Opinion ID: 2510247
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: attempted voluntary manslaughter may be a crime in new mexico

Text: {16} Jurisdictions that have considered whether attempted voluntary manslaughter exists are split. 40 Am.Jur.2d Homicide, § 48 (2004). Jurisdictions that recognize attempted voluntary manslaughter as a crime do so because if circumstances can mitigate an intentional killing, and reduce it from an intentional murder to voluntary manslaughter, it is logical to reduce an attempted intentional murder to attempted voluntary manslaughter when similar circumstances are present but the defendant fails to carry out his intent. See People v. Van Ronk, 171 Cal.App.3d 818, 217 Cal.Rptr. 581, 585 (1985) (There is nothing illogical or absurd in a finding that a person who unsuccessfully attempted to kill another did so with the intent to kill which was formed in the heat of passion or which arose out of an honest but unreasonable belief in the necessity of self-defense.); see also State v. Norman, 580 P.2d 237, 240 (Utah 1978) overruled on other grounds by State v. Standiford, 769 P.2d 254 (Utah 1988); State v. Barnes, 162 Ariz. 92, 781 P.2d 69, 70 (Ct.App.1989); State v. Rainey, 154 N.C.App. 282, 574 S.E.2d 25, 30 (2002); Kauffman v. State, 729 So.2d 424, 425 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1999); Ex parte Buggs, 644 S.W.2d 748, 750 (Tex.Crim.App.1983) (en banc). {17} Jurisdictions that refuse to recognize attempted voluntary manslaughter as a crime do so because they conclude it would be illogical to apply the crime of attempt, a specific intent crime, to the general intent crime of voluntary manslaughter. See State v. Howard, 405 A.2d 206, 212 (Me.1979) (The crime of manslaughter ... is predicated upon a different mental state from that found in the attempt statute.... Because of the discrepancy in culpable mental states between criminal attempt on the one hand and manslaughter on the other, the proffered crime of `attempted manslaughter' is a logical impossibility.); see also People v. Brown, 21 A.D.2d 738, 739, 249 N.Y.S.2d 922 (N.Y.App. Div.1964); Westbrook v. State, 722 So.2d 788, 792 (Ala.Crim.App.1998); State v. Loa, 83 Hawai`i 335, 926 P.2d 1258, 1273 (1996); People v. Martinez, 81 N.Y.2d 810, 595 N.Y.S.2d 376, 611 N.E.2d 277, 278 (1993); Curry v. State, 106 Nev. 317, 792 P.2d 396, 397 (1990); People v. Stevenson, 198 Ill.App.3d 376, 144 Ill.Dec. 555, 555 N.E.2d 1074, 1078 (1990). {18} Although we have implicitly recognized attempted voluntary manslaughter as a crime, we have never squarely held it exists in New Mexico. See State v. Stampley, 1999-NMSC-027, ¶ 48, 127 N.M. 426, 982 P.2d 477 (remanding for a new trial on the charge of attempted first-degree murder by deliberate killing, to include instructions on attempted second-degree murder by intentional killing and attempted voluntary manslaughter); State v. Durante, 104 N.M. 639, 643, 725 P.2d 839, 843 (Ct.App.1986) (finding defendant was not entitled to attempted voluntary manslaughter instruction when defendant created the provocation that would reduce the crime from murder to manslaughter). As in other jurisdictions that have specifically considered whether attempted voluntary manslaughter is a crime, our holding today turns on whether voluntary manslaughter is a specific intent or a general intent crime. We agree that it is illogical to apply attempt, a specific intent crime, to a general intent crime. State v. Johnson, 103 N.M. 364, 367-68, 707 P.2d 1174, 1177-78 (Ct.App.1985). Generally speaking, voluntary manslaughter is a general intent crime. See State v. Beach, 102 N.M. 642, 645, 699 P.2d 115, 118 (1985) (holding, as a matter of statutory definition, that voluntary manslaughter does not contain an element of intent to do a further act or achieve a further consequence). However, voluntary manslaughter is second-degree murder committed with sufficient provocation. See State v. Aragon, 35 N.M. 198, 292 P. 225 (1930). While second-degree murder is commonly held to be a general intent crime in New Mexico, see State v. Campos, 1996-NMSC-043, ¶ 38, 122 N.M. 148, 921 P.2d 1266, second-degree murder has been held to be a specific intent crime under limited circumstances. Johnson, 103 N.M. at 370, 707 P.2d at 1180 (holding that where a defendant fire bombed a mobile home intending to kill someone inside, but knowing that his act created the requisite probability of death or great bodily harm with respect to unknown persons inside, defendant's act could constitute sufficient evidence to convict him of attempted second-degree murder as to the unknown persons). Thus, for the same reasons that in some limited circumstances second-degree murder can be a specific intent crime, see id., under similar limited circumstances voluntary manslaughter may also be a specific intent crime if provocation is at issue. Under such limited circumstances, it is logical to offer an attempted voluntary manslaughter instruction where the court finds it appropriate to offer an attempted second-degree murder instruction and sufficient provocation is an issue. {19} The trial court in this case, over the State's objection, instructed the jury on attempted second-degree murder. An appropriate instruction for attempted second-degree murder would consist of an instruction on attempt, UJI 14-2801 NMRA, immediately followed by the elements for second-degree murder, UJI 14-210 NMRA. See UJI 14-2801 NMRA note 1; Johnson, 103 N.M. at 370-71, 707 P.2d at 1180-81. This sequence for instructing the jury on attempted second-degree murder adequately instructs the jury on attempted second-degree murder as a specific intent crime. Id. at 371, 707 P.2d at 1181. Here, we are persuaded the trial court instructed the jury on attempted second-degree murder as a specific intent crime. Otherwise, it would have been error for the court to instruct the jury on attempted second-degree murder, see id., and the appropriate step-down instruction from attempted first-degree murder would have been aggravated battery. State v. Meadors, 121 N.M. 38, 44, 908 P.2d 731, 737 (1995). {20} We hold that under limited circumstances, where attempted second-degree murder is offered as a greater-included offense and sufficient provocation is at issue in the trial, attempted voluntary manslaughter is a crime in New Mexico. Among the elements of the jury instruction for attempted second-degree murder was the requirement that the jury find [t]he defendant did not act as a result of sufficient provocation. This language is included in a second-degree murder instruction only when provocation is an issue. UJI 14-210 NMRA, use note 1. When provocation is at issue, an instruction on voluntary manslaughter must be given. UJI 14-210 NMRA, use note 4. Therefore, the trial court should have instructed the jury on attempted voluntary manslaughter if it found evidence of sufficient provocation.