Opinion ID: 1693138
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: law manslaughter instruction

Text: Barnett's first assignment of error is the refusal of the circuit court to grant requested instruction D-17: The Court instructs the Jury that if you find beyond a reasonable doubt that Robert Harmon III died as a result of being shot by Charles Darren Barnett while Charles Darren Barnett acted in the heat of passion and not in necessary self-defense, then you should find Charles Darren Barnett not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-35 (1972) provides: The killing of a human being, without malice, in the heat of passion, but in a cruel or unusual manner, or by the use of a dangerous weapon, without authority of law, and not in necessary self-defense, shall be manslaughter. The issue of self defense was fully presented to the jury both in the State's and defense's instructions. The only question then is whether there was not a deliberate slaying but rather one induced by the heat of passion. A deliberate slaying can be justified, of course, if done in lawful self defense. But was this slaying carried out as a result of a provoked rage? Barnett did not testify, and the only account we have of the slaying is his statement to the officer and the testimony of eyewitnesses. There simply is no evidence upon which any jury could rationally conclude that Barnett shot Harmon as a result of provoked rage. There was no gross insult, and the two were not engaged in physical combat. In Preston v. State, 25 Miss. 383 (1853), we held: It is laid down, that the law having a regard for the frailty of human nature, will not put an act done upon a sudden impulse and in the heat of passion on the same footing in regard to guilt, with a deed deliberately performed. The indulgence shown by the law in such cases, proceeds on the supposition, that the reason or judgment of the party perpetrating the act has been temporarily suspended or overthrown by the sudden access of violent passion. But a high degree of sudden and resentful feeling will not alone palliate an act of homicide committed under its influence. It is essential that the excited and angry condition of the party committing the act, which would entitle him to the milder consideration of the law, should be superinduced by some insult, provocation, or injury, which would naturally and instantly produce, in the minds of ordinarily constituted men, the highest degree of exasperation.... [emphasis added] Id. at 387. Again, addressing manslaughter, we held in Calvin v. State, 175 Miss. 699, 168 So. 75 (1936): The law of Mississippi is liberal on what constitutes manslaughter on the facts, and makes considerable allowance for the frailties of human passion; ... There must not only be passion and anger to reduce a crime to manslaughter, but there must be such circumstances as would indicate that a normal mind would be roused to the extent that the reason is overthrown and that passion usurps the mind destroying judgment. [emphasis added] Id. at 703, 168 So. at 76. In Windham v. State, 520 So.2d 123, 127 (Miss. 1987), following a description of the various forms of homicide, we concluded that as to manslaughter, Ordinarily, whether such a slaying is indeed murder or manslaughter is a question for the jury. Having regard for the frailty of human nature, Preston v. State, supra , and the liberality of giving a manslaughter instruction when there is any credible evidence to support it, we have nevertheless held in Cook v. State, 467 So.2d 203 (Miss. 1985): It is certainly true that in a murder prosecution manslaughter instructions should not indiscriminately be given. Heat of passion being an affirmative element of manslaughter not present in murder, that type of manslaughter instruction should not be given unless there is substantial evidence to support it. Fairchild v. State, 459 So.2d 793, 801-802 (Miss. 1984). [emphasis added] Cook, at 209. We conclude, as we must, that there simply was no evidence in this record to support a manslaughter instruction.