Title: Smith v. State
Citation: 558 P.2d 39, 89 N.M. 770
Docket Number: 11007
State: new-mexico
Issuer: new-mexico Supreme Court
Date: December 27, 1976

558 P.2d 39 (1976) 89 N.M. 770 Antonio Chuck SMITH, Petitioner, v. STATE of New Mexico, Respondent. No. 11007. Supreme Court of New Mexico. December 27, 1976. *40 Chester H. Walter, Jr., Chief Public Defender, Bruce L. Herr, Appellate Defender, Don Klein, Assistant Appellate Defender, Santa Fe, for petitioner. Toney Anaya, Atty. Gen., Ralph W. Muxlow II, Asst. Atty. Gen., Santa Fe, for respondent. MONTOYA, Justice. This cause is before us on a writ of certiorari directed to the New Mexico Court of Appeals in State v. Smith (filed May 18, 1976), 89 N.M. 777, 558 P.2d 46 (Ct. App. 1976), which affirmed a conviction of defendant for the crime of voluntary manslaughter. The pertinent facts, as set forth in the opinion of the Court of Appeals in State v. Smith, supra, are as follows: The defendant had appealed his conviction to the Court of Appeals claiming that the evidence was insufficient to sustain a conviction of manslaughter; that there was no evidence of provocation, or of the absence of malice. He also claimed error in the court's instruction, being N.M.U.J.I. Crim. 2.20. The Court of Appeals, in its opinion, upheld the challenged jury instruction and specifically held that provocation is not an element of voluntary manslaughter. It also relied on ch. 199, § 1, [1937] N.M. Laws 522, which permits the conviction of a lesser degree, even though the evidence shows the accused to be guilty of a higher degree of homicide. The issues presented for review are as follows: (1) Whether a conviction for voluntary manslaughter may validly be sustained when the defendant was acquitted of second degree murder and the record does not contain any evidence that the defendant acted upon a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion, or upon such provocation that would reduce the degree of homicide from murder to manslaughter. Resolution of this major issue depends in part upon resolution of the subordinate questions of: We first consider whether it was proper to submit the issue of voluntary manslaughter to the jury when there is no evidence of a sudden quarrel or heat of passion, as is required by the statutory definition of that offense. Section 40A-2-3, N.M.S.A. 1953 (2d Repl.Vol. 6, 1972), reads in pertinent part: It follows logically and obviously from the definition that, in order to convict of voluntary manslaughter, the jury must have evidence that there was a sudden quarrel or heat of passion at the time of the commission of the crime (in order, under the common law theory, to show that the killing was the result of provocation sufficient to negate the presumption of malice; see, e.g., R. Anderson, Wharton's Criminal Law and Procedure § 242 at 522 (1957)). The transcript of record is barren of any such evidence of provocation. Neither party contends that there was any sudden quarrel or heat of passion of any kind involved in the circumstances surrounding the killing in this case. In fact, the Court of Appeals admitted that "[t]he evidence in this case is that defendant's participation *42 in the killing was in the absence of provocation and, thus, with malice. The evidence proves murder, not voluntary manslaughter." The case of State v. Trujillo, 27 N.M. 594, 203 P. 846 (1921), is dispositive of this point. In that case, the New Mexico Supreme Court reversed a conviction of voluntary manslaughter under circumstances markedly similar to those presently before the court, stating (27 N.M. at 601, 603, 203 P. at 849): The Court of Appeals did not follow State v. Trujillo, supra, and sought to distinguish it by stating (89 N.M. at 779, 558 P.2d at 48): The passage from the denial of Burrus' motion for a rehearing upon which the Court of Appeals relies is as follows (38 N.M. at 470, 35 P.2d at 290): The Court of Appeals, emphasizing the penultimate sentence in this paragraph, apparently interpreted this to mean that the crime of voluntary manslaughter is a prosecutorial catch-all that if the State proves the commission of an unlawful killing but fails to prove malice (so as to prove murder), there is automatically, without more, proof of manslaughter. This is not unqualifiedly true, as this court recognized long ago in United States v. Densmore, 12 N.M. 99, 104-105, 75 P. 31, 32 (1904): In order properly to evaluate the reasoning of the Burrus case, supra, when we are considering the propriety of submitting the issue of manslaughter in the instant case, it is necessary to consider the evidence that was submitted in both cases. When we affirmed the conviction for voluntary