Title: Ex Parte McCree
Citation: 554 So. 2d 336
Docket Number: N/A
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: September 16, 1988

554 So. 2d 336 (1988)
Ex parte Michael Leon McCREE.
(Re Michael Leon McCree v. State of Alabama).
87-353.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
September 16, 1988.
Rehearing Denied November 18, 1988.
Rick Harris and Stephen R. Glassroth of Moore, Kendrick, Glassroth, Harris &amp; White, Montgomery, for petitioner.
Don Siegelman, Atty. Gen., and Jean Williams Brown, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.
JONES, Justice.
The petitioner, Michael Leon McCree, was convicted for manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 years in prison under Alabama's firearms enhancement statute (Ala. Code 1975, § 13A-5-6(a)(5)).[1]
Because the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed without an opinion, 519 So. 2d 1385 (1987), McCree's "Request for Statement of Additional Facts," pursuant to Rule 39(k), A.R.A.P., is substantially reproduced below as the statement of facts (we have checked the petitioner's Rule 39(k) statement of additional facts against the record and find it to be correct in all material aspects):
"On Wednesday, November 27, 1985, James Groomster suffered a gunshot wound to the head that ultimately resulted in his death. McCree was convicted *337 of manslaughter for the death of Groomster.
"McCree does not keep a round in the chamber of his pistol and could only explain its having been loaded by noting that Groomster had handled the pistol on several occasions before the incident. After the shooting, McCree told the other two friends at the apartment to call the paramedics and the police. He then went immediately to his home to tell his wife what had happened, and to return with her to the scene, stating he was *338 afraid she would become hysterical. [McCree testified at trial that he based his fear for his wife's emotional reaction on her previous inability to handle a situation in which he had been injured.]
McCree was convicted of manslaughter, a Class C felony, pursuant to § 13A-6-3(a)(1)[2]: "A person commits the crime of manslaughter if he recklessly causes the death of another person."
We granted the petition to review the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals regarding the issue of the propriety of sentencing McCree pursuant to Ala.Code 1975, § 13A-5-6 (specifically, § 13A-5-6(a)(5), which, along with subsection *339 (a)(4), was added by amendment in 1981). Section 13A-5-6(a) reads:
McCree argues that subsections (4) and (5), which enhance the sentence for the commission of a felony involving the use of a firearm or deadly weapon, apply only to the sentencing of those defendants found guilty of a felony whose commission required an intent to use or to attempt to use a weapon in the furtherance of the offense.
Section 13A-2-2 sets out the definitions of "culpable mental states":
McCree advances two arguments in support of his contention that the trial court erred in applying the enhancement provision of § 13A-5-6(a)(5) to the computation of McCree's sentence. First, says McCree, the language of § 13A-5-6(a)(5) allows enhancement of a sentence only when a defendant is convicted of a felony that involves the use or the attempt to use a weapon "in the commission of [that] felony." McCree contends:
McCree next argues that the element of intent is a necessary element of any felony to which the enhancement statute is sought *340 to be applied in order for the statute to have a deterrent effect on the use of weapons, especially firearms, in the commission of a felony. McCree further contends:
Rocker v. State, 443 So. 2d 1316, 1321-22 (Ala.Crim.App.1983) (emphasis supplied by McCree's brief in support of petition).
The stated purpose of subsections (4) and (5), says McCree, can not be accomplished unless intent is an element of the felony to which those subsections are applied. There is no protection from violent criminals, no warning to potential criminals not to use firearms in the commission of a felony, and no removal of dangerous criminals from society if the enhancement statute is applied to felonies where the underlying mental state is mere recklessness instead of intent to use a firearm to further the commission of a felony.
The State, relying on Holloway v. State, 477 So. 2d 487 (Ala.Crim.App.1985), maintains that the application of § 13A-5-6(a)(5) is mandatory, the only requirement for its application being that the jury find that the defendant used a firearm in the commission of a Class B or Class C felony.
In Holloway, the defendant, convicted of manslaughter, maintained that § 13A-5-6(a)(5) was improperly applied to his sentence because the evidence at trial established that the victim initiated the use of the weapon. The defendant testified that the victim went into another room and returned with a rifle, demanding that the defendant leave. The defendant attempted to take the rifle from the victim and they fought over possession of it. During the fight, the rifle discharged, wounding the defendant and killing the victim.
The Court of Criminal Appeals, in Holloway, affirmed the trial court's application of § 13A-5-6(a)(5), and held:
The State argues that Holloway clearly establishes that the only requirement for the application of § 13A-5-6(a)(5) to the petitioner is that he used a firearm in the commission of this Class C felony and, thus, that the Court of Criminal Appeals' judgment of affirmance of McCree's enhanced punishment is due to be affirmed. We disagree.
