Opinion ID: 1454512
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Intoxication and Specific Intent Instructions.

Text: Appellant asserts that the trial court erred by not fully instructing the jury on the law concerning specific intent and intoxication. Although the trial court gave an instruction essentially stating the content of I.C. § 18-116, [10] appellant argues that the lengthier instructions approved in State v. Hall, 111 Idaho 827, 727 P.2d 1255 (Ct.App.1986), should have been given. We disagree and hold that the intoxication instruction given adequately stated the law. Enno sought to prove that he was so intoxicated that he lacked the requisite specific intent to commit murder in the first or second degree. In State v. Sprouse, 63 Idaho 166, 118 P.2d 378 (1941), this Court reduced a murder conviction to voluntary manslaughter because [w]hile his voluntary intoxication is no excuse for his act, it is to be taken into consideration in determining the existence or non-existence ... of malice aforethought which distinguishes murder from voluntary manslaughter. Id. at 170, 118 P.2d at 379. It is well established in Idaho that the degree to which intoxication affects intent is a question to be resolved and determined by the jury. State v. Gratiot, 104 Idaho 782, 663 P.2d 1084 (1983); State v. Gailey, 69 Idaho 146, 204 P.2d 254 (1949). In the instant case the trial court followed the statutory language of I.C. § 18-116 when instructing on intoxication and intent. The instruction reads as follows: YOU ARE INSTRUCTED THAT there is an Idaho statute as follows: No act committed by a person while in a state of voluntary intoxication is less criminal by reason of his having been in such condition. But whenever the actual existence of any particular purpose, motive or intent is a necessary element to constitute any particular species or degree of crime, you may take into consideration the fact the accused was intoxicated at the time, in determining the purpose, motive, or intent with which he committed the act. Whether or to what extent the defendant was under the influence of intoxicants is for you to decide. In State v. Hall, 111 Idaho 827, 727 P.2d 1255 (Ct.App.1986), the trial court added an additional instruction explaining the effect of I.C. § 18-116 on specific intent. [11] The Idaho Court of Appeals held that the two instructions when read together were adequate to state the law. Although the additional instruction given in Hall further explained the relationship between intoxication and specific intent more than is stated in I.C. § 18-116, we note that the instructions given by the trial court in the instant case, when read together and considered as a whole, adequately explain the law and set forth defendant's theory of the case. Instructions that adequately and correctly state and explain the law are sufficient. See State v. Gailey, 69 Idaho 146, 204 P.2d 254 (1949); cf. Fish Breeders of Idaho, Inc. v. Rangen, Inc., 108 Idaho 379, 383, 700 P.2d 1, 5 (1985); McBride v. Ford Motor Co., 105 Idaho 753, 760, 673 P.2d 55, 62 (1983). The lengthier instruction approved in Hall does not add any new law, but merely further explained the effect that intoxication may have on intent, premeditation and malice. Those issues were adequately covered by other instructions given by the trial court. Such an instruction as approved in Hall would not have been improper, but in light of the instructions actually given by the trial court in the instant case would have been unnecessary. Requested instructions, even if correct statements of the law, need not be given if the subject matter is adequately covered in other given instructions. State v. Aragon, 107 Idaho 358, 690 P.2d 293 (1984). Considering and reading instructions as a whole we hold that the law concerning the effect of intoxication on specific intent, premeditation and malice, was adequately covered and correctly stated. The jury only need be adequately instructed on the law applicable to the case as was done by the trial court in this case. The trial court is not required to give a complete dissertation on criminal law to the jury, State v. Reel, 19 Idaho 463, 113 P. 721 (1911), and therefore, we find no error in the intoxication instructions.