Opinion ID: 1842908
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: identical offense instructions

Text: Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-19(2)(f) (Supp. 1991) reads: § 97-3-19. Homicide; murder defined; capital murder ... . (2) The killing of a human being without the authority of law by any means or in any manner shall be capital murder in the following cases: ... . (f) When done with or without any design to effect death, by any person engaged in the commission of the crime of felonious abuse and/or battery of a child in violation of subsection (2) of section 97-5-39, or in any attempt to commit such felony; This statute authorizes a conviction of capital murder if Butler was engaged in the crime of a felonious child abuse, whether or not she intended to kill the infant. Killing the baby in the commission of this crime of itself authorized a conviction under this statute. Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-27 (1972) reads: § 97-3-27. Homicide  killing while committing felony. The killing of a human being without malice, by the act, procurement, or culpable negligence of another, while such other is engaged in the perpetration of any felony, except rape, burglary, arson, or robbery, or while such other is attempting to commit any felony besides such as are above enumerated and excepted, shall be manslaughter. This statute authorizes a conviction of manslaughter for a killing in the course of the commission of a crime except rape, burglary, arson or robbery, even though there was no intent to kill. The killing of this baby in the commission of felonious child abuse authorizes a conviction under this statute. Felonious child abuse is defined under Miss. Code Ann. § 97-5-39(2) (Supp. 1991): § 97-5-39. Contributing to the neglect or delinquency of a child; felonious abuse and/or battery of a child. ... . (2) Any person who shall intentionally (a) burn any child, (b) torture any child or, (C) except in self-defense or in order to prevent bodily harm to a third party, whip, strike or otherwise abuse or mutilate any child in such a manner as to cause serious bodily harm, shall be guilty of felonious abuse and/or battery of a child and, upon conviction, may be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not more than twenty (20) years. (Emphasis added) Thus, for Butler's criminal offense there are two criminal statutes, one authorizing a conviction of capital murder, and the other manslaughter. Butler requested and was refused an instruction authorizing her conviction under Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-27. The State argued such an instruction would confuse the jury. The State did agree to a heat of passion manslaughter instruction. If Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-19(2)(f) required, in order to convict, that the killing have been intentional, then clearly Butler would have been entitled to a manslaughter instruction based on Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-27 as a lesser included offense, the only ingredient lacking being intent. Should she be deprived of such instruction when the statutes, as in this case, are for all intents and purposes identical? Mease v. State, 539 So.2d 1324, 1329-30 (Miss. 1989); see also Mackbee v. State, 575 So.2d 16, 23 (Miss. 1990); Harper v. State, 478 So.2d 1017, 1021 (Miss. 1985). It is well established that where there are two separate criminal statutes for the same offense, the State has a choice of deciding the statute under which to prosecute. Rowland v. State, 531 So.2d 627, 631-32 (Miss. 1988); Craig v. State, 520 So.2d 487, 491 (Miss. 1988); Cumbest v. State, 456 So.2d 209, 223 (Miss. 1984). It is also settled that in such cases the accused is not entitled to have the jury instructed on the statute carrying the lesser penalty. Identical offenses do not authorize lesser included offense instructions. Rowland, 531 So.2d at 631-32. We do not depart from these principles in the general run of criminal prosecutions. In this case, however, we have a defendant who, under the capital murder statute, was sentenced to death when there was another criminal statute for the same offense with the maximum penalty of twenty years imprisonment. Compare Miss. Code Ann. §§ 97-3-25 (1972), 97-3-21 (Supp. 1991). We conclude that Butler was entitled to have the jury instructed that she could be convicted under Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-27, the manslaughter statute. For over a half century, this Court has approved circuit courts granting heat of passion manslaughter instructions to the State in a homicide prosecution which is either murder or justifiable homicide committed in lawful self defense, and there is no element whatever of a heat of passion slaying under Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-35 (1972). See Mease v. State, 539 So.2d at 1338 (Hawkins, P.J., concurring). [3] It is not an even-handed administration of justice in turn to deny the defense a manslaughter instruction where the accused, as is the case here, could have been lawfully indicted and prosecuted for manslaughter as easily as capital murder. And especially is this true where one verdict can bring a sentence of death and the other a maximum of twenty years imprisonment. Indeed, we do not think any prosecuting attorney should have it in his power to prosecute a defendant for capital murder when the same offense could be prosecuted under a statute with a less severe penalty and also prevent a jury from considering whether she should be found guilty only under the statute carrying the lesser punishment. Our conclusion is fortified in that Miss. Code Ann. § 99-17-20 (Supp. 1991), a criminal procedure statute in capital murder cases, contains a provision authorizing such an instruction: The judge, in cases where the offense cited in the indictment is punishable by death, may grant an instruction for the state or the defendant which instructs the jury as to their discretion to convict the accused of the commission of an offense not specifically set forth in the indictment returned against the accused. [4]