Court Opinion

ID: 9764864
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 03:42:16.992725+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:01.953416
License: Public Domain

VANCE, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the result in this case because the only conclusions which may be drawn from the evidence is that Mrs. Rose either shot her husband willfully and with the intent to kill him or that, if she did not actually intend to kill him, the act of shooting was wanton conduct because she is bound to have been aware of (and disregarded) the substantial risk that the shooting might result in death.
The case is easily distinguishable from Gray v. Commonwealth, Ky., 695 S.W.2d 860 (1985), because Mrs. Rose testified that although she shot her husband she did not intend to kill him. In Gray, swpra, we held that the act of shooting under a claim of self-defense is, perforce, an intentional act. Nothing in the opinion in Gray indicates that any claim was made that the death of the victim was not intended. We concluded there was no evidence upon which the jury could determine that Gray’s state of culpability was anything other than intentional.
In this case, Mrs. Rose provided testimony which would permit the jury to decide that she did not intend the death of her husband. She cannot now successfully contend that there was no evidentiary basis for the jury finding that the homicide was wanton rather than unintentional.