Court Opinion

ID: 9576576
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:26:05.620618+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:10:04.539600
License: Public Domain

BURNETT, Justice:
I respectfully dissent. In my opinion, the trial judge properly refused to charge the jury on the law of accident and involuntary manslaughter.

FACTS

Kenneth Scott was shot and killed by appellant. According to appellant, he and four other teenagers, including James Pickens and Kenneth Scott, were together outside of an apartment. Appellant was sixteen years old. James and Kenneth were smoking “lace.” Kenneth asked appellant if he had any drugs; appellant denied having any. Kenneth said he would send James to find some drugs and if he didn’t find any, they would rob appellant..
James left and returned two to three minutes later. He grabbed appellant and threw him to the ground, apparently in an attempt to rob him. Kenneth tried to reach into appellant’s pockets. From his position on the ground, appellant reached into his back pocket; snatched out a gun, and fired a shot into the ground. James jumped away and Kenneth ran inside the apartment. Appellant did not know if Kenneth was going after a gun. Appellant attempted to shoot the gun into the ground a second time but it misfired.
Kenneth returned, opened the screen door of the apartment, and told appellant to “go on and shoot; he could take a bullet.” He told James to “get that punk;” “he ain’t going to shoot *267nobody.” James advanced towards appellant, and appellant’s gun was fired as he was getting off the ground. The bullet entered the partially opened screen door and struck Kenneth between the eyes. Appellant was four feet away from Kenneth.
With regard to the third shot, appellant testified he was scared and could not see Kenneth’s hands. Appellant stated his own “hand was on the trigger. The trigger was pulled or whatever. It was an accident. I didn’t try to shoot nobody.” He also testified he did not shoot the gun, but snatched the gun and it went off. Appellant maintained he “did not aim to kill nobody.”
Appellant testified he bought the gun to impress his friends, not for protection. He stated all the people in the neighborhood carried guns. On the day of Kenneth’s death, neither Kenneth nor any of the other teenagers were armed.

