Court Opinion

ID: 9647618
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 13:42:26.028859+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:51.324205
License: Public Domain

David Newbern, Justice, dissenting. The majority opinion suggests that if the jury disbelieves the appellant’s testimony it must believe all of the testimony presented by the appellee’s witnesses if any of it is credible. The only justification offered for this conclusion is the sharp contrast between the police testimony and that of the appellant. That justification has no logical foundation but plays only on the facts of this case. If we are to be consistent in following this justification, we will presumably require a lesser included offense instruction when the contrast in testimony is less stark. However, I do not believe that is the reading to be given the majority opinion. It will be construed as holding that anytime a criminal defendant denies having committed any of the acts with which he is charged he is entitled to no instructions on lesser included offenses. That construction will deprive the jury of avenues it might take in its search for the truth. I find no rational basis for saying a jury must take an all-or-nothing approach in these circumstances. The lack of logic in the majority opinion’s position is amply demonstrated by considering its fundamental proposition: Because the jury (and the trial judge) thought everything the appellant said was untrue, everything said by the state’s witnesses was true. It surely does no harm to require instruction on lesser included offenses, and I see no reason not to do so unless under no construction of the law with respect to the facts presented by the prosecution could a lesser included offense have been committed. I do not subscribe to the majority opinion’s conclusion that jurors will just be “confused” when a lesser included offense instruction is given. I believe them capable of making the required distinctions. In Fike v. State, 255 Ark. 956, 504 S.W.2d 363 (1974), an issue was whether one accused of assault with intent to rape was entitled to an instruction on the lesser included offense of assault. In that case, the accused did not testify, but we said: In the case at bar, it is not questioned that the prosecutrix’s testimony is sufficient to sustain the verdict of assault with intent to rape. However, the jury has the sole prerogative to accept all or any part of a witness’ testimony whether controverted or not. Therefore, the jury had the absolute right, as trier of the facts, to evaluate the evidence and consider whether only an unlawful assault was committed upon her by appellant or even acquit him. The trial court should have given the instruction relating to the lesser included offense. . . . [255 Ark. at 959, 504 S.W.2d at 365, emphasis added.] It is true, as the majority opinion says, that Fike v. State, supra, was decided prior to the adoption of Ark. Stat. Ann. § 41-105(3) (Repl. 1977) which states that there must be a rational basis for requiring the giving of an instruction on a lesser included offense. That fact is, however, insignificant for, as the commentary to the statute observes, the statute was intended to adopt the conclusion we reached in that respect before the code’s adoption, citing Caton and Headly v. State, 252 Ark. 420, 479 S.W.2d 537 (1972). The majority opinion’s citations to Frederick v. State, 258 Ark. 553, 528 S.W.2d 362 (1975); Sargent v. State, 272 Ark. 336, 614 S.W.2d 503 (1981); and Smith v. State, 277 Ark. 403, 642 S.W.2d 299 (1982), are all unpersuasive, because in each of them the state’s undisputed evidence showed that the crime charged was committed and that if the appellant committed any of it he committed all of it. In none of those cases was it said that the appellant’s denial of participation in the crime made it unnecessary to instruct on a lesser included offense. The only case cited by the majority opinion, the holding of which supports its position, is Roberts v. State, 281 Ark. 218, 663 S.W.2d 178 (1984). In that case the appellant was charged with burglary and theft of property, and the appellant argued on appeal he was entitled to an instruction on the lesser included offense of theft by receiving. He put on three alibi witnesses whose testimony was that the appellant had been in possession of one of the allegedly stolen items since before the theft occurred. This court said, “[s]ince the appellant’s position was that he was innocent of any theft, his request for the lesser included offense of theft by receiving was not rational.” That opinion was wrong, and it was as illogical as the majority opinion here. Rather than making the “rational basis” determination by evaluating the state’s evidence against the accused, as had the previous cases, the opinion subtly shifted the emphasis to the evidence presented by the accused. The result of this kind of thinking is that a plea of not guilty obviates the necessity of giving a lesser included offense instruction. The response to that assertion may be that we will only decline to require it when the accused testifies or presents other evidence denying his guilt. Again, this has the effect of denying the jury an opportunity to evaluate the state’s evidence except to say it is all true or all false. The prosecution will be hurt in some cases as much as the accused will be hurt in others by this illogical and unnecessary ruling. Presumably there will be cases where the state’s evidence would be strong enough to convince a jury to convict of a lesser included offense but not of the offense charged. The trial court, reading Roberts v. State, supra, and the majority opinion here, may decline to give the lesser included offense instruction, because of the accused’s testimony denying guilt, and thus deprive the jury of the opportunity to convict the accused of an offense of which he has been proven guilty. It makes no sense to me, and therefore, I respectfully suggest that Roberts v. State, supra, should be overruled and we should return to the reasonable practice of determining whether there is a rational basis for instructing on a lesser included offense by looking to the state’s evidence to determine whether, as a matter of fact, an instruction on a lesser included offense would be justified. Purtle and Dudley, JJ., join in this dissent.