Opinion ID: 575202
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Voluntary Manslaughter Jury Instruction

Text: 6 Appellant LaFleur contends that the district court erred by refusing to instruct the jury on voluntary manslaughter. 1 LaFleur argued at trial that he participated in the murder only as a result of duress inflicted by Holm, who allegedly held LaFleur at gunpoint and forced him to shoot Bloomquist. LaFleur contends that such duress legally mitigates murder to voluntary manslaughter, and that he was therefore entitled to a voluntary manslaughter instruction. 2 The Ninth Circuit has not yet resolved the issue of whether a district court's decision not to instruct a jury on the defendant's theory of the case is reviewed de novo or for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Whitehead, 896 F.2d 432, 434 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 342, 112 L.Ed.2d 306 (1990). Compare United States v. Wagner, 834 F.2d 1474, 1486 (9th Cir.1987) (de novo) with United States v. Busby, 780 F.2d 804, 806 (9th Cir.1986) (abuse of discretion). In this case the district court refused the instruction after concluding that duress was not a legal excuse for the crime of premeditated murder. We are, therefore, confronted with a legal question: whether or not duress is a valid defense to murder under 18 U.S.C. § 1111(a) such that it mitigates murder to voluntary manslaughter. This is an issue of first impression, and our review is de novo. United States v. McConney, 728 F.2d 1195, 1201 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 824, 105 S.Ct. 101, 83 L.Ed.2d 46 (1984) (legal questions reviewed de novo). 7 When a defendant commits a criminal act under the direct threat of another person, he commits the crime under duress. The duress defense, which provides the defendant a legal excuse for the commission of the criminal act, is based on the rationale that a person, when confronted with two evils, should not be punished for engaging in the lesser of the evils. 3 LaFave and Scott aptly describe the defense as follows: 8 One who, under the pressure of an unlawful threat from another human being to harm him ..., commits what would otherwise be a crime may, under some circumstances, be justified in doing what he did and thus not be guilty of the crime in question.... The rationale of the defense is not that the defendant, faced with the unnerving threat of harm unless he does an act which violates the literal language of the criminal law, somehow loses his mental capacity to commit the crime in question. Nor is it that the defendant has not engaged in a voluntary act. Rather it is that, even though he has done the act the crime requires and has the mental state which the crime requires, his conduct which violates the literal language of the criminal law is justified because he has thereby avoided a harm of greater magnitude. 9 LaFave & Scott, Substantive Criminal Law § 5.3 (1986) (footnotes omitted). 10 The choice of evils rationale for the duress defense is strained when a defendant is confronted with taking the life of an innocent third person in the face of a threat on his own life. The choice of evils rationale necessarily presumes that the threatened harm to the defendant is greater than the resulting harm from the defendant's commission of the crime. When the defendant commits murder under duress, the resulting harm--i.e. the death of an innocent person--is at least as great as the threatened harm--i.e. the death of the defendant. For this reason, the common law rejected duress as a defense to murder. See LaFave & Scott § 5.3 (Duress cannot justify the intentional killing of ... an innocent third person.); 40 Am.Jur.2d, Homicide § 119 (1968); 40 C.J.S. Homicide § 113 (1944); 4 W. Blackstone, Commentaries  30; Witkin, Cal.Crim. 231(b); United States v. Mitchell, 725 F.2d 832, 835 n. 4 (2nd Cir.1983); Arp v. State, 97 Ala. 5, 12 So. 301 (1893). 11 Our review of state law indicates that the majority of states considering the issue has adopted the common law rule. See, e.g., Ariz.Rev.Stat.Ann. § 13-412(C); Colo.Rev.Stat. § 18-1-708; Ga.Code Ann. § 16-3-26; Ind.Code § 35-41-3-8; Kan.Stat.Ann. § 21-3209; La.Rev.Stat.Ann. § 14:18(6); Me.Rev.Stat.Ann. tit. 17-A, § 103-A; Mo.Rev.Stat. § 562.071; Or.Rev.Stat. § 161.270; Wash.Rev.Code § 9A.16.060; 4 Tully v. State, 730 P.2d 1206, 1208 (Okla.Crim.1986); People v. Feldmann, 181 Mich.App. 523, 449 N.W.2d 692, 697 (1989); State v. Robinson, 294 S.C. 120, 363 S.E.2d 104, 104 (1987); People v. Dittis, 157 Mich.App. 38, 403 N.W.2d 94, 95 (1987); State v. Vines, 317 N.C. 242, 253, 345 S.E.2d 169, 175 (1986); State v. Finnell, 101 N.M. 732, 737, 688 P.2d 769, 774, cert. denied, 469 U.S. 918, 105 S.Ct. 297, 83 L.Ed.2d 232 (1984). 12 In support of his argument that he was entitled to a manslaughter instruction, LaFleur relies on United States v. Alexander, 695 F.2d 398 (9th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 462 U.S. 1108, 103 S.Ct. 2458, 77 L.Ed.2d 1337 (1983), in which the district court had read the following instruction: Acts causing death but committed under duress and without malice aforethought may constitute voluntary manslaughter. Id. at 401. The issue in Alexander was the conflict between that instruction and one stating: Coercion or duress may provide a legal excuse for the crime of robbery. It is not a legal excuse for the crime of murder. This court, on appeal, specifically refused to reach the question of whether the voluntary manslaughter instruction was properly given. Instead, the court decided the issue on harmless error grounds. Id. (court finding that a jury's guilty verdict on felony murder indicated that jury did not believe a duress/coercion defense, and that therefore any conflict between the instructions was harmless). Therefore, Alexander does not support LaFleur. 13 We are persuaded that duress is not a valid defense to § 1111(a) first degree murder. We believe that, consistent with the common law rule, a defendant should not be excused from taking the life of an innocent third person because of the threat of harm to himself. This, however, does not directly answer the question before us. LaFleur argues essentially that, even if duress is not a complete defense to § 1111(a) murder, it can act to mitigate murder to voluntary manslaughter. 5 We have found no compelling authority for LaFleur's proposition, and, after careful consideration, we reject it. We hold that duress cannot legally mitigate murder to manslaughter. The same rationale which dictates that duress is not a complete defense to murder demands that duress not be used by a defendant to mitigate the intentional killing of an innocent third person. Therefore, the district court did not err in denying LaFleur's request for a manslaughter instruction.