Court Opinion

ID: 9465744
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 00:54:24.881248+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:20.700931
License: Public Domain

HEANEY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Although I agree with the majority opinion on all other issues, I cannot agree with the majority’s disposition of Cooper’s claim that he was entitled to manslaughter instructions. In my view, the trial court’s failure to give the requested instructions was an error of constitutional significance which is cognizable in habeas corpus, and which cannot be dismissed as harmless error.
Normally, jury instructions in state criminal trials are matters of state law, and errors in such instructions are not of constitutional proportion. However, under some circumstances, errors in instructions may render a trial so fundamentally unfair as to constitute a denial of due process. See, e. g., United States ex rel. Matthews v. Johnson, 503 F.2d 339 (3d Cir. 1974), cert. denied sub nom. Cuyler v. Matthews, 420 U.S. 952, 95 S.Ct. 1336, 43 L.Ed.2d 430 (1975). We should, therefore, reject any per se rule that the failure of a state trial court to instruct on lesser included offenses is not reviewable in habeas corpus. Each case should receive a careful, independent examination to determine whether, on the basis of its particular facts, the instructional error constituted a violation of due process.1
In Arkansas, as in the majority of jurisdictions, see Annot. 102 A.L.R. 1017 (1936), the rule is that where there is no evidence to support an instruction on a lower grade of homicide, it is not error for the trial court to refuse to give such an instruction. Shelton v. State, 261 Ark. 816, 552 S.W.2d 216 (1977); Strothers v. State, 252 Ark. 538, 479 S.W.2d 870 (1972); Freeman v. State, 240 Ark. 915, 403 S.W.2d 61 (1966). However, where there is any evidence from which the jury might legitimately infer that the defendant was guilty of a lower grade of homicide, the court is obligated to instruct on such offense, Gilchrist v. State, 241 Ark. 561, 409 S.W.2d 329 (1966), and failure to so instruct is reversible error. Langley v. State, 261 Ark. 539, 549 S.W.2d 799 (1977); Bosnick v. State, 248 Ark. 846, 454 S.W.2d 311 (1970); Montague v. State, 240 Ark. 162, 398 S.W.2d 524 (1966).
In this case, the trial court properly instructed the jury on first and second degree murder but refused to give requested manslaughter instructions. My reading of the record convinces me that there was evidence to support such instructions and that the trial court erred in refusing to give them.
Under the Arkansas homicide statutes applicable at the time of the crime and petitioner’s conviction,2 murder was defined as “the unlawful killing of a human being * * * with malice aforethought, either express or implied.” Ark.Stat.Ann. § 41-2201 (1964 Repl.). First degree murder was distinguished from second degree murder primarily by the requirement of premeditation and deliberation. See Ark.Stat.Ann. §§ 41-2205, 41-2206 (1964 Repl.). Malice was an essential element of both first and second degree murder. McGaha v. State, 216 Ark. 165, 224 S.W.2d 534 (1949); Ballentine v. State, 198 Ark. 1037, 132 S.W.2d 384 (1939). Manslaughter was defined generally as the unlawful killing of a human *634being without malice express or implied and without deliberation. Ark.Stat.Ann. § 41-2207 (1964 Repl.). Thus, the presence or absence of malice distinguished murder from manslaughter. Erby v. State, 253 Ark. 603, 487 S.W.2d 266 (1972).
Malice is a term of art describing the criminal state of mind or intent required for a killing to be murder. Malice is express when the deliberate intention to take the life of another human being can be proved by external facts. Ark.Stat.Ann. § 41-2203 (1964 Repl.). Malice may also be implied by all the circumstances of the case. Thus, malice may be implied when there is no evidence of provocation or by circumstances manifesting an “abandoned and wicked disposition,” Ark.Stat.Ann. § 41-2204 (1964 Repl), or by the use of a deadly weapon absent circumstances of mitigation, justification, or excuse. Erby v. State, supra. The presence or absence of malice is a question of fact for the jury and the jury has the responsibility for determining whether or not malice is implied by all the circumstances. McGaha v. State, supra.
The evidence in this case was that petitioner went on a rampage for a period of an hour or more, shooting, apparently randomly, at people and homes all over a small town. The victim was shot while driving his truck on the street. No one saw petitioner shoot the victim, but there was ballistics evidence linking the fatal bullet with petitioner’s weapon. I agree with the majority that the evidence was sufficient to support a verdict of first degree murder. There was clearly testimony from which the jury could properly have drawn the inference that the killing was committed with malice. The point is, however, that such an inference was not required by the evidence. On the facts of this case, where no witnesses saw petitioner shoot the victim, there was no express evidence of malice. Furthermore, malice in the shooting of the victim was not conclusively implied by the circumstances that petitioner was observed firing his weapon at other places and other times during the evening. The determination as to whether malice existed was for the jury. The jury was given the choice only of convicting petitioner of first or second degree murder, both of which require malice, or acquitting him. By refusing to give the requested manslaughter instructions the trial court effectively removed the issue of malice from the jury. See United States v. Thompson, 492 F.2d 359, 363 (8th Cir. 1974).
On petitioner’s state appeal the Arkansas Supreme Court did not examine the record to determine whether the evidence was sufficient under state law to require the giving of the requested manslaughter instructions.3 Rather, the court considered that even if the omission was error it was harmless because the jury was instructed on both first and second degree murder but returned a verdict of first degree murder. The majority opinion here adopts this rationale. I cannot consider the error harmless. Because malice is an essential element of both first and second degree murder the jury lacked a meaningful opportunity to consider whether or not petitioner, even if he fired the fatal shot, did so with the requisite criminal intent that would constitute murder. Since it cannot be concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that there would have been no difference in the verdict if the jury had been properly instructed, the error cannot be considered harmless. See United States v. Weir, 575 F.2d 668, 671 (8th Cir. 1978).
Finally, at the time of petitioner’s conviction the penalties prescribed by Arkansas statute for the various grades of homicide were as follows: first degree murder — life imprisonment; second degree murder — five to twenty-one years imprisonment; voluntary manslaughter — two to seven years; involuntary manslaughter — not greater than three years and/or a fine. Ark.Stat.Ann. §§ 41-2227 to 2230 (1964 Repl.). In view of the considerable discrepancy in the penal*635ties prescribed for murder and for manslaughter, the petitioner had a substantial liberty interest in having the jury properly instructed. See Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U.S. 684, 698, 95 S.Ct. 1881, 44 L.Ed.2d 508 (1975). Under the circumstances of this case — where the facts clearly warranted the lesser included offense instructions, where such instructions were timely requested,4 where the failure to give the instructions had the practical effect of removing an essential element of the crime from consideration by the jury, and where the penalty differential is substantial — I believe that the failure to give the instructions rendered petitioner’s trial fundamentally unfair and that petitioner is entitled to habeas relief. Accordingly, I would grant the petition for a writ of habeas corpus subject to the state’s right promptly to retry petitioner for the offense.