DISCUSSION

The majority finds appellant was lawfully armed in self-defense at the time of the fatal shot and, therefore, he was entitled to a charge on the law of accident.1 disagree. In my opinion, there is no evidence appellant was lawfully armed in self-defense at the time he fired the fatal shot.2
There are four elements of self-defense. State v. Goodson, 312 S.C. 278, 440 S.E.2d 370 (1994). Two are relevant here: (1) the defendant must have actually believed he was in imminent danger of losing his life or sustaining serious bodily, injury, or he actually was in such imminent danger and (2) the defendant had no other probable means of avoiding the danger *268of losing his own life or sustaining serious bodily injury than to act as he did in this particular instance. Id. “The law says if one can give back or step aside, or retreat without increasing his danger, and thus avoid taking human life, it is his duty to do so, and unless he has done so, it will not permit his plea of self-defense.” State v. George, 119 S.C. 120, 121, 111 S.E. 880 (1921).
It is clear from appellant’s own testimony, when Kenneth went inside the apartment, ostensibly to obtain a weapon, appellant was no longer in imminent danger and he was free to leave the premises.3 Instead, appellant remained outside of the apartment, apparently to see if Kenneth would return with a gun. Under these circumstances, appellant was not lawfully entitled to arm himself in self-defense. See Martinez v. State, 775 S.W.2d 645 (Tex.Cr.App.1989) (defendant not entitled to charge on self-defense where, after victim grabbed defendant’s shirt and defendant reasonably believed victim was reaching for a knife, defendant stepped away and began firing handgun; court determined reasonable person would have retreated from victim).
Moreover, these facts are similar to those in State v. Goodson, supra, where the defendant was involved in an argument inside a bar, was threatened with a pool cue, and responded by drawing a gun. The victim escorted the defendant out of the bar and the defendant shot the victim. The majority held the defendant was not entitled to a charge on accident even though he testified the gun “just went off’ as the victim was “coming at him.” The majority concluded the defendant was not entitled to a charge on accident because he was not acting in self-defense. Justice Toal’s concurrence noted, “[ajssuming the incident inside the bar gave rise to a self-defense claim sufficient to render [the defendant’s] act of arming himself lawful, any lawfulness in [the defendant’s] being armed ended when he was no longer threatened.” Id., 312 S.C. at 282, S.E.2d at 373.4
*269Assuming James’ attack authorized appellant to lawfully arm himself in self-defense, any lawfulness in being armed ended when James released appellant and stepped aside, and Kenneth went inside the apartment. At this point in time, appellant was no longer in imminent danger and he had a duty to leave. Instead, appellant remained at the apartment, apparently to see if Kenneth was obtaining a weapon. Appellant fired his own gun a third time. Based on these facts given by appellant, at the time the fatal shot was fired, appellant was no longer lawfully armed in self-defense and he was not entitled to a charge on accident. State v. Todd, 290 S.C. 212, 349 S.E.2d 339 (1986) (the law to be charged is determined from the evidence presented at trial).
Likewise, appellant was not entitled to a charge on involuntary manslaughter. Involuntary manslaughter is defined as either (1) the killing of another without malice and unintentionally, but while one is engaged in the commission of some unlawful act not amounting to a felony and not naturally tending to cause death or great bodily harm or (2) the killing of another without malice and unintentionally, but while one is acting lawfully with reckless disregard of the safety of others. State v. Tucker, 324 S.C. 155, 478 S.E.2d 260 (1996).
Appellant was not entitled to a charge under the first definition of involuntary manslaughter. According to his own testimony, at the time he possessed the firearm he was sixteen years old. With other individuals present, he removed the pistol from his pocket, fired it twice, and then continued to hold the pistol with his finger on the trigger. Appellant’s possession and his use of the weapon constituted two felonies: possession of a firearm by a person under the age of twenty-one and pointing and presenting a firearm.5 Accordingly, while he may not have intended to pull the trigger the third time, appellant’s conduct precluded a charge on involuntary manslaughter. State v. Young, 319 S.C. 33, 459 S.E.2d 84 (1995) (where the defendant unintentionally kills the victim *270while engaged in the commission of a felony, the law of involuntary manslaughter does not apply).6
Since I conclude appellant was not acting lawfully in self-defense at the time he fired the fatal shot, his conduct does not fall within the parameters of the second definition of involuntary manslaughter.
The trial judge properly refused to charge involuntary manslaughter. State v. Johnson, 324 S.C. 38, 476 S.E.2d 681 (1996) (request to charge on a lesser-included offense is properly refused when there is no evidence the defendant committed the lesser rather than the greater offense).
I would affirm.

. See State v. Goodson, 312 S.C. 278, 440 S.E.2d 370 (1994) (the unlawful possession of a firearm does not automatically preclude the defense of accident when the defendant rightfully armed himself in self-defense); State v. McCaskill, 300 S.C. 256, 259, 387 S.E.2d 268, 270 (1990) ("[a] homicide is excused when caused by the discharge of a gun ... where the accused is lawfully acting in self-defense and the "victim meets death by accident, through the unintentional discharge of a gun or the like ... On the other hand, a homicide is not excusable on the ground of accident or misadventure unless it appears that the act of the slayer was lawful") (italic in original).

. Although the trial judge instructed the jury on self-defense, this fact is not dispositive.

. Appellant did not live in the apartment.

. The majority suggests Goodson is unlike the present case because the victim was not the aggressor. The identity of the aggressor is not dispositive in this case. The applicable principle from Goodson is once *269the threat to the defendant’s safety subsides, he is no longer entitled to arm himself in self-defense.

. See S.C.Code Ann. § 16-23-30(e) (1985) & S.C.Code Ann. § 16-23-50(A)(1) (Supp.1996); S.C.Code Ann. § 16-23-410 (Supp.1996).

. While I agree the negligent handling of a loaded weapon does not preclude a charge on involuntary manslaughter, State v. White, 253 S.C. 475, 171 S.E.2d 712 (1969), here, appellant was engaged in felony activity at the time of the shooting.