Source: http://lawofselfdefense.com/law_case/people-v-elmore-59-cal-4th-121-ca-supreme-court-2014/
Timestamp: 2017-09-26 18:28:49
Document Index: 271182413

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 195', '§ 96', '§ 187', '§ 188', '§ 197', '§ 67', '§ 6', '§ 4', '§ 187', '§ 26', '§ 5', '§ 25', '§ 1026', '§ 1020', '§ 1026', '§ 795', '§ 4', '§ 187']

People v. Elmore, 59 Cal. 4th 121 (CA Supreme Court 2014) – Law of Self Defense
People v. Elmore, 59 Cal. 4th 121 (CA Supreme Court 2014)
59 Cal. 4th 121; 325 P.3d 951; 172 Cal. Rptr. 3d 413; 2014 Cal. LEXIS 3761; 14 Cal. Daily Op. Service 6052; 2014 Daily Journal DAR 6988; 2014 WL 2450813
Counsel: Eric R. Larson, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.
Judges: Opinion by Corrigan, J., with Cantil-Sakauye, C. J., Baxter, J., and Chin, J., concurring. Concurring and dissenting by Kennard, J., with Werdegar, J., and Liu, J., concurring*
Opinion by: Corrigan
A killing committed because of an unreasonable belief in the need for self-defense is voluntary manslaughter, not murder. “Unreasonable self-defense, also called imperfect self-defense, ‘obviates malice because that most culpable of mental states “cannot coexist” with an actual belief that the lethal act was necessary to avoid one’s own death or serious injury at the victim’s hand.’ (People v. Rios (2000) 23 Cal.4th 450, 461 [97 Cal. Rptr. 2d 512, 2 P.3d 1066].)” (People v. Beltran (2013) 56 Cal.4th 935, 951 [157 Cal. Rptr. 3d 503, 301 P.3d 1120].)
The prosecutor was no more successful at eliciting a coherent version of the events. Defendant said that when he was at the bus stop, “They said something to me.” He denied asking Suggs for money or being angry that she would not give him any. He admitted making the paintbrush into a weapon “after I got up. I was mad and scared.” He then said he did not know if he had made it and thought he picked it up in that condition. 1 He admitted stabbing Suggs, but claimed the act was unintentional. He denied trying to steal anything.
The prosecutor argued for first degree murder, relying on both malice aforethought and felony-murder theories. The defense requested jury instructions on unreasonable self-defense (CALCRIM No. 571), mistake of fact (CALCRIM No. 3406), and the effect of hallucination on the degree of murder (CALCRIM No. 627). The court refused those requests, but did tell the jury to consider the evidence of defendant’s mental illness in deciding whether he had acted with malice or the intent to rob Suggs. (CALCRIM No. 3428.)
The jury returned a first degree murder conviction. After the guilt phase, against the advice of counsel, defendant withdrew his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. On appeal, he challenged the court’s refusal to instruct on unreasonable self-defense and hallucination. The Court of Appeal summarily rejected his argument on unreasonable self-defense, relying on People v. Mejia-Lenares (2006) 135 Cal.App.4th 1437 [38 Cal. Rptr. 3d 404] (Mejia-Lenares) for the rule that the doctrine does not apply when belief in the need for self-defense arises solely from the defendant’s delusional mental state. However, the court held that the refusal to instruct on hallucination was prejudicial error. It remanded with directions for retrial or a conviction of second degree murder, at the prosecutor’s election. 2
Homicide, the killing of one human being by another, is not always criminal. In certain circumstances, a killing may be excusable or justifiable. (Pen. Code, § 195 et seq.; 3 see 1 Witkin & Epstein, Cal. Criminal Law (4th ed. 2012) Crimes Against the Person, § 96, pp. 885–886.) Murder and manslaughter are the forms of criminal homicide. “Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being … with malice aforethought.” (§ 187, subd. (a).) CA(2) (2) Malice aforethought may be express or implied. (§ 188.)
