HAIRE, Chief Judge,

Division 1.

Defendant Deraid Harris Steed has appealed from a judgment of conviction entered upon a jury verdict finding him guilty of aggravated assault, and from his. sentence thereon of not less than two nor more than five years.

Questions are raised on appeal concerning the propriety of a flight instruction and also concerning the fact that defendant was not represented by counsel at the time of sentencing.

We consider first the facts pertaining to> the giving of the flight instruction. The information charged defendant with assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury in violation of A.R.S. § 13— 249. The victim was alleged to be Marcella Steed, who testified that she was married to defendant and that they had three children, but that she had been separated from him for two years prior to the date that she saw him at a tavern where she worked as a barmaid. She testified that the defendant came in at about 1:00> o’clock in the morning just before closing.. The defendant informed Marcella that he had bought a spare tire for her car. Later, when the two were outside, according to Marcella, the defendant put his arm about her, and when she told him not to do> so he began “beating me in the face with his fist”. She said that he hit her quite a few times and broke her false teeth and fractured her cheekbone in the process. [317]*317The defendant then dragged her to his own car and began to hit her face and head on its roof. The defendant did this five times according to Marcella. Finally, he threw her in the car and drove off threatening to kill her. At the red light at the intersection of 35th Avenue and Camelback Road, Phoenix, Arizona, Marcella tried to jump from the car but the defendant succeeded in grabbing her, and as the light turned green, he drove off with Marcella half in and half out of the automobile. She was dragged like this for about a block, and suffered numerous cuts and abrasions on her feet and legs in the process. At last Marcella escaped and she began to run. The defendant stopped the car and ran after her, but while he was doing this his car began to roll and he stopped pursuing her and ran back to catch his car. A witness named Crawford had stopped at the light behind the Steeds and Marcella then approached him and secured his aid. The defendant drove away.

Since the circumstances surrounding the defendant’s departure from the scene are crucial to a determination of the propriety of the giving of the flight instruction, we quote the pertinent portions of the testimony.

Mr. Crawford, the driver of the automobile immediately behind defendant’s automobile, testified as follows:

“Q. Will you describe how he left the area?
“A. Yes, sir.
After Mrs. Steed worked her way loose, and the defendant, Mr. Steed, got out of the car to go get her — I imagine get her — and at the time he looked up, I was directly behind his car and he looked at me and he got back in his car and took off at a high rate of speed.”

Mrs. Steed, the victim, testified:

“A. And then, I don’t know how I got loose, I really don’t, but I got loose and I started running and he stopped the car and started running after me, but his car started rolling, so he had to run to his car, and then he took right off. As soon as he took off I went back to Crawford’s car that was behind me.
“Q. Could you describe how he took off 1
“A. Real fast.”

The defendant, after stating that his car was rolling and he had to catch it, testified that he “left quickly”.

Within a very short period thereafter, defendant was apprehended by an investigating officer who was on his way to the scene of the incident. Defendant was apprehended as he was pulling out of a parking lot at 19th Avenue and Camelback, approximately sixteen blocks from the scene of the alleged assault.

The Arizona Supreme Court laid down the standard for the consideration of a flight instruction in State v. Owen, 94 Ariz. 404, 385 P.2d 700 (1963) as follows:

“Certainly a mere leaving of the scene of a crime is not a fact sufficient to constitute flight under all circumstances. . . . Ordinarily, unless the flight or attempted flight be open, as upon immediate pursuit, the element of concealment or attempted concealment is considered a necessary component.” 94 Ariz. at 411, 385 P.2d at 704.

The underlying assumption in such an instruction is that under the facts, the flight demonstrates a consciousness of guilt. State v. Owen, supra.

Many courts disapprove of the use of flight instructions:

“. . . [I]t is a matter of common knowledge that men who are entirely innocent do sometimes fly from the scene of a crime through fear of being apprehended as the guilty parties, or from an unwillingness to appear as witnesses. Nor is it true as an accepted axiom of criminal law that ‘the wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.’ ” Alberty v. United States, 162 U.S. 499, 511, 16 S.Ct. 864, 868, 40 L.Ed. 1051 (1896).

[318]*318The Arizona courts have likewise been sparing in their approval of flight instructions. See e. g., State v. Rodgers, 103 Ariz. 393, 442 P.2d 840 (1968); State v. Castro, 106 Ariz. 78, 471 P.2d 274 (1970); State v. Milton, 15 Ariz.App. 392, 489 P.2d 55 (1971).

In Rodgers the defendant was driving a car with three female passengers. While stopped the car was approached by three soldiers, one of whom had hit one of the passengers on a previous occasion. An altercation developed between that soldier and the defendant which ended when the defendant shot the soldier in the cheek with a pistol. The defendant then drove off. The Arizona Supreme Court held that a flight instruction should not have been given because there was no evidence that the defendant tried to conceal himself and because the defendant justifiably feared reprisal from the two other soldiers against himself and the three women.

The defendant in Castro left the scene of a disturbance when he had just knifed a man. Afterwards the defendant walked away from the scene of the fight past two witnesses. Again the Arizona Supreme Court reversed because the flight instruction was given. The court reasoned that it was reasonable for the defendant to leave the scene, since he did not live there. Considering also that the defendant made no attempt to conceal himself, the court found that there was insufficient evidence to justify the flight instruction.

In Milton the defendant was charged with theft. The victim testified that the defendant left the store in which the theft occurred in a hurry, but she was not running or attempting to conceal herself. The Court of Appeals held that the evidence did not support an instruction on flight.

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Related

State v. Steed
506 P.2d 1031 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1973)

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501 P.2d 585, 18 Ariz. App. 316, 1972 Ariz. App. LEXIS 852, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-steed-arizctapp-1972.