Court Opinion

ID: 9757845
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 23:01:27.097578+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:44.883114
License: Public Domain

THORNE, Judge
(concurring and dissenting):
4 19 I dissent from the majority opinion as to its defense-of-others analysis but concur as to the remainder. I agree with the majority opinion that, under the cireumstances of this case, Berriel's conviction for possession of a deadly weapon with intent to assault must be vacated as a lesser included offense of his aggravated assault conviction. However, I disagree with the majority's conclusion that Berriel was not entitled to a jury instruction on defense of others. I would reverse both of his convictions on that basis in addition to vacating the weapons charge on the grounds cited by the majority.
T 20 Pursuant to Utah Code section 76-2-402, "[a] person is justified in threatening or using force against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that force ... is necessary to defend ... a third person against another person's imminent use of unlawful force." Utah Code Ann. § 76-2-402(1) (Supp.2011). The statute expressly assigns the questions of imminence and reasonableness to the "trier of fact" and provides a nonexclusive list of factors to be considered in making that determination. See id. § 76-2-402(5).1 Although a defendant's entitlement to a defense-of-others instruction is "conditioned upon the existence of a reasonable basis in the evidence to justify the giving of the proposed instruction," State v. Hoagle, 611 P.2d 1211, 1218 (Utah 1980), a requested instruction should be given "if there is any reasonable basis in the evidence to justify it," State v. Torres, 619 P.2d 694, 695 (Utah 1980) (emphasis added). See also State v. Garcia, 2001 UT App 19, 118-9, 18 P.3d 1128 (discussing self-defense instructions).
121 Multiple witnesses testified about a phone call from Rachel to Berrie! shortly before the stabbing, informing Berriel that Luis was beating Rachel. One of Berriel's companions testified that Rachel's call prompted the group to go to her house to help her because Luis had been hitting her. Another testified that Rachel was erying because Luis was hitting her. And a third, Scott Carlisle, testified that Rachel was screaming and erying on the phone, that he thought Rachel was being beaten because it had happened before, and that after the phone call Berrie! indicated that the group should go to Rachel's house because she was being beaten up.
122 A reasonable jury could easily conclude from this testimony that, at the time Berrie! spoke with Rachel on the phone, she was in imminent danger and the use of reasonable force in her defense at that moment would have been justified under the statute. The question before us is whether Berriel continued to have a reasonable belief that she remained in imminent danger a short time later,2 when Luis and Rachel arrived *1221home and the altercation between Luis and Berriel occurred. The majority concludes that from the time Luis arrived home until the time of the stabbing, Luis had not "threatened, touched, harmed, or even approached Rachel in any way, nor had he exhibited any weapons," and that, as a result, "there was no evidence that Rachel was in imminent danger at the time Berriel attacked Luis." See supra 1 5.
€23 In my view, onee Berriel had a reasonable basis to believe that Rachel was in imminent danger due to her phone call, his actions in her defense were potentially justifiable under Utah Code section 76-2-402 until such time as Berriel had reason to believe that the danger to Rachel had passed.3 There was testimony to suggest that Ber-riel's observations of Luis's arrival at Rachel's house were too brief and hurried to have given Berriel notice that Luis no longer posed a threat to Rachel. Carlisle testified that when he arrived at Rachel's house with Berriel, neither Rachel nor Luis was there. The State then asked Carlisle, "So what did you do?" Carlisle responded, "We were walking back to the car and that guy drove up, her boyfriend, jumped out of the car and ran towards [Berriel]."
24 Based on this testimony, reasonable jurors could conclude that as soon as Luis arrived, he jumped from his car and charged at Berriel in an angry and hostile manner. These actions raised the additional issue of self-defense, but they also deprived Berrie! of any meaningful opportunity to revise his assessment of the ongoing danger to Rachel. Absent such an opportunity, Berriel had insufficient information and opportunity to believe that the threat to Rachel had dissipated and was therefore entitled to act in the continued belief that Rachel remained in danger as well as to defend himself. Carlisle's testimony thus provides some reasonable basis upon which to conclude that Berriel reasonably believed that Rachel remained in danger and that using force against Luis in her defense remained justified.4
' 25 In light of the evidence, an instruction on defense of others was critical to Berriel's defense, not only for its potential to provide an independent justification for his presence and subsequent actions, but also as a necessary complement to the self-defense instruction. The jury was instructed that Berrie! was not justified in using force in self-defense if he was the "aggressor," 5 and there was certainly evidence to suggest that Ber-riel had gone to Rachel's house, armed, with an intent to confront Luis. A defense-of-others instruction would have allowed Berriel to argue that this decision was a legally justified act in Rachel's defense and did not render Berriel the aggressor as between Berriel and Luis.6 Thus, the defense-of-others instruction was necessary to fully implement the self-defense instruction and to provide Berriel with a seamless defense if he could convince the jury that he first acted in defense of Rachel and then transitioned into *1222also defending himself as Luis turned his violence towards him.
26 I also note that it is highly relevant that the threat to Rachel was one of domestic violence. This court has recognized on multiple occasions that "a domestic violence complaint is one of the most potentially dangerous, volatile arrest situations confronting police." State v. Vallasenor-Meza, 2005 UT App 65, 11 16, 108 P.3d 123 (internal quotation marks omitted); see also State v. Comer, 2002 UT App 219, 125, 51 P.3d 55 (same); State v. Richards, TT9 P.2d 689, 691 (Utah Ct.App.1989) (same). In State v. Vallasenor-Meza, 2005 UT App 65, 108 P.3d 123, police responded to reports of a domestic dispute at the defendant's house. The defendant was initially reluctant to cooperate with the officers, but eventually "explained to the officers that there had been a fight, but the woman involved had since gone to work." Id. T18. Despite this explanation, the court determined that exigent cireumstances justified the officers entering the house without a warrant due to their reasonable belief that "the victim was potentially inside the residence injured or unconscious, and that their immediate intervention was necessary." Id. 19.
127 If the jury was to believe Carlisle's version of events, Berriel's defense-of-others claim seems even stronger than the claim of police exigency in Vallasenor-Meza. Berriel was aware of a history of domestic violence between Luis and Rachel, became aware of a new and potentially ongoing domestic violence incident perpetrated by Luis against Rachel, and went to assist Rachel against that clear threat. When Berriel came into contact with Luis and Rachel, it was not obvious that their hostilities were continuing but it was also not obvious that they had ceased. Berriel did not know if Rachel was "injured or unconscious," see id., if she was being held in Luis's vehicle against her will or under duress of his threats, or if Luis's beating of her would continue as soon as Luis was not busy driving. Importantly, Berriel's ability to confirm that Rachel was no longer in danger was short-circuited by Luis's jumping from the car and running at Berriel-an aggressive act that was entirely consistent with the violence against Rachel that had brought Berriel to the scene in the first place.
128 In light of Carlisle's testimony, the interplay between self-defense and defense of others in this case, and the clear and very real danger presented by Luis's repeated acts of domestic violence, Berriel was entitled to his requested instruction on the defense of others.7 The district court's refusal to give such an instruction deprived Berriel of the opportunity to present a full and fair defense and, in my opinion, merits reversal of his convictions. For these reasons, I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion on this issue but concur in the remainder.

