Opinion ID: 2521471
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Defense Requested Instructions Should Have Been Given and the Errors Require Reversal of Cassels' Conviction

Text: Cassels presented sufficient evidence at trial to support his requested instructions on provocation and the doctrine of no-retreat. The trial court erred by refusing to give his requested instructions or tailor them appropriately. The trial court's errors require Cassels' conviction to be reversed.
Cassels presented evidence to support each statutory factor of the second-degree murder mitigator. First, on the night of the shooting, Cassels told a detective that he just lost it and was so angry that he just freaked out. The prosecution concedes that this evidence sufficiently supports Cassels' claim that he shot Morris upon a sudden heat of passion. Second, Cassels presented evidence to support that his actions were caused by a serious and highly provoking act sufficient to excite an irresistible passion in a reasonable person. Cassels testified that Morris followed him around the apartment, pushing and shoving him and threatening to beat him severely enough to require hospitalization. Moreover, Morris positioned himself in front of the only exit from the apartment and next to an iron bar that he previously said would make a good weapon. Morris insulted Cassels repeatedly, calling him a mooch, a low-life scum, and a loser, among other things. Cassels was naked during the entire incident, with only a towel wrapped around his body. He was therefore in a highly vulnerable position. Toxicology tests conducted after the shooting showed that Morris was highly drunk on the evening of the shooting, which supports Cassels' claim that Morris was acting like a wild man. Taken together, this evidence is sufficient to allow the jury to determine whether Morris' actions amounted to an adequate provocation. Third, there is evidence that supports Cassels' claim that between the provocation and the shooting, an insufficient interval of time passed for the voice of reason and humanity to be heard. Cassels testified that only seconds lapsed between the initial provoking act and the time of the shooting. In addition, Cassels retrieved the gun from within the small apartment and therefore only traveled a small distance before opening fire on Morris. And, Morris' body was still positioned in front of the exit and adjacent to the iron bar after the shooting. This tends to show that the shooting took place during the course of the incident and before Cassels had time to regain self-control. This evidence is sufficient to allow the jury to consider whether Cassels had cooled-off at the time of the shooting. Considering the evidence in the light most favorable to Cassels, Mata-Medina, 71 P.3d at 979, we conclude that he presented sufficient evidence in support of each factor of the mitigator. See Rowe v. People, 856 P.2d 486, 492 (Colo.1993) (holding that defendant was entitled to raise the issue of provocation as a sentence mitigator, and to receive a jury instruction on heat of passion, where defendant was charged with first-degree assault for shooting the victim through a locked door in response to obscenities and pounding on the door). Therefore, the trial court erred by refusing to instruct the jury on provocation. Mata-Medina, 71 P.3d at 979 (quoting Read, 119 Colo. at 509, 205 P.2d at 235).
The trial court refused to instruct the jury on the doctrine of no-retreat because it misconstrued the law, and not because the instruction was unwarranted by the facts of the case. First, the trial court concluded that an instruction on retreat is only appropriate when the defendant is the initial aggressor. Second, the trial court determined that the standard self-defense instruction was sufficient, and that therefore, giving an additional instruction on retreat would be redundant. Third, the trial court considered the instruction, as tendered, to be inappropriate. The trial court's reasons for refusing to instruct the jury on the doctrine of no-retreat contravene our precedent. We have specifically held that the standard self-defense instruction, like the one given in this case, does not adequately apprise the jury that a defendant who is not the initial aggressor does not need to retreat before using force in self-defense. Idrogo, 818 P.2d at 756. We have also specifically held that the trial court must tailor the self-defense instruction in light of the particular facts of the case. Garcia, 28 P.3d at 347. And, we have held that the trial court should not refuse to give an instruction because of the particular wording the defendant selected. Idrogo, 818 P.2d at 757. Moreover, the facts of this case support giving a no-retreat instruction. It is undisputed that Cassels was not the initial aggressor. Despite the conclusion of the trial court and court of appeals in this case, it is precisely in this circumstance that a defendant is entitled to an instruction on the doctrine of no-retreat. See Toler, 9 P.3d at 350-51. In addition, the trial court imposed an aggravated sentence based, in part, on its finding that Cassels could have ran out the door, or, when he went to his room to retrieve the gun, he could have shut the door, put on clothes, and barricaded himself in his room. The trial court's findings show that a reasonable jury could have similarly concluded that Cassels had an opportunity to escape the situation but chose not to. Lastly, the prosecution characterized the events leading up to the shooting in a way that could influence a reasonable jury to infer that Cassels could have escaped the situation, but chose to engage in violence instead. In arguing that Cassels acted in deliberation and was therefore guilty of first-degree murder, the prosecution told the jury that Cassels made a conscious decision to retrieve his gun and a conscious decision to return to the living room with the gun. The prosecution also told the jury that Morris did not follow Cassels into his room. This suggested to the jury that Cassels could have sought safety from Morris in his bedroom rather than defending himself. After reviewing the record in the light most favorable to Cassels, Mata-Medina, 71 P.3d at 979, we conclude that the facts of the case support an instruction on the doctrine of no-retreat; therefore, the trial court erred in refusing to give the instruction. We must now determine whether the trial court's error was harmless. When the trial court errs in refusing a defense-requested self-defense instruction that is justified by the evidence, we reverse the conviction and remand for a new trial unless the error does not affect substantial rights of the defendant and is therefore harmless. Garcia, 28 P.3d at 344, 348. We conduct our inquiry in light of the entire trial record to ascertain whether it can be said with fair assurance that the error did not substantially influence the verdict or impair the fairness of the trial. Cordova v. People, 817 P.2d 66, 74 (Colo.1991). The trial court found that the jury should consider the question of whether Cassels' use of force against Morris was justified and therefore ruled that Cassels was entitled to a self-defense instruction. The facts of this case raised the issue of retreat. Even the trial court concluded that Cassels could have escaped from the danger of the incident but chose not to. However, the trial court failed to tailor Cassels' self-defense instruction to address the issue of retreat. Garcia, 28 P.3d at 347. Thus, although Cassels received a self-defense instruction, the jury could have inferred that Cassels was not entitled to an acquittal on grounds that he should have retreated or otherwise attempted to escape the situation. In light of the entire trial record, we cannot conclude with fair assurance that the trial court's failure to properly instruct the jury on the applicable law of self-defense did not deprive Cassels of the right to an acquittal on the ground of self-defense. Cordova, 817 P.2d at 74; Idrogo, 818 P.2d at 756. We conclude that the instruction error regarding the doctrine of no-retreat was not harmless because there is a reasonable probability that the error contributed to Cassels' conviction.