. Despite the fact that some cases flatly state the rule that the failure to give lesser included offense instructions is not reviewable in habeas corpus, see, e. g., James v. Reese, 546 F.2d 325 (9th Cir. 1976); Bonner v. Henderson, 517 F.2d 135 (5th Cir. 1975), many other cases recognize that the critical inquiry even with respect to lesser included offense instructions is whether the error was such as to render the trial fundamentally unfair and a violation of due process. See, e. g., Bradley v. Wainwright, 561 F.2d 1200 (5th Cir. 1977); Higgins v. Wainwright, 424 F.2d 177 (5th Cir. 1970).

. The entire Arkansas criminal code, including the homicide provisions, was substantially revised subsequent to the dates relevant in this case.

. This case is, therefore, distinguishable from Hallowell v. Keve, 555 F.2d 103 (3d Cir. 1977), in which the federal court considered that it was bound by the interpretation of state law by the highest state court that the requested instructions were not supported by the evidence, and held due process was not offended by the refusal of the trial court to instruct on a matter not presented by the evidence.

. The case is thus distinguishable from, e. g., United States ex rel. Rooney v. Housewright, 568 F.2d 516 (7th Cir. 1977), and Higgins v. Wainwright, supra note 1 (failure to give manslaughter instructions is not denial of due process since defendant did not request instructions at trial); Bradley v. Wainwright, supra note 1 (submission of case to jury on first degree murder only is not denial of due process since so submitted with defendant’s consent).