State v. Theroff

622 P.2d 1240, 95 Wash. 2d 385, 1980 Wash. LEXIS 1452
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 31, 1980
Docket47034-1
StatusPublished
Cited by178 cases

This text of 622 P.2d 1240 (State v. Theroff) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Theroff, 622 P.2d 1240, 95 Wash. 2d 385, 1980 Wash. LEXIS 1452 (Wash. 1980).

Opinions

Hicks, J. —

On October 30, 1976, petitioner Phillip Lee Theroff, then a 62-year-old farmer, encountered Steve Carpenter, 24, and his brother Glenn, 20, trespassing upon his farm. The land was posted "no trespassing". It was bird hunting season. The Carpenters were hunting, had been drinking and were undeterred by the "no trespassing" signs.

A heated exchange occurred between petitioner and one or both of the Carpenters. The sequence of events is disputed, but ultimately both petitioner and Glenn Carpenter were shot and wounded. From his wound, Glenn Carpenter died. Details are set forth with more particularity in State v. Theroff, 25 Wn. App. 590, 608 P.2d 1254 (1980).

Petitioner was charged by information in Franklin County with two counts of first degree murder — count 1, [387]*387with premeditation, and count 2, with circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to human life. At the time of filing the information, also filed was a separate notice advising defendant that the State,

[I]n addition to the maximum penalty for each appropriate crime charged in the information filed herein, will seek a finding that defendant was:
(a) Armed with a firearm (RCW 9.41.025),
(1) first offense; or,
(2) second offense; or,
(3) third or subsequent offenses; and, or
(b) Armed with a deadly weapon (RCW 9.95.040).

Subsequently, the information was amended realleging the two counts originally charged and adding a count of second degree felony-murder. The State did not file another notice of intent to seek enhanced penalties in conjunction with the amended information. Consequently, neither the original nor the amended information contained an allegation of a violation of RCW 9.41.025 or 9.95.040. No intention to seek an enhanced penalty under any of the counts was indicated in either information.

Trial was had to a jury and petitioner was found guilty of second degree felony-murder based upon second degree assault. Of the other counts, the trial court had dismissed one prior to commencement of the trial and not guilty verdicts were returned on the other. A special interrogatory returned by the jury found petitioner was armed with a deadly weapon, a firearm, at the time. In keeping with the enhanced penalty provisions of RCW 9.41.025 and 9.95.040, petitioner was sentenced to the Division of Institutions for a period of not more than 20 years and not less than 5 years.

Petitioner appealed. Division Three of the Court of Appeals affirmed. State v. Theroff, supra. We granted discretionary review and we affirm the Court of Appeals in part.

On appeal, Theroff questioned the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict of the jury. In disposing of [388]*388this issue, the Court of Appeals at page 593 correctly stated the rule of substantial evidence extant in this state prior to Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 61 L. Ed. 2d 560, 99 S. Ct. 2781 (1979) and State v. Green, 94 Wn.2d 216, 616 P.2d 628 (1980). Substantial evidence, however, is no longer the standard to be used by a reviewing court in a criminal case in which challenge is made to the sufficiency of the evidence to convict. The standard pronounced in Jackson and adopted by this court in Green is set forth in Green at page 221:

[T]he critical inquiry on review of the sufficiency of the evidence to support a criminal conviction must be not simply to determine whether the jury was properly instructed, but to determine whether the record evidence could reasonably support a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” Jackson v. Virginia, supra at 318. (Italics ours.) This inquiry does not require the reviewing court to determine whether it believes the evidence at trial established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. "Instead the relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Jackson v. Virginia, supra at 319. (Italics ours.)

Here, we are satisfied there was sufficient evidence from which a rational trier of fact could reasonably find beyond a reasonable doubt that petitioner pointed his loaded shotgun at Glenn Carpenter in a threatening manner and Carpenter's death was a consequence of that act. Thus, the result reached by the Court of Appeals in disposing of petitioner's challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence was correct.

In his petition for discretionary review, petitioner challenges instructions Nos. 15, 17, 19 and 20. The Court of Appeals found Nos. 15 and 17 unobjectionable and then refused to review Nos. 19 and 20 because the error alleged on appeal was not raised in the trial court.

Petitioner's objections to instructions Nos. 15 and 17 were that they constituted impermissible comments by the [389]*389trial judge in violation of Const, art. 4, § 16. This constitutional provision prohibits a judge from conveying to the jury his personal belief in the merits of the cause or some issue therein. See State v. Cerny, 78 Wn.2d 845, 480 P.2d 199 (1971).

The challenged instructions are:

No. 15
You are instructed that any unlawful act of a person which is reasonably calculated to lead to an affray or deadly conflict, and which provokes the difficulty, is an act of aggression or provocation which deprives him of the right of self defense, although he does not strike the first blow.
No. 17
You are instructed that the use of a deadly weapon by a private party to eject a nonviolent trespasser, is not a justifiable use of force.

Petitioner argues that under instruction No. 15, the jury is required to find he was the aggressor and provoked the conflict. He then asserts instruction No. 17 compels the jury to regard the Carpenters as nonviolent trespassers. Taken together, petitioner contends, the instructions effectively preclude his argument of self-defense.

Both instructions are correct statements of the law when considered in the abstract. The question, of course, is whether there is evidence in the case upon which the instructions may be predicated. Each side is entitled to have the trial court instruct upon its theory of the case if there is evidence.to support that theory. State v. Dana, 73 Wn.2d 533, 536, 439 P.2d 403 (1968).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
622 P.2d 1240, 95 Wash. 2d 385, 1980 Wash. LEXIS 1452, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-theroff-wash-1980.