Self-defense, when based on a reasonable belief that killing is necessary to avert an imminent threat of death or great bodily injury, is a complete justification, and such a killing is not a crime. (§ 197, subd. 3; see 1 Witkin & Epstein, Cal. Criminal Law, supra, Defenses, § 67 et seq., p. 507 et seq.) A killing committed when that belief is unreasonable is not justifiable. Nevertheless, “one who holds an honest but unreasonable belief in the necessity to defend against imminent peril to life or great bodily injury does not harbor malice and commits no greater offense than manslaughter.” (People v. Flannel (1979) 25 Cal.3d 668, 672 [160 Cal. Rptr. 84, 603 P.2d 1] (Flannel).) We have also described this mental state as an “unreasonable but good faith belief” in the need for self-defense. (E.g., People v. Barton (1995) 12 Cal.4th 186, 199 [47 Cal. Rptr. 2d 569, 906 P.2d 531].) However, it is most accurately characterized as an actual but unreasonable belief. 4
“ ‘A person who actually believes in the need for self-defense necessarily believes he is acting lawfully.’ [Citation.] Because express malice requires an intent to kill unlawfully, a killing in the belief that one is acting lawfully is not malicious.[5] The statutory definition of implied malice does not contain similar language, but we have extended the imperfect self-defense rationale to any killing that would otherwise have malice, whether express or implied.” (People v. Anderson, supra, 28 Cal.4th at p. 782.) “A defendant who acts with the requisite actual belief in the necessity for self-defense does not act with the base motive required for implied malice … .” (Christian S., supra, 7 Cal.4th at p. 780, fn. 4; accord, People v. Blakeley, supra, 23 Cal.4th at p. 88.) 6 Unreasonable self-defense is “not a true defense; rather, it is a shorthand description of one form of voluntary manslaughter.” (People v. Barton, supra, 12 Cal.4th at p. 200.) Whenever there is substantial evidence that the defendant killed in unreasonable self-defense, the trial court must instruct on this theory of manslaughter. (Id. at p. 201.)
In Christian S., we concluded that HN8 the Legislature did not mean to abrogate unreasonable self-defense along with diminished capacity. (Christian S., supra, 7 Cal.4th at p. 783.) In reaching that conclusion, we firmly distinguished the two theories. “The doctrine of imperfect self-defense had a lineage independent of the notion of mental capacity set forth in Conley, supra, 64 Cal.2d 310. In Flannel … , supra, 25 Cal.3d 668, we traced the long development of the doctrine in California courts. (People v. Wells (1949) 33 Cal.2d 330 [202 P.2d 53]; People v. Lewis (1960) 186 Cal. App. 2d 585 [9 Cal. Rptr. 263]; Roads v. Superior Court (1969) 275 Cal. App. 2d 593 [80 Cal. Rptr. 169]; People v. Sedeno (1974) 10 Cal.3d 703 [112 Cal. Rptr. 1, 518 P.2d 913].) Indeed, 30 years before the diminished-capacity defense was allowed, a California court approved the imperfect self-defense doctrine: ‘ “[I]f the act is committed under the influence of an uncontrollable fear of death or great bodily harm, caused by the circumstances, but without the presence of all the ingredients necessary to excuse the act on the ground of self-defense, the killing is manslaughter” [citation].’ (People v. Best (1936) 13 Cal. App. 2d 606, 610 [57 P.2d 168].)” (Christian S., at p. 776.)
In Mejia-Lenares, supra, 135 Cal.App.4th 1437, the Court of Appeal relied on Christian S. in holding that purely delusional acts are excluded from the scope of unreasonable self-defense. The court noted that California cases involving delusional defendants tended to be treated under the rubric of diminished capacity, when that doctrine was viable, whereas cases involving factual misperceptions were analyzed in terms of unreasonable self-defense. (Mejia-Lenares, at pp. 1448–1449.) Mejia-Lenares reasoned that because unreasonable self-defense is “a species of mistake of fact (see [Christian S., supra, 7 Cal.4th] at p. 779, fn. 3) … it cannot be founded on delusion. In our view, a mistake of fact is predicated upon a negligent perception of facts, not, as in the case of a delusion, a perception of facts not grounded in reality.[7] A person acting under a delusion is not negligently interpreting actual facts; instead, he or she is out of touch with reality.” (Mejia-Lenares, at pp. 1453–1454.)
Defendant claims this limitation is inconsistent with our decision in People v. Wells, supra, 33 Cal.2d 330 (Wells). It is not; delusion was not a factor in Wells. Unlike most cases of unreasonable self-defense, Wells was not a homicide case but the prosecution of a prison inmate for assault with malice aforethought under section 4500. 8 (Wells, at p. 334.) Wells had been ejected from a disciplinary hearing for disrupting the proceedings. In the hall outside, he encountered the guard who had brought charges against him. Wells “seized a heavy crockery cuspidor and threw it” at the guard, severely injuring him. (Id. at p. 338.)
