Opinion ID: 4173700
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Proper Meaning of “Intended”

Text: ¶36 “Deadly physical force” is defined as “force, the intended, natural, and probable consequence of which is to produce death, and which does, in fact, produce death.” § 18-1-901(3)(d). ¶37 Although it does not say so directly, the majority implicitly concludes that the term “intended” as used in the foregoing definition is ambiguous. From that premise, the majority proceeds to conclude that “intended” should be given an “objective implication” and defines the term “as referring to the consequence that would normally or typically be intended.” Maj. op. ¶ 16. For several reasons, I respectfully disagree with the majority’s construction. ¶38 First, I perceive no ambiguity in section 18-1-901(3)(d). “Intend” is ordinarily defined to mean, “[t]o have in mind a fixed purpose to reach a desired object; to have as one’s purpose.” Intend, Black’s Law Dictionary (10th ed. 2014); see also Intend, Webster’s Third New Int’l Dictionary (2002) (defining “intend” to mean, “to have in mind as a design or purpose”); cf. § 18-1-501(5), C.R.S. (2016) (providing that a person acts “intentionally” or “with intent,” for purposes of the culpable mental state requirement of certain offenses, “when his conscious objective is to cause the specific result proscribed by the statute defining the offense,” and stating that “[i]t is immaterial to the issue of specific intent whether or not the result actually occurred”). 5 ¶39 By referring to what the actor has “in mind,” the above-quoted definitions suggest that “intent” refers to the actor’s subjective mental state. This fully comports with what I believe to be the plain and ordinary meaning of the word “intend.” ¶40 Accordingly, I would construe “intended,” as that term is used in section 18-1-901(3)(d), to refer to the subjective state of mind of the actor who is using the deadly physical force. ¶41 Second, as noted above, in interpreting a statute, we must read the statutory scheme as a whole, giving consistent, harmonious, and sensible effect to all of its parts and avoiding constructions that would render any words or phrases superfluous. Doubleday, ¶ 20, 364 P.3d at 196. ¶42 The majority defines “intended” to refer to “the consequence that would normally or typically be intended.” Maj. op. ¶ 16. In my view, however, “the consequence that would normally or typically be intended” is simply another way of saying the “natural[] and probable consequence” of the action at issue. Accordingly, in defining “intended” as it does, the majority has effectively written the word “intended” out of the definition of “deadly physical force.” Specifically, as noted above, “deadly physical force” is defined as “the intended, natural, and probable consequence” of the act at issue. § 18-1-901(3)(d). In my view, the conjunctive “and” requires that all three of these elements be satisfied: “intended,” “natural,” and “probable consequence.” By defining “intended” as it has, the majority has essentially subsumed “intended” within the phrase “natural[] and probable consequence,” rendering the term “intended” 6 meaningless, or at least superfluous. This we cannot do. Doubleday, ¶ 20, 364 P.3d at 196. ¶43 For these reasons, I would conclude that the term “intended,” as used in section 18-1-901(3)(d), refers to the actor’s (here, Opana’s) subjective intent. Because it is undisputed that Opana’s evidence tended to show that he lacked the requisite intent to kill the victim, I believe that the division below correctly concluded that Opana was entitled to an ordinary force self-defense instruction.