Opinion ID: 590329
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Failure to Instruct Jury on Defense Theories

Text: 36 Hendricks argues that the trial judge erred in refusing to give four requested jury instructions. These refusals, Hendricks claims, rendered his trial fundamentally unfair in violation of his right to due process under the fourteenth amendment. 37 A faulty jury instruction will constitute a violation of due process only where the instruction by itself infects the entire trial to such an extent that the resulting conviction violates due process. Cupp v. Naughten, 414 U.S. 141, 147, 94 S.Ct. 396, 400, 38 L.Ed.2d 368 (1973). Where the alleged error is the failure to give an instruction the burden on the petitioner is especially heavy. Henderson v. Kibbe, 431 U.S. 145, 97 S.Ct. 1730, 52 L.Ed.2d 203 (1977). 38 Hendricks' first assertion of jury instruction error concerns a requested claim of right instruction. Three of the four special circumstances alleged in Hendricks' case involved felony murders. Each of the alleged felonies involved some form of theft. At trial, Hendricks requested an instruction informing the jury that one could not intend to deprive another of his property if the taker believed in good faith that he had a right or claim to the property. Hendricks argued that the money he took from his victims was owed him for prostitution services. The trial judge, affirmed by the California Supreme Court, rejected the proposed instruction on the state law ground that the claim of right defense is inapplicable to claims based on prostitution. Because this is purely of an issue of state law which the California Supreme Court has resolved against Hendricks, the issue is not cognizable on federal habeas. Estelle v. McGuire, --- U.S. at ----, 112 S.Ct. at 480. 39 Hendricks also requested an instruction informing the jury that the special circumstances existed only if Hendricks had harbored an intent to steal before committing the homicides. Hendricks argues that in returning a robbery special circumstance in the Parmer murder but not in the Haynes murder, the jury was compromising due to confusion about the required mental states. In addressing this claim, the California Supreme Court found that Hendricks' proposed instruction might have confused the jury and noted that Hendricks made no attempt to redraft the instruction. Hendricks, 44 Cal.3d at 643, 244 Cal.Rptr. 181, 749 P.2d 836. Moreover, the Court found that the instructions given by the trial judge adequately covered the issue of the time of the formation of the intent to steal. Id. We agree with this analysis. 40 Third, Hendricks argues that the trial judge erred in refusing to give an involuntary manslaughter instruction. Hendricks argues that his confession indicated that he did not harbor the requisite mental state for murder. Accordingly, he claims, the requested instruction was needed. Under California law, a trial judge need not give a requested instruction for which there is no substantial evidence in support. People v. Flannel, 25 Cal.3d 668, 684-85, 160 Cal.Rptr. 84, 603 P.2d 1 (1979). Involuntary manslaughter requires an unintentional killing and, as the California Supreme Court noted, the evidence in the case did not support such a finding: 41 [D]efendant shot Parmer six times at point-blank range, the last three times as he lay on the floor unconscious; he shot Haynes five times at point-blank range, the last three times as he lay prone on the bed. 42 Hendricks, 44 Cal.3d at 643, 244 Cal.Rptr. 181, 749 P.2d 836. 43 Finally, Hendricks requested but was denied a jury instruction concerning the required mental state for felony murder and for multiple murder. Hendricks argues that such an instruction was required by Carlos v. Superior Court, 35 Cal.3d 131, 197 Cal.Rptr. 79, 672 P.2d 862 (1985). He contends that application of People v. Anderson, 43 Cal.3d 1104, 240 Cal.Rptr. 585, 742 P.2d 1306 (1987), which overruled Carlos concerning jury instructions as to intent, to his case violates certain of his constitutional rights. As Hendricks notes, this court in Hunt v. Vasquez, 899 F.2d 878 (9th Cir.1990), has already rejected this argument.