. These factors include the nature and immediacy of the danger, the probability of death or serious injury, and prior incidents of violence of relevance to the situation. See Utah Code Ann. § 76-2-402(5)(a)-(e) (Supp.2011).

. The majority opinion relies on Rachel's testimony that her trip with Luis took fifteen to twenty minutes and Luis's testimony that the only phone available to Rachel was a home phone to infer that at least fifteen minutes elapsed between the time of Rachel's call to Berriel and the subsequent altercation. I am not inclined to reach the same inference in light of the ubiquitous presence of mobile phones in today's culture and particularly amongst young adults. Rachel did not testify as to exactly when or from where she called Berriel, and in the absence of clear testimony as to the timing of the phone call, I believe that the jury could reasonably have concluded that the interval may well have been somewhat less than fifteen minutes.

. I recognize that the mere passage of time could, in some circumstances, give reason to infer that a particular threat has ended. However, the potentially quite short period of time between Rachel's phone call and the ultimate altercation in this case does not give rise to such an inference.

. Carlisle's version of events, if believed, distinguishes this case from the authorities the majority cites in which the person to be defended was either not present or had clearly broken free from the hostilities See Harris v. Scully, 779 F.2d 875, 877, 879 (2d Cir.1985) (denying instruction where defendant's mother apparently remained inside a house, altercation took place outside the house, and defendant's brother had broken free from the fight); State v. Hernandez, 253 Kan. 705, 861 P.2d 814, 820 (1993) (denying instruction where person allegedly defended was not present).

. The instruction stated, in part, "A person is not justified in using force which is intended or likely to cause death or serious bodily injury if he: ... was the aggressor or was engaged in combat by agreement...."

. Such an argument was particularly vital here, where Berriel was charged with possession of a weapon with intent to assault. The jury could have concluded that Berriel possessed the weapon at the time of the phone call and at all times thereafter. Thus, it was critical for Berriel to be allowed to argue that his possession of the knife was with a legally-justifiable intent to potentially defend Rachel or himself if necessary, rather than any intent to commit a criminal assault against Luis.

. Of course, a jury would not be obligated to ultimately find the facts in Berriel's favor on his defense-of-others defense or any other issue. Nevertheless, he was entitled to make his arguments to a properly instructed jury.