Defendant also places great weight on this statement in Flannel, supra, 25 Cal.3d 668: “No matter how the mistaken assessment is made, an individual cannot genuinely perceive the need to repel imminent peril or bodily injury and simultaneously be aware that society expects conformity to a different standard.” (Id. at p. 679, italics added.) Defendant contends delusions are necessarily included in Flannel’s expansive characterization of the misperceptions that may motivate an act of unreasonable self-defense. However, the comment on which he relies was predicated on a concept of malice that was central to the diminished capacity defense. The Legislature has specifically repudiated that concept. HN10 Section 188, as amended in 1981 and revised in 1982, declares that “[n]either an awareness of the obligation to act within the general body of laws regulating society nor acting despite such awareness is included within the definition of malice.” (See Stats. 1981, ch. 404, § 6, p. 1593; Stats. 1982, ch. 893, § 4, p. 3318.)
In Christian S., we observed that Flannel’s discussion of unreasonable self-defense “had two independent premises: (1) the notion of mental capacity set forth in Conley, supra, 64 Cal.2d 310, 322 [i.e., diminished capacity], and (2) a grounding in both well-developed common law and in the statutory requirement of malice (… § 187). The 1981 amendments make clear the Legislature intended to eliminate the notion of diminished capacity. Thus, that part of the reasoning in Flannel … is no longer valid. But, Flannel’s other premise was not affected by the amendments.” (Christian S., supra, 7 Cal.4th at p. 777; see Mejia-Lenares, supra, 135 Cal.App.4th at p. 1454.) Defendant seeks support from the part of Flannel’s discussion that is now invalid. In the surviving aspect of its analysis, based on the common law and statutory roots of unreasonable self-defense, Flannel incorporated the observation made in People v. Best, supra, 13 Cal. App. 2d at page 610, that HN11 unreasonable self-defense entails a reaction that is “‘“caused by the circumstances.”’” (Flannel, supra, 25 Cal.3d at p. 676; see Christian S., at p. 776.)
The phrase “caused by the circumstances” denotes a motivation arising from objective facts, not delusions. Accordingly, Flannel comports with our view that purely delusional perceptions of threats to personal safety cannot be relied upon to claim unreasonable self-defense. This understanding of the doctrine is consistently reflected in the decisions of other state courts. 9
Defendant asserts a statutory basis for his claim in section 28, subdivision (a) (hereafter, section 28(a)). This provision states that evidence of mental disorders is admissible “on the issue of whether or not the accused actually formed a required specific intent, premeditated, deliberated, or harbored malice aforethought, when a specific intent crime is charged,” a theory sometimes referred to as “diminished actuality.” (See People v. Mills (2012) 55 Cal.4th 663, 671 [147 Cal. Rptr. 3d 833, 286 P.3d 754] (Mills).) Section 28(a) bars evidence of the defendant’s capacity to form a required mental state, consistent with the abolition of the diminished capacity defense. 10
Under California’s statutory scheme, “[p]ersons who are mentally incapacitated” are deemed unable to commit a crime as a matter of law. (§ 26, par. Two.) Mental incapacity under section 26 is determined by the M’Naghten test for legal insanity provided in section 25, subdivision (b). (M’Naghten’s Case (1843) 8 Eng.Rep. 718, 722; People v. Phillips (2000) 83 Cal.App.4th 170, 173 [99 Cal. Rptr. 2d 448]; see Stats. 2007, ch. 31, § 5, pp. 138–139.) Under M’Naghten, insanity is established if the defendant was unable either to understand the nature and quality of the criminal act, or to distinguish right from wrong when the act was committed. (§ 25, subd. (b); Mills, supra, 55 Cal.4th at p. 671; People v. Skinner (1985) 39 Cal.3d 765, 775–777 [217 Cal. Rptr. 685, 704 P.2d 752] (Skinner).) 11
Thus, what defendant attempted here was to assert a claim of legal insanity at the guilt phase of his trial. That is not allowed under our statutes. Section 1026 sets out the applicable procedure when, as in this case, the defendant pleads both not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. The trial is bifurcated, with the question of guilt tried first. The defendant is presumed innocent, of course, but in order to reserve the issue of sanity for the second phase of trial the defendant is also conclusively presumed to have been legally sane at the time of the offense. (§ 1026, subd. (a); Mills, supra, 55 Cal.4th at p. 681.) 12 Evidence of the defendant’s mental state may not be admitted at the guilt phase to prove insanity. (§ 1020; Mills, at p. 672.) 13 If the defendant is found guilty, the trial proceeds to the sanity phase, where the defendant bears the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence. (§§ 1026, subd. (a), 25, subd. (b).) “The separation of the two stages of the bifurcated trial is solely for the purpose of keeping the issues of guilt and sanity distinct; for other purposes, the trial is regarded as single and continuing.” (5 Witkin & Epstein, Cal. Criminal Law, supra, Criminal Trial, § 795, p. 1227; see Wells, supra, 33 Cal.2d at p. 349.)
