Opinion ID: 2289577
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: instructions respecting intoxication.

Text: Defendant claims error in the following instruction, [T]he consumption of alcoholic liquor, that is the mere drinking by an individual in no way excuses that individual from the consequences of any crime that he commits, and in this case if you find that there was any consumption of alcoholic beverage by this Defendant, either before or after or during or at the time of the alleged incident, I say to you that the consumption of alcoholic beverage in no way excuses or minimizes the responsibility of any individual who commits an offense and so you will not consider that as a defense to any offense, if in fact you find that any offense was committed by this Defendant. and in the Court's refusal to instruct the jury to the effect that, if it found the defendant did consume liquor, the jury may find that the intoxicating liquor while not an excuse for the crime could be a defense in that it may have impaired his ability to form the specific intent required for the perpetration of the offense of burglary charged in the indictment, to wit, the specific intent to commit rape. The defendant was charged with burglary in that he broke and entered in the nighttime the dwelling house of L. D. while she was lawfully therein, with the intent to commit the felonious offense of rape. The crime of burglary as charged against Smith required proof beyond a reasonable doubt that at the time of his unlawful breaking and entering of the L. D. home he entertained the specific intent to commit rape. This specific intent is an essential element of the crime of burglary under 17 M.R.S.A. § 751. Its absence at the time of the breaking and entering would disprove or negate the commission of the crime. Our Court did say in State v. Arsenault, 1956, 152 Me. 121, 124 A.2d 741, that voluntary intoxication is not an excuse for crime, except in those cases where knowledge or specific intent are necessary elements. The mere fact that a defendant may have been drinking prior to the commission of the offense charged against him does not establish intoxication. In order for intoxication to constitute a valid defense the evidence must show that the defendant's inebriated condition under the circumstances was so great as to render him incapable of entertaining or formulating the specific intent essential to the crime charged. Clarke v. State, 1968, 3 Md.App. 447, 240 A.2d 291. To be relieved from responsibility for criminal acts, a defendant must not only appear to be under the influence of intoxicating beverages which may under the circumstances lower his threshold of inhibitions or stir in him the impulse to criminal adventures, but his condition must reveal such a degree of complete drunkenness that he is on account of it incapable of forming the requisite intent essential to the commission of the crime charged. State v. Guiden, 1970, 46 Wis.2d 328, 174 N.W.2d 488; People v. Gonzales, 1968, 40 Ill.2d 233, 239 N.E.2d 783. Before a court is required or justified in giving an instruction submitting to the jury the issue, whether the defendant's condition of inebriety was such as to destroy his mental capacity of having, entertaining or formulating a particular specific intent, there must be evidence upon which to base such an instruction. Unless there was evidence which tended to prove that the mental condition of the defendant from drunkenness was such, at the time of his breaking and entering of the L. D. home, that he was not capable of having the intent to rape, then an instruction upon that subject as requested by the defendant was unauthorized, and the Court below committed no error in failing to give such an instruction. Brennon v. Commonwealth, 1916, 169 Ky. 815, 185 S.W. 489; People v. Turville, 1959, 51 Cal.2d 620, 335 P.2d 678, 686. In the instant case, the evidence falls far short of showing any mental incapacity from drunkenness to entertain the specific intent of rape at the time of the breaking and entering. The evidence as a whole proves that Smith was in sufficient possession of his faculties to enable him to remember the details of his criminal activity, including his assertion that, although he had attempted to rape Miss L. D., he did not think that he had accomplished this. We have examined the record and are satisfied that, although there was evidence to the effect that the defendant had been drinking, this evidence did not show that the defendant was so intoxicated as to prevent him from forming an intent to rape at the time he broke and entered the L. D. home. The defendant in his points of appeal raised other grounds of error. He claims that the Court erred in admitting the testimony of Dr. Powell; in its failure to declare a mistrial for violation of its sequestration order; in restricting the defense in its argument respecting intoxication while permitting the State to comment thereon; in refusing to instruct the jury sufficiently concerning an apparent state of confusion in the return of the verdict; in the denial of its motion for new trial based on the defendant's claim of accumulation of errors. We have examined the record with care and have considered each ground of error raised. None is meritorious. The entry must be Appeal denied. MARDEN, J., sat, but retired before this opinion was adopted.