manslaughter in the Burrus case, we did not have the same problem with the evidence which confronts us in the instant case. In Burrus, there was an abundance of evidence of provocation which is entirely lacking in this case. Under appropriate circumstances, i.e. under a charge of murder where there is evidence "that the defendant acted as a result of sufficient provocation," then a charge of manslaughter could properly be said to be "included" in a charge of murder, and, accordingly, it would not be error to submit N.M.U.J.I.Crim. 2.20 to the jury. However, it cannot seriously be maintained that manslaughter is invariably "necessarily included" in murder. Different kinds of proof are required to establish the distinct offenses. This is not a situation where the lesser-included-offense instruction was warranted by the evidence; it is error under State v. Trujillo, supra, to submit it contrary to the evidence, and such error is not cured by any reading of State v. Burrus, supra, where there was evidence that the killing was committed upon a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion. Apparently the Court of Appeals concluded that by holding that provocation was not an "element" of manslaughter, it was removing the necessity of evidence of provocation to sustain a voluntary manslaughter conviction. This cannot be done. The New Mexico statute on its face and in its historical operation defines voluntary manslaughter as the unlawful killing of a human being without malice committed upon a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion. In this sense, provocation is indeed an "element" of manslaughter, as indeed it is in the ordinary meaning of the word. Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged (1971), defines element in part as: Whether termed factor or condition or constituent principle, it is clear that provocation is a part of voluntary manslaughter. Use of the word "element" is misleading, however, in that it suggests that it is necessarily part of the State's initial burden of proof. In this limited (and misleading) sense of the word, it is true that provocation will not in every case be an "element" of manslaughter. Provocation might be admitted, as is the case when the highest degree of homicide charged is that of voluntary manslaughter. See Committee Commentary to N.M.U.J.I.Crim. 2.21. It is not necessary for the disposition of this case to rule unequivocally either that provocation is or is not an "element" of voluntary manslaughter. There must be some evidence that the killing was committed "upon a sudden quarrel" or in the "heat of passion" in order for a conviction of voluntary manslaughter to stand; so much is clearly required by our statute. *44 We believe it is a cardinal principle in criminal law that a jury may not be permitted to return a verdict of guilty for the commission of a particular crime when there is no evidence that such a crime was committed. The only instructions which should be submitted to the jury are those that are based on legitimate evidence. In State v. Pruett, 27 N.M. 576, 203 P. 840 (1921), 21 A.L.R. 579 (1922), we held that it was reversible error to submit the issue of involuntary manslaughter where all of the evidence and all of the inferences therefrom showed that the killing was intentional, and cited, in support of the conclusion, the following (27 N.M. at 591-592, 203 P. at 845-846, 21 A.L.R. at 588-589): In State v. Lopez, 79 N.M. 282, 442 P.2d 594 (1968), where we were also considering a conviction for manslaughter, we again approved the rule as enunciated in State v. Trujillo, supra, by stating (79 N.M. at 286, 442 P.2d at 598): It is to be noted that in State v. Lopez, supra, there was evidence which warranted the submission of an instruction on voluntary manslaughter, while in the instant case there was none. The contention that N.M.U.J.I.Crim. 2.20 violates due process, as contended by the defendant, need not be decided since we have determined that the instruction was erroneously given, and a reversal of the trial court's action must necessarily follow. It is interesting to note that the defense made no objection to the giving of such an instruction at the trial. The last contention needing resolution is that the invalid conviction cannot be sustained by ch. 199, § 1, [1937] N.M. Laws 522, entitled "An Act Providing That Jury May Convict of Lesser Degree in Offenses *45 Consisting of Different Degrees, and That Such Conviction Shall Stand Though Evidence Shows Guilt of Higher Degree," reads in pertinent part as follows: The history of this provision is a tortured one. The 1937 legislature enacted it; the Supreme Court adopted the identical language as a rule of criminal procedure [§ 41-13-1, N.M.S.A. 1953, (Repl. Vol. 6 1964)]. Ten years later the legislature attempted to repeal the 1937 statute (see ch. 175, § 1 [1947] N.M. Laws 364), but Tindall v. Bryan, 54 N.M. 112, 215 P.2d 354 (1949), held the attempted repeal invalid. In 1972, our rule compiled as § 41-13-1, supra, was repealed. The statute has never been repealed, although it has never been included in the compilation, and apparently remains in effect since Tindall v. Bryan, supra, declared the 1947 statute "inoperative to change, or in any way affect any of the laws sought to be thereby repealed." Before its repeal, § 41-13-1, supra, was used on occasion to uphold manslaughter convictions where the defendant claimed that the evidence in the case proved either murder or no felonious homicide at all. State v. Cochran, 79 N.M. 640, 447 P.2d 520 (1968); State v. McFall, 67 N.M. 260, 354 P.2d 547 (1960); State v. Griego, 61 N.M. 42, 294 P.2d 282 (1956). The Court of Appeals in the instant case cited these cases and the original text of the 1937 statute to bolster its argument that the defendant's conviction could be affirmed despite the lack of evidence of the sudden quarrel or heat of passion that is the distinguishing feature of voluntary manslaughter. This cannot be done. In the first place, neither Cochran, McFall, nor Griego, supra, stands for the proposition for which they are cited, i.e., that the 1937 statute could be used to sustain a jury verdict of guilty of voluntary manslaughter where there was no evidence that the crime had been committed. In all three of those cases, there was sufficient evidence of sudden quarrel or heat of passion (e.g., violent argument, assault, the brandishing of weapons) to require affirmance of the convictions regardless of the 1937 statute. In the second place, neither these New Mexico cases nor the 1937 statute nor any other authority could make lawful a conviction for a crime not shown by the evidence to have been committed. Such a result is contrary to the fifth amendment guarantees of due process of law and the explicit mandate of In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 90 S. Ct. 1068, 25 L. Ed. 2d 368 (1970), and the more recent case of Vachon v. New Hampshire, 414 U.S. 478, 94 S. Ct. 664, 38 L. Ed. 2d 666 (1974). In that case the United States Supreme Court reversed the defendant's conviction of willfully contributing to the delinquency of a minor because there was a complete lack of evidence tending to prove the "essential component" of willfullness. The court said (414 U.S. at 480, 94 S. Ct. at 665, 38 L.Ed.2d at 669): So here, for the reasons already discussed, defendant's conviction may not be allowed to stand. Neither may any statute which purports to authorize an appellate court to sustain a conviction unsupported by the evidence be approved. Chapter 199, § 1, [1937] N.M. Laws 522, is invalid to the extend that it authorized a conviction for a lesser-included offense when no evidence is contained in the record to prove the essentials of the elements of the offense of which the defendant stands convicted. According to § 40A-2-3, supra, "voluntary manslaughter consists of manslaughter committed upon a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion." According to State v. Trujillo, supra, a conviction of voluntary manslaughter where there is no evidence that there was a sudden quarrel or heat of passion must be reversed, and the defendant discharged. Therefore, defendant's conviction of voluntary manslaughter in this case, where there was no evidence of a sudden quarrel or heat of passion, must likewise be reversed and defendant discharged. Evidence of a sudden quarrel or heat of passion, tending to show provocation sufficient to negate malice and reduce the degree of felonious homicide from murder to manslaughter is, by this analysis, indispensable to a conviction for voluntary manslaughter. It is clear from the record that a verdict of guilty of murder would have been supported by substantial evidence. However, the jury acquitted the defendant of this degree of homicide, and, erroneously instructed, convicted him of a crime which he did not commit. This was an unfortunate mistake, but the remedy does not lie in affirming the unlawful conviction. On the basis of the foregoing, we must hold that the judgment of conviction is erroneous; that the decision of the Court of Appeals should also be reversed and the cause be remanded with instructions to set aside the judgment of the trial court, dismiss the cause, and discharge the defendant. IT IS SO ORDERED. OMAN, C.J., and McMANUS and SOSA, JJ., concur. EASLEY, J., not participating.