Court Opinion

ID: 9781352
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 16:32:46.051963+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:34:25.027397
License: Public Domain

Justice PLEICONES.
I concur, but would reverse on the ground the Court of Appeals erred in upholding the trial judge’s decision to charge voluntary manslaughter. Moreover, were I to reach the issues, I would find reversible error in the unconstitutional jury charge on the facts, and I would find that while the evidence established the first three elements of self-defense as a matter of law, there was a jury issue whether petitioner was in the building’s curtilage such that he had no duty to retreat. See e.g., State v. Brooks, 252 S.C. 504, 167 S.E.2d 307 (1969).
In my opinion, the dispositive issue here is that of the voluntary manslaughter charge. Taking the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, it shows that at the request of a tenant, petitioner located the combative, intoxicated victim and asked him to leave. Petitioner endured the victim’s *504obscenities, insults, and threats of physical violence calmly, and called the local police to report the incident. As the man began to leave the building, petitioner chose not to enter the elevator with him but instead took the stairway. Petitioner then followed the victim and his companion as they exited the building. As one would expect from a security guard who had just escorted such an individual off the premises, petitioner stood outside the building to make sure the men actually left the area. Compare State v. Brooks, supra (right to eject patron from business includes following patron outside).
When the victim and his friend turned and approached petitioner, petitioner felt “afraid” and “outnumbered,” then shot the victim.
In my view, there is no evidence that petitioner was so angry and fearful that he lost control, and was rendered incapable of cool reflection. Instead, the evidence reflects that petitioner retained his composure despite the threats and language directed at him by the victim, and only shot when the victim and his friend turned back and approached petitioner outside the building whose occupants he was paid to guard. After the shooting, petitioner again called 911, and reported the events. I simply see no evidence of fear manifesting itself in an uncontrollable impulse to do violence. In my view, the only evidence is that petitioner, admittedly acting out of fear, nonetheless acted in a deliberate, controlled manner. As such, he could not, as a matter of law, be guilty of voluntary manslaughter. State v. Starnes, 388 S.C. 590, 698 S.E.2d 604 (2010).
I concur in the decision to reverse.