Contrary to the holding in Holloway that "the only requirement for application of § 13A-5-6(a)(5) is that the jury must find that the defendant used a firearm in the commission of a Class B or C felony," the resolution of this issue requires a two-step process. First, implicit in the language of § 13A-5-6(a)(5)"a firearm or deadly weapon was used or attempted to be used in the commission of the felony"is the requirement that the underlying felony for which the defendant is convicted have, as one of its necessary elements, the element of intentional criminal conduct. Therefore, McCree's reckless or negligent conduct, which resulted in manslaughter, while sufficient to supply *341 the criminal scienter to support a conviction for a Class C felony, does not require a finding that he intentionally used the firearm to commit the felony, and thus can not support the application of § 13A-5-6(a)(5). In other words, reading § 13A-5-6 as a whole, we must construe subsection (a)(5) to mean that convictions for those underlying felonies that are committed without the intentional use of a deadly weapon do not fall within the category of convictions that invoke the enhancement provision of this statute.
Second, "enhancement," as that word is used to describe the effect of § 13A-5-6(a)(5),[3] necessarily means that in addition to the culpability of the offense for which the defendant has been convicted, the defendant's conduct is necessarily the result of a higher degree of culpability, because of the jury's finding that a "firearm or deadly weapon was used or attempted to be used in the commission of the felony." Indeed, the use of a deadly weapon to commit the underlying felony is the classic situation intended by the legislature to invoke the enhanced penalty.
Here, the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter. By virtue of that finding, that McCree recklessly caused the death of his friend, the jury eliminated the element of McCree's intentional use of a firearm as a means to take human life. The culpability of McCree for recklessness was established by the jury's verdict. Otherwise, the guilty verdict would have reflected a higher degree of unlawful homicide. (Indeed, the indictment specifically charged McCree with manslaughter under § 13A-6-3(a)(1) and not with a higher degree of criminal culpability.) Therefore, the trial court was without authority to sentence McCree under an enhancement statute that, by its terms, is invoked only by a degree of culpability higher than that for which McCree had been found guilty.
Whether every manslaughter conviction would require the same holding as here (the inapplicability of § 13A-5-6(a)(5)), we need not decide. But, under the facts of the instant case, the jury's verdict of manslaughter (pursuant to § 13A-6-3(a)(1)) necessarily precluded any finding that McCree possessed the requisite intent to use his firearm in the commission of the felony with which he was charged and convicted. Therefore, McCree's conviction of manslaughter, under the totality of the circumstances, failed to invoke the application of the enhancement provisions of § 13A-5-6(a)(5).
We hold that the Court of Criminal Appeals erred in affirming the trial court's use of § 13A-5-6(a)(5) in sentencing McCree. Therefore, its judgment is reversed, and this cause is remanded to the Court of Criminal Appeals for the entry of an order consistent with this opinion.
Further, our review of the facts in Holloway, supra, and of the Court of Criminal Appeals' decision in that case, brings us to the same conclusion as that reached in the instant appeal. Therefore, the case of Holloway v. State, 477 So. 2d 487 (Ala.Crim. App.1985), to the extent that it is in conflict with this opinion, is hereby overruled.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
SHORES, ADAMS and STEAGALL, JJ., concur.
ALMON, J., concurs in the result.
TORBERT, C.J., and MADDOX and BEATTY, JJ., dissent.
MADDOX, Justice (dissenting).
I believe that the legislature intended what the statute says: "[I]n a Class B or Class C felony in which a firearm is used or attempted to be used in the commission of a felony, [the sentence shall be] not less than 10 years." (Emphasis added.) The legislature intended to establish a minimum sentence in every case where a firearm is used, or attempted to be used, in the commission of a Class B or C felony. The *342 culpability of the defendant in committing the offense only applies to the guilt phase of the trial, and whether the felony is classified as either a Class A, Class B, or Class C felony. I agree with the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals in Holloway v. State, 477 So. 2d 487 (Ala.Crim.App. 1985), that "[t]he only requirement for application of § 13A-5-6(a)(5) is that the jury find that the defendant used a firearm or deadly weapon in the commission of a Class B or C felony." (Emphasis added.)
The effect of this opinion could be to eliminate the minimum sentence provision of § 13A-5-6(a)(5) in most cases involving Class B or C felonies, because many of these felonies do not require that the crime be committed "intentionally." Based on the foregoing, I must respectfully dissent.
TORBERT, C.J., concurs.
[1]  The petitioner served the trial court with a written motion to bar the use of the enhancement provisions in determining his sentence. The trial court denied the motion in open court.
[2]  Although not applicable to the instant case, § 13A-6-3(b) was amended, effective August 12, 1987, to substitute "Class B felony" for "Class C felony." See, also, "Code Commissioner's note" to § 13A-6-3, as amended.
[3]  Although the drafters of § 13A-5-6(a)(5) and (6) did not use the word, it is apparent from a careful reading of those subsections, within the context of the entire section, that they were intended as "enhancement" provisions.