Court Opinion

ID: 9765987
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:28:03.492264+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:18.150463
License: Public Domain

Justice BEATTY.
I dissent. The majority reverses the opinion of the Court of Appeals which held that the trial court erred in refusing a requested jury instruction on involuntary manslaughter. The majority reasons there is no evidence of self defense; therefore, Rivera did not arm himself lawfully and, as a result, a jury instruction on involuntary manslaughter was not warranted.
*406The record in this case is replete with testimony that Rivera was the victim of an unprovoked physical attack by Delman Mauricio Arias. The testimony also indicates that although Rivera had the gun on his person he did not present it until after he was beaten, knocked to the ground, and repeatedly kicked. Even then, the gun was unintentionally presented when it fell down Rivera’s pant leg and onto the ground resulting in a scramble for the gun between Rivera and Arias. Rivera testified that he got control of the gun and fired it into the ground when Arias continued to advance. Furthermore, in response to the solicitor’s question concerning why Rivera pulled the gun, Rivera testified “The truth is that I did it just because I was nervous and because somebody was hitting me, beating me.” In my view, there is no question that there is evidence that Rivera lawfully armed himself in self defense.
The majority appears to infer that Rivera had no right to arm himself in self defense because he may not have believed that Arias was going to kill him. I can find no support for this position in our jurisprudence. What a person believes to be the threat level of bodily harm is irrelevant if the actual threat of imminent serious bodily harm is present. It is axiomatic that circumstances indicative of serious bodily harm or the imminent threat thereof yields the right to self defense and the right to arm oneself accordingly. See State v. Slater, 373 S.C. 66, 69-70, 644 S.E.2d 50, 52 (2007) (“To establish self-defense in South Carolina, four elements must be present: (1) the defendant must be without fault in bringing on the difficulty; (2) the defendant must have been in actual imminent danger of losing his life or sustaining serious bodily injury, or he must have actually believed he was in imminent danger of losing his life or sustaining serious bodily injury; (3) if his defense is based upon his belief of imminent danger, defendant must show that a reasonably prudent person of ordinary firmness and courage would have entertained the belief that he was actually in imminent danger and that the circumstances were such as would warrant a person of ordinary prudence, firmness, and courage to strike the fatal blow in order to save himself from serious bodily harm or the loss of his life; and (4) the defendant had no other probable means of avoiding the danger.” (emphasis added)).
*407Being repeatedly beaten about the head and body, thrown to the ground, and repeatedly kicked constitute circumstances that give rise to the right to arm oneself in self defense. The law does not require a person to submit to a physical beating and to refrain from defending himself until the beating results in serious injury.
Moreover, the Court of Appeals opined an involuntary manslaughter instruction was required because there was testimony that the gun accidentally fired during a struggle for the gun. Not only is there evidence in the record to support that finding, but this Court’s jurisprudence supports an involuntary manslaughter charge on similar facts. See, e.g., State v. Light, 378 S.C. 641, 664 S.E.2d 465 (2008) (finding the defendant, who was convicted of murder, was entitled to a jury charge on involuntary manslaughter where the defendant was lawfully armed in self-defense, the defendant negligently handled the weapon prior to the shooting, and the defendant and the victim struggled over the weapon); State v. Crosby, 355 S.C. 47, 584 S.E.2d 110 (2003) (holding the trial judge erred in refusing to charge involuntary manslaughter where there was evidence that the defendant did not intentionally discharge the weapon given the defendant claimed he was trying to break up a fight between three women, one of whom was the victim’s girlfriend, and the victim charged at the defendant prior to the shooting with his hands behind his back); State v. Burriss, 334 S.C. 256, 513 S.E.2d 104 (1999) (concluding the defendant, who was convicted of murder, was entitled to an involuntary manslaughter charge where there was evidence from which the jury could have inferred that the defendant was lawfully armed in self-defense given: the defendant, after being attacked and pushed to the ground by the victim and another man, pulled his weapon; the defendant fired twice in the ground, causing both assailants to back away; and the defendant grabbed the gun and accidentally fired the fatal shot when one of the assailants advanced toward him).
PLEICONES, J., concurs.