Opinion ID: 1712035
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Entitlement to an Instruction Based upon Evidence Having to do with Matters other than Intoxication

Text: Putting to one side for the moment the issue of intoxication, we see no reasonable theory that would have supported a charge on felony murder. The evidence showed that Casey McWhorter, Lee Williams, and Daniel Minor carefully planned and carried out the crime. They had planned the crime at least three weeks before they carried it out. In addition, McWhorter and Minor lay in wait for hours at the victim's house and made silencers for the weapons while they waited for him to arrive home. In addition, again putting to one side for the moment the issue of intoxication, we see no reasonable theory that would support a charge on the lesser included offense of intentional murder. As the Court of Criminal Appeals held, the evidence would support no theory on which the jury could have found an intentional murder but not a robbery. That court noted that McWhorter made no argument as to why the trial court should have charged the jury on intentional murder. Lee Williams had told McWhorter that the victim would have cashed his paycheck that day and therefore would have a large sum of money on his person and that, if McWhorter would kill him, McWhorter could have the money. In his statement, McWhorter said that Lee Williams told him that his father kept money on him at all times and that McWhorter and Minor could take the money for killing his father. In Ex parte Myers, 699 So.2d 1285, 1290-91 (Ala.1997), the defendant argued that the trial court erred in not instructing the jury on the lesser included offense of felony murder because, he argued, the evidence showed that he intended to rob, not to kill, the victim. This Court held that the defendant was not entitled to a felony-murder instruction because he did not present any evidence indicating that he did not intend to kill the victim. Similarly, McWhorter presented no evidence indicating that he did not intend to kill the victim. In fact, there was testimony indicating that McWhorter had agreed to kill the victim in exchange for any money the victim would have on his person that night. The evidence shows that McWhorter intentionally and consciously planned to rob and murder the victim. Therefore, McWhorter was not entitled to an instruction on felony murder, and the trial court did not err in refusing to give such an instruction, unless to refuse it was error in light of the issue of intoxication.