Title: Vigil v. People

State: colorado

Issuer: Colorado Supreme Court

Document:

353 P.2d 82 (1960) Juan De Dios VIGIL, also known as John D. D. Vigil, Plaintiff in Error, v. PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Defendant in Error. No. 18926. Supreme Court of Colorado. En Banc. June 13, 1960. *83 Henry Blickhahn, Alamosa, for plaintiff in error. Duke W. Dunbar, Atty. Gen., Frank E. Hickey, Deputy Atty. Gen., John E. Bush, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendant in error. DAY, Justice. Juan De Dios Vigil was convicted of murder in the second degree by a jury in Conejos County. From the judgment and sentence entered by the court, he brings this writ of error. The defendant alleges several grounds upon which he relies for reversal of the conviction. One, relating to the admission of the exhibits, has no merit and deserves no comment. The other grounds are: 1. That the verdict is not sustained by the evidence and that his motion for directed verdict should have been sustained; or, in the alternative, that neither a case in first nor of second degree murder was made out and the verdicts covering those degrees should not have been submitted to the jury; 2. that the court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on involuntary manslaughter and to submit a verdict on that issue; 3. that the instruction on self-defense is not in the language of the statute and does not properly state the law. The circumstances surrounding the death which resulted in the trial and conviction of Vigil were related by several witnesses for the state and by the defendant himself when he was called upon to testify on his own behalf. The day in question was a local election day. A group of men were gathered on a road outside Capulin, Colorado, talking, singing and imbibing intoxicants. Among those in the group was Ralph Valdez, the decedent, who was a well-developed young man twenty-seven years of age. The defendant, a seventy year old man, traveling along the same road on the way to visit his daughter, encountered the group and stopped to join in the drinking. Although the various members of the group who were called upon to testify could not give in detail exactly what happened, the gist of their story was that someone heard a shot; at that time they looked, and the defendant and Valdez were about ten feet apart; that they heard no words passed between the decedent and the defendant; that it was not apparent at first that any one was hurt; that someone heard the defendant say in Spanish, "I killed someone." The defendant's version of the affair was that several weeks before the homicide the decedent and his brothers had stayed with defendant; that they had robbed him of $40; that he was afraid of them, and that they might hurt him. He put the gun, "an ancient model," in his pocket before going to town, but that he had not used it for a long time, and didn't even think it was loaded. He testified that during the drinking and singing decedent came up to him and struck him and cursed him and threatened to beat him, and that he pulled the gun out and waved it only to *84 scare Valdez away; that the gun accidently discharged; that he did not intend to harm or kill anyone. First Question To Be Determined Should the court have directed a verdict of not guilty, or if a denial of the motion was proper, should the verdicts of first and second degree murder be withheld from consideration by the jury? This question is answered in the negative. There was sufficient evidence to support the contention of the prosecution that the offense of murder in the first degree had been committed. Under the theory advanced in argument by the state, a jury could find from the evidence that because Vigil had been the victim of a robbery at the hands of decedent he was seeking revenge. Thus the motive and opportunity for deliberation was in the record for whatever weight the jury might give it. Although the evidence is of a negative character, it was within the province of the jury to determine whether it established beyond a reasonable doubt that there was no justification or considerable provocation in the circumstances of the homicide. Hence an instruction and form of verdict on second degree murder was proper. Second Question To Be Determined Was the defendant entitled to instructions on involuntary manslaughter and excusable homicide and to have submitted to the jury a verdict on involuntary manslaughter? This question is answered in the affirmative. The court had this identical question before it in Baker v. People, 114 Colo. 50, 160 P.2d 983, 986. In elaborating on the answer to the question posed, we can do no better than to cite a few excerpts from the Baker case where an instruction on excusable homicide was declared proper and was given, but an instruction on manslaughter was refused. The court said: In the case at bar, Vigil testified that he didn't think the gun was loaded and that he was merely waving it around to scare the decedent away and it went off accidently. The statute (C.R.S. '53, 40-2-7) defining involuntary manslaughter is: Here the defendant, who had reason to fear the decedent because of his previous experience with him, was entitled to use reasonable force and reasonable means to ward off any threatened harm to his person, and if this could have been accomplished by merely displaying the weapon, the drawing of the weapon could be considered by the jury as a proper and lawful act. With reference to the requested instruction on excusable homicide involving the accidental features of the case, this court said in the Baker case: Was the instruction as given on self-defense proper? *85 This question is answered in the negative. The court's instruction on self-defense was numbered 12 and is as follows: The first paragraph of this instruction does not correctly state the law under a plea of self-defense, and its submission to the jury was error. It is not clear what the court meant by stating that the instruction on self-defense is "only given in emergencies." It is not correct to state that the right to defend oneself is "given" (by law, natural or statutory) only in cases of emergency. We know of no authority to that effect. Thus the statement could only be confusing to the jury. Also that portion of the first paragraph limiting the right of self-defense to persons "who do not bring on the difficulty themselves" is too broad a statement. The law is that the one invoking the right of self-defense cannot be the aggressor or assailant, but the mere fact that one has interjected himself into a crowd or into a mild situation, does not deprive him of the right of self-defense if the situation, beginning with only an argument, develops to a point where he is being subjected to or threatened with, such physical violence that he might have to resort to justifiable homicide to protect his person. The statement in the instruction that the right (to defend himself) is based upon what a reasonable person would do is also misleading and confusing. The right of self-defense is a natural right and is based on the natural law of self-preservation. Being so, it is resorted to instinctively in the animal kingdom by those creatures not endowed with intellect and reason, so it is not based on the "reasonable man" concept. Although it is not generally the province of this court to formulate instructions, it has been stated as a good rule to couch instructions in the language of the statute so as to advise the jury of the law as it is, and is more to be desired than attempts to paraphrase the law. An instruction *86 containing C.R.S. '53, 40-2-13, 40-2-14, 40-2-15, in their entirety would be considered proper, omitting the section headings and reference numbers, not essential here. The three sections taken together read as follows: The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial.