Court Opinion

ID: 9850919
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:04:11.980648+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:45.492036
License: Public Domain

Carley, Justice,
dissenting.
I agree with the majority to the extent that it holds that, in a proper case, the trial court should give a charge on the battered person syndrome. I also agree with the majority as to the phraseology of the charge which should be given. However, I cannot agree with the majority that the judgment in this case should be reversed and, accordingly, I must respectfully dissent.
As the majority acknowledges, the “battered person syndrome” is not itself a “defense,” but only refers to a certain type of evidence which has some limited relevancy in elucidating a justification defense. In this state, a person is justified in threatening or using force against another “when and to the extent that he reasonably believes that such threat or force is necessary to defend himself or a third person against such other’s imminent use of unlawful force . . . .” (Emphasis supplied.) OCGA § 16-3-21 (a). As our prior cases clearly hold, battered person syndrome evidence is admissible for the limited purpose of illustrating the defendant’s reasonable belief that the victim’s use of unlawful force was imminent, even though the victim’s use of unlawful force was not, in fact, imminent. See also OCGA § 16-3-21 (d). The battered person syndrome cannot constitute a separate “defense,” since no one is ever justified in committing a present homicide because of past physical abuse. The law acknowledges self-defense as justification, but not revenge. However, evidence of past physical abuse can be relevant to show that the defendant had a rea*202sonable, but incorrect, belief in the imminence of additional physical abuse at the hands of the victim and that, therefore, she was presently justified in acting in self-defense. Battered person syndrome evidence is admissible, not as a separate defense, but in connection with a self-defense claim “as evidence of whether [the defendant] acted in fear of [his or] her life. . . .” Sanders v. State, 251 Ga. 70, 74 (3) (303 SE2d 13) (1983). Any defendant who claims self-defense is entitled “to prove the crimes previously committed against him to show his intent and motive in defending himself.” Daniels v. State, 248 Ga. 591, 593 (1) (285 SE2d 516) (1981). Likewise, any defendant who claims self-defense based upon the battered person syndrome is entitled to offer evidence thereof to show the reasonableness of the belief that the use of force was necessary to defend against the victim’s use of imminent unlawful force. In either event, “[t]he jury can decide, when informed of all the circumstances surrounding the attack, whether the defendant’s actions meet the [reasonable person] standard.” Daniels v. State, supra at 593 (1). Evidence that the defendant suffered from battered person syndrome is only another “circumstance” which, if believed by the jury, would authorize a finding that a reasonable person, who had experienced prior physical abuse such as was endured by the defendant, would reasonably believe that the use of force against the victim was necessary, even though that belief was, in fact, erroneous.
Because battered person syndrome evidence has a limited evidentiary relevancy, I agree with the majority that, upon the filing of a proper request, the defendant is entitled to have the jury instructed in that regard. See generally Harrell v. State, 241 Ga. 181, 186 (2) (243 SE2d 890) (1978). Moreover, I agree that the charge proposed in the majority opinion is an appropriate charge to be given. This charge properly highlights the relevancy of the battered person syndrome evidence, not the evidence itself. Such an impartial and non-argumentative charge given by the trial court, coupled with argument by counsel for both parties as to the weight to be given to the battered person syndrome evidence, allows the jury to make an informed, but objective, determination as to the claim of self-defense.
Unless a proper request is made, however, it is never error to fail to charge on the limited relevancy of evidence. Harrell v. State, supra. Accordingly, this case must be resolved on the basis of a review of the refused requests made by the defendant. If the defendant made a request similar to the one proposed by the majority and the principles of that request were not otherwise charged by the trial court, then the trial court erred in not so charging the jury. In the absence of such a refused request, however, there was no error.
As the majority notes, the defendant’s three refused requests all were drawn from language in prior opinions of this Court. However, *203the language employed in an appellate court’s opinion may embody a sound statement of law and still be too argumentative to qualify as an appropriate jury instruction. Stull v. State, 230 Ga. 99, 104 (4) (196 SE2d 7) (1973). The first of the defendant’s refused requests was:
Expert testimony regarding the battered woman’s syndrome authorizes a jury to find that, notwithstanding any lapse of time since the husband’s last assault, the defendant honestly was trying to defend herself although her husband was not at the moment physically attacking her.
