Court Opinion

ID: 9661513
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:40:37.745342+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:29.292168
License: Public Domain

DIXON, Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the result on the issue of submissibility of the defense of necessity. My reasons for concurrence are somewhat different than those expressed in the majority opinion.
My examination of the record reveals the following facts. The defendant asserts he became involved in an altercation between two other prisoners when he attempted to prevent a black prisoner from stabbing a white prisoner. He further asserts the black prisoner tried to stab him. The black prisoner was relegated to the “hole” (administrative segregation), and the defendant says that same night, friends of the black prisoner again “tried to stick him.” The defendant was then sent to the “Special Adjustment Unit,” which was later identified as “Special Adjustment Unit, 9 Dorm.” The escape was from “6 Dorm,” a “lock down” dormitory. There is no evidence as to the duration of the defendant’s stay in the “Special Adjustment Unit Dorm 9.” The defendant had been in “6 Dorm” for about 10 days. Thus, there is no evidence of any kind, nor any inference to be drawn from the facts, concerning the length of time between the altercations and the escape.
The defendant would be entitled to the submission of the defense if there was evidence from which a reasonable person could conclude that his escape was motivated by a reasonable fear of imminent death or bodily injury.
The time interval between the altercations and the escape is crucial to a determination of that issue. If the event were fresh and within a reasonable time, the defense would be submissible. The vital linkage of the time of the earlier attacks *408with the escape itself is lacking in this case. The testimony of the fear or apprehension of the escapee will, in all cases, be subjective. The key is the reasonableness of those subjective feelings, and that depends on the recital of the events that purport to give rise to that state of mind. Therefore, I agree that the defense was not submissi-ble on these facts.