State v. Wille

858 P.2d 128, 317 Or. 487, 1993 Ore. LEXIS 138
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 2, 1993
DocketCC C890382CR; CA A62688; SC S39650, S39844
StatusPublished
Cited by66 cases

This text of 858 P.2d 128 (State v. Wille) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon 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. Wille, 858 P.2d 128, 317 Or. 487, 1993 Ore. LEXIS 138 (Or. 1993).

Opinion

*489 CARSON, C. J.

Defendant was convicted of the aggravated murder of his estranged wife. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole, as provided in ORS 163. 105(l)(b). On appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed that conviction, vacated convictions for lesser-included offenses related to the underlying felonies, 1 and remanded the case to the circuit court for resentencing to life imprisonment rather than life imprisonment without possibility of parole. State v. Witte, 115 Or App 47, 839 P2d 712 (1992). Both defendant and the state petitioned for review. We allowed defendant’s petition to consider issues related to the affirmative defense of extreme emotional disturbance. We allowed the state’s petition to consider sentencing issues. On review, we affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals, in part on different grounds.

The facts as summarized by the Court of Appeals are not disputed:

“Defendant was very upset that his wife had filed for a dissolution. She was living with her mother and had obtained a temporary restraining order preventing him from entering her residence. After she filed the dissolution action, defendant told a number of people that he wanted to kill her. On February 23, 1989, he told an acquaintance from work that he should have done to his wife what he had planned to do in the first place, and he made a stabbing motion. Early that evening, defendant called his wife, who told him that she did not want to talk and hung up. He returned to work and, from there, called a friend and said that he wanted to go kill his wife. Defendant left work about 9:00 p.m. and went to his wife’s residence. He kicked the door in, went in and said, ‘This is it.’ He then grabbed her and pulled her out of the house.
“About 9:30 p.m., a neighbor heard a loud noise on his deck. Defendant and his wife, both covered with blood, burst through his back door. The neighbor attempted to push them out, but defendant stabbed his wife a couple of times before the neighbor managed to push him out the door and shut it. The neighbor then called 911. Another neighbor heard the commotion, came over and saw defendant slumped against a *490 tree with deep cuts on his wrist. Defendant told him, ‘Don’t worry about me * * * go check on my wife * * * I have just stabbed my wife * * * I have just killed my wife.’ The sheriff arrived, saw defendant, then entered the house and found defendant’s wife dead. The medical examiner determined that she had died from a stab wound to her heart.
“Defendant was charged with three counts of aggravated murder, with underlying crimes of one count of kidnapping in the second degree and two counts of burglary in the first degree. His entire defense to the murder charge was that he lacked the requisite mental state to support a conviction for murder. He filed a notice of intent to rely on EED as a partial defense. ORS 163.118(l)(b); ORS 163.135(1).P*3 He pled not guilty and was tried by a jury. The trial court advised the jury that the EED defense could reduce the crime of intentional murder to manslaughter in the first, degree, but that the defense did not apply to the felony murder or aggravated murder charges. Defendant was found guilty of all offenses charged in the indictment.” State v. Wille, supra, 115 Or App at 49-50.

We first examine the issues raised by defendant’s petition for review.

DEFENSE OF EXTREME EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE

Defendant contends that the trial court improperly instructed the jury about the affirmative defense of extreme emotional disturbance (EED) 2 3 and erroneously excluded testimony by defendant’s expert witness related to EED.

*491 A. Jury Instructions.

Defendant’s first challenge is to the trial court’s jury instructions concerning the EED defense. The trial court instructed the jury that defendant had raised the defense of extreme emotional disturbance and that the EED defense, if proved by a preponderance of the evidence, would reduce an intentional homicide that otherwise would constitute murder to manslaughter in the first degree. The court further instructed the jury that the EED defense applied only to the lesser-included offense of intentional murder, but not to the charge of aggravated felony murder or to the lesser-included offense of felony murder. Defendant excepted to those instructions, arguing that EED is a defense to aggravated felony murder.

1. Aggravated Murder.

The Court of Appeals concluded that, because the jury determined by special verdict that defendant had not made out the affirmative defense, the court did not need to reach the question whether EED can be asserted as a defense to a charge of aggravated murder. 115 Or App at 51-52. The Court of Appeals later answered the question that it left open in this case. In State v. Hessel, 117 Or App 113, 119, 844 P2d 209 (1992), 4 that court held that EED is not a defense to aggravated murder.

If, as defendant argues, the trial court committed prejudicial error in limiting expert testimony about his asserted EED defense and in instructing the jury on that defense, then the jury’s special verdict rejecting the EED defense would not resolve the claim of error. For that reason, *492 and because this issue already has recurred and been addressed in Hessel, we address the ultimate question: Was defendant entitled to present an EED defense to the crime of aggravated felony murder?

The legislature has answered that question plainly. EED is a defense to the crime of intentional murder, and to no other crime:

“It is an affirmative defense to murder for purposes of ORS 163.115(l)(a) that the homicide was committed under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance * * *. Extreme emotional disturbance does not constitute a defense to a prosecution for, or preclude a conviction of, * * * any other crime.” ORS 163.135(1). (Emphasis added.)

Aggravated felony murder is a different crime than intentional murder; therefore, under ORS 163.135(1), extreme emotional disturbance is not a defense to aggravated felony murder.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
858 P.2d 128, 317 Or. 487, 1993 Ore. LEXIS 138, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wille-or-1993.