Section 28(a) allows defendants to introduce evidence of mental disorder to show they did not actually form a mental state required for guilt of a charged crime. But the scope of the diminished actuality defense is necessarily limited by the presumption of sanity, which operates at a trial on the question of guilt to bar the defendant from claiming he is not guilty because he is legally insane. This limitation was explored in Wells, supra, 33 Cal.2d 330. Although Wells predated the enactment of section 28, its analysisestablished the distinction between actual formation of a mental state and capacity to form a mental state that is now found in section 28(a). 14
However, the Legislature roundly rejected Wetmore’s invitation. It acted in 1981 to preserve the bifurcated trial statutes and eliminate the defense of diminished capacity. At the same time the Legislature codified, in section 28(a), the distinction between capacity and actuality that was drawn in Wells and disparaged in Wetmore. (Stats. 1981, ch. 404, § 4, p. 1592; see People v. Saille, supra, 54 Cal.3d at p. 1111.) 15 The following year, the voters adopted an initiative measure that again abolished the diminished capacity defense, and went further in the restoration of former law by reinstating the M’Naghten test for legal insanity. That standard had prevailed in California from the earliest days of our statehood until this court replaced it with an alternative formulation in People v. Drew (1978) 22 Cal.3d 333, 345 [149 Cal. Rptr. 275, 583 P.2d 1318]. (See Skinner, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 768; Saille, supra, 54 Cal.3d at p. 1112.)
The bifurcated approach offers substantial benefits to the defense. At the guilt phase, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt each element of the offense, including mens rea. The defendant has the opportunity to obtain an acquittal or a verdict on a lesser included offense, without having to claim insanity and risk the prospect of involuntary commitment for psychiatric treatment. The defense has available the panoply of strategies open to legally sane defendants, including unreasonable self-defense based on mistake of fact. It may choose to put on no evidence, or it may introduce any relevant and admissible evidence on the question of guilt. If the defendant is found not guilty, the trial is over. If there is a conviction, the trial moves to the second phase, devoted to the question of legal sanity. There the defendant bears the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence, and may be found not guilty by reason of insanity. This process affords the defense two chances at a favorable verdict.
Accordingly, a claim of delusional belief in the need for self-defense is reserved for the sanity phase, where it may result in complete exoneration from criminal liability. (M’Naghten’s Case, supra, 8 Eng.Rep. at p. 723; Skinner, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 781, fn. 13.) It may not be employed to reduce a defendant’s degree of guilt. When the Legislature enacted section 28, it certainly did not intend to allow defendants to do what the Wetmore court had permitted: argue first that their mental condition made them guilty of a lesser crime, and then that the same condition made them not guilty at all by reason of insanity. 16
KENNARD, J., * Concurring and Dissenting.—Murder requires malice. (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a) (all statutory citations are to the Penal Code).) Malice is lacking when a person kills in the reasonable belief that the killing is necessary to avert an imminent threat of death or great bodily injury (self-defense); because the killing is justified, no crime is committed. Malice is also lacking when a person kills in the unreasonable belief that self-defense is necessary, a concept known as “imperfect self-defense”; in that situation the killing is voluntary manslaughter, a lesser offense necessarily included in murder. (In re Christian S. (1994) 7 Cal.4th 768, 771 [30 Cal. Rptr. 2d 33, 872 P.2d 574] (Christian S.).) But what crime is committed when the unreasonable belief stems entirely from a delusion caused by a mental disorder? The majority says the crime is murder. I disagree. In my view, the offense is voluntary manslaughter. Although I agree with the majority that the trial court here properly rejected defendant’s request for a jury instruction on voluntary manslaughter based on imperfect self-defense, I do so for different reasons (see pt. III, post).
Sheldon Daniels (defendant’s uncle) and Deniece Bonner (Daniels’s girlfriend) testified that on the morning of the killing they saw defendant at the home of defendant’s grandmother; defendant seemed “excited and agitated” and acted as if he were “on sherm.” 1 They again saw defendant later that morning in a church parking lot. Bonner said that defendant did not talk rationally and for no apparent reason crawled under a car. Daniels and Bonner took defendant back to his grandmother’s home, where Bonner gave defendant seven dollars and some bus tokens. Defendant then left.
By Andrew Branca| 2016-03-27T13:19:45+00:00	March 27th, 2016|0 Comments