(Emphasis supplied.) Assuming that this is a correct statement of the law, it nevertheless also is a highly argumentative assertion that the battered person syndrome evidence “authorizes” a finding in favor of the defendant. Unlike the charge now proposed by the majority, the defendant’s refused request argumentatively focuses upon the battered person syndrome evidence itself, rather than upon the neutral legal principle of the limited relevancy of that evidence to the claim of self-defense. “[A] trial court is not required, ‘even after request, to specifically point out particular evidence in behalf of the defendants which the jury should specially consider.’ [Cit.]” Chester v. State, 267 Ga. 9, 12 (2) (471 SE2d 836) (1996). “It is not error to refuse to charge where the request is argumentative, summing up facts favorable to the defendant’s theory of innocence. [Cit.]” Johnson v. State, 235 Ga. 486, 490 (1) (220 SE2d 448) (1975). “It is not error to refuse to give a requested charge which is argumentative or favors one party’s position by applying facts as legal principles. [Cit.]” Camp v. State, 181 Ga. App. 714, 716 (2) (353 SE2d 832) (1987). What the evidence “authorizes” a jury to find is a proper subject for argument by counsel, whereas the trial court’s charge should be confined to neutral principles of law.
While it might properly form a portion of the argument of counsel, and contains many reasons and suggestions which might have weight with the jury, it would be going outside of the proper limits for the judge to use such language in instructing the jury upon the law of the case.
Miles v. State, 93 Ga. 117, 122 (4) (19 SE 805) (1894).
The second of the defendant’s three refused requests was the following:
You are authorized to consider the testimony of an expert witness as to whether or not the defendant suffered from the battered woman syndrome to assist you in evaluating her *204defense [of] self-defense. In this regard, you may consider the testimony of an expert witness on the battered woman syndrome to help explain why a person suffering from the battered woman syndrome would not leave her mate, would not inform the police, family or friends of her mate’s abusive treatment and would fear aggression against herself.
The first sentence of this refused request is a correct statement of the law. However, the second sentence of this refused request is an argumentative statement as to what the battered person evidence “help[s] explain,” rather than a neutral statement as to the relevancy of that evidence to the claim of self-defense. Although the battered person evidence may “help explain” the enumerated circumstances, those enumerated circumstances are themselves relevant only because they “help the jury evaluate the credibility of defendant’s contention that she had perceived herself in such imminent danger that she shot her husband in self-defense.” Smith v. State, 247 Ga. 612, 618 (277 SE2d 678) (1981). Accordingly, consistent with the charge proposed by the majority, a trial court, if requested, should instruct the jury that the battered person syndrome evidence was admitted to assist in evaluating the reasonableness of the defendant’s belief that the use of force was necessary. However, specific assertions as to how the battered person syndrome evidence illustrates the defendant’s claim of self-defense should be a topic for argument by counsel. Chester v. State, supra; Johnson v. State, supra; Miles v. State, supra; Camp v. State, supra. “ ‘A request to charge should in itself be correct, and even perfect; otherwise the refusal to give it will not be cause for a new trial.’ [Cit.]” Kessel v. State, 236 Ga. 373, 374 (2) (223 SE2d 811) (1976). See also Freeman v. State, 268 Ga. 185 (4) (486 SE2d 348) (1997). Since, as pointed out, the second sentence of the requested charge was improper, it was not error for the trial court to refuse to give that request.
]The defendant’s third refused request was: “Expert testimony regarding the battered woman syndrome authorizes a jury to find that the defendant honestly believed her life was in imminent danger and that her husband was going to kill her.” As previously discussed, this request is argumentative and was, therefore, properly refused. Counsel was free to argue to the jury what the battered person evidence authorized it to find, but the trial court should not instruct the jury that evidence admitted to illustrate the defendant’s claim of self-defense is such evidence as “authorizes” an acceptance of that claim. Chester v. State, supra; Johnson v. State, supra; Miles v. State, supra; Camp v. State, supra.
Therefore, in my opinion, none of the defendant’s three refused requests was perfect and all were, therefore, properly refused. The *205trial court’s charge, as actually given, was a correct statement of the law of self-defense. Indeed, the trial court even specifically charged that the “evidence of prior difficulties between the defendant and the alleged victim” had been admitted for the limited purpose of illustrating “the state of feeling between the defendant and the alleged victim and the bent of mind and course of conduct on the part of the defendant.” I do believe that a more elaborative charge on the relevancy of the battered person syndrome evidence, such as the one proposed by the majority, should be given in any case in which it is authorized and requested on or after August 28, 1997. See Renner v. State, 260 Ga. 515, 517 (3) (b) (397 SE2d 683) (1990). Unlike the majority, however, I do not believe that there is reversible error in this case, since the defendant did not make a proper request to charge. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent to the majority’s reversal of the defendant’s conviction.
Decided July 14, 1997.
L. Elizabeth Lane, for appellant.
Fredric D. Bright, District Attorney, Stephen A. Bradley, Assistant District Attorney, for appellee.
James C. Bonner, Jr., Davis, Zipperman, Kirschenbaum & Lotito, Nicholas A. Lotito, amici curiae.