Opinion ID: 2547520
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Instruction on EED

Text: In concluding that Driver was not entitled to an EED instruction because there was no evidence presented that Driver first learned of Vera's extramarital affair immediately preceding (or on the same day of) the altercation, the majority implicitly retreats into the antiquated heat of passion doctrine. However, [although EED is essentially a restructuring of the old common law concept of `heat of passion,' the evidence needed to prove EED is different. Greene v. Commonwealth, 197 S.W.3d 76, 81 (Ky.2006). No case better illustrates the liberalization of the evidentiary threshold than Thomas v. Commonwealth, 170 S.W.3d 343 (Ky.2005). In Thomas, this Court concluded that the defendant was entitled to an EED instruction due, in part, to an event that did not occur immediately preceding (or on the same day of) the altercation. In that case, the defendant shot two fellow bar patrons after they viciously beat him while he waited outside for a taxi, causing him to lose consciousness at one point and blood to explode from his surgically repaired left eye. Id. at 348. Importantly, the defendant's eye had been injured at some point prior to this incident when he was mugged in a hotel parking lot in Florida. Id. at 347. We considered the previous mugging relevant to whether there was a reasonable justification or excuse [trigger] under the circumstances as he believed them to be and held that the trial court erred by refusing to instruct on EED. Id. at 350 (internal quotations omitted). Here, even though the record does not exactly identify when Driver learned of the affair, it is undisputed that the altercation arose while arguing about the affair. In light of Thomas (and common sense), then, there was sufficient evidence for the jury to believe that Driver first learned of the affair immediately preceding (or on the same day of) the altercation. Simply put, such a conclusion could reasonably be drawn from the fact that the fight stemmed from an argument about the affair.