Court Opinion

ID: 9681788
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:56:34.763805+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:35.875453
License: Public Domain

BARDGETT, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent because I believe the second-degree murder instruction given in this case is prejudicially erroneous.
At a minimum, the definition of murder in the second degree is the intentional killing of a human being with premeditation and malice aforethought, § 559.020, RSMo 1969, V.A.M.S.; State v. Ayers, 470 S.W.2d 534, 537 (Mo. banc 1971); State v. Jewell, 473 S.W.2d 734, 738 (Mo.1971). The majority opinion does not deviate from the long line of Missouri cases that uniformly hold malice aforethought and premeditation to be essential elements of this crime.
The basis of this dissent is that I believe the instruction that is given to the jury as the law of this State, and under which the jury must find defendant guilty or not guilty must inform the jury as to what it' is they must find to be true in order to convict. The instruction on murder second degree in this case informs the jury that they must find the defendant intentionally killed the deceased but does not inform the jury that in order for the intentional killing to be murder in the second degree the defendant must have done it with malice aforethought and premeditation. These two essential elements can be submitted by their terms and defined or by definition alone, State v. Marston, 479 S.W.2d 481 (Mo.1972), but before the court says that the jurors believed and found that the homicide was done premediatedly and with malice aforethought, it ought to appear that the jurors were at least informed of the existence of these elements. Since the instant instruction makes no reference to premeditation and malice aforethought at all, I do not believe these concepts even crossed the jurors’ minds in the course of their deliberations, much less that the jurors believed and found them to be present. I cannot presume the jury found something about which it was not even informed.
“Malice aforethought” and “premeditation” have a meaning in the law. In State v. Venable, 177 S.W. 308 (Mo.1915), the following instruction was given: “The court instructs the jury that the words ‘on purpose’ and ‘of his malice aforethought’ mean the intentional doing of a wrongful act without just cause or excuse.” This instruction was held erroneous, the court saying: “ ‘Malice aforethought means malice with premeditation; that is, that the unlawful act intentionally done was determined upon before it was executed.’ State v. Tettaton, 159 Mo. 354, loc. cit. 365, 60 S.W. 743, 746. ‘Malice aforethought means that the act was done with malice and premeditation.’ State v. Thomas, 78 Mo. 327, loc. cit. 339.” 177 S.W. at 309.
State v. Venable, supra, was cited with approval in State v. Mathis, 427 S.W.2d 450 (Mo.1968) where the court, in reversing a conviction of felonious assault with malice aforethought, said: “An essential element is malice aforethought and the word ‘aforethought’ as here used means malice with premeditation. State v. Young, 314 Mo. 612, 286 S.W. 29, 34. Malice alone is not sufficient. See State v. Venable, Mo., 177 S.W. 308, where an instruction defining ‘malice aforethought’ as ‘the intentional doing of a wrongful act without just cause or excuse’ (a frequent definition of ‘malice’, see State v. Finnell, Mo., 280 S.W.2d 110, 113; State v. Ayers, Mo., 305 S.W.2d 484, 486) was held to be erroneous because ‘malice aforethought’ means ‘malice with premeditation; that is, that the unlawful act intentionally done was determined upon before it was executed.’” 427 S.W.2d at 454.
*6In State v. Cooper, 71 Mo. 436 (1880), the court reversed and remanded a second-degree murder conviction for error in the giving of the following instruction: “ ‘If the jury believe from the evidence that the defendant willfully shot and killed William Grimes with a gun, and do not find that such killing was done with deliberation and premeditation, as those terms are defined in these instructions, then such killing would be murder in the second degree, unless the jury should find that the killing was justifiable.’ ” 71 Mo. at 440.
The court went on to say: “That deliberation and premeditation may be inferred from a willful killing, is a very different proposition from that asserted by this instruction, by which the jury were told in effect, that, although they might not find that there was premeditation or deliberation, yet if they found the killing to have been willful, that is, intentional, that dispensed with proof of all the other elements of murder. The jury was virtually told in that instruction, that an intentional killing, not excusable or justifiable, is murder of the second degree, although not found to have been committed with premeditation or deliberation. The instruction was manifestly erroneous and has no support in any case to be found in our reports. State v. Wieners, 66 Mo. [13] 14; State v. Curtis, 70 Mo. 594; State v. Foster announces no such doctrine as that contained in this instruction; 61 Mo. [549] 552.” 71 Mo. at 440.
In each of the three cases noted above, the jury was required to find that the act was intentionally done. In the instant case, the jury was required to find that the homicide was intentionally done. The significance of the three cited cases is that a jury finding that the act was intentionally done does not mean that the jury found that the act was done with malice aforethought and premeditation. It was this very concept (a finding that an act was intentionally done does not necessarily mean that the jury found it was done with malice aforethought and premeditation) which caused the court to reverse the convictions in each of the cited cases.
The definitions of “malice aforethought” and “premeditation” overlap. When malice aforethought is correctly defined, the definition includes premeditation. State v. Venable, supra; State v. Mathis, supra. Therefore, when malice aforethought is an element of a crime, the word “premeditation” becomes redundant. Malice aforethought is an essential element of murder in the second degree. It is, therefore, my opinion that the instruction to the jury in a murder second-degree case must include the concept of malice aforethought. This can be done by using the term “malice aforethought” and correctly defining it by including in the instruction the following, “that he did so with malice aforethought, that is, intentionally and without just cause or excuse and after thinking about it beforehand for any length of time”. The element could be submitted to the jury without using the term “malice aforethought” by including as one of the jury findings that the defendant intentionally killed the deceased without just cause or excuse and after thinking about killing him beforehand for any length of time.
The element would be included within the instruction given in the instant case if paragraph second read as follows:
“Second, that the defendant intended to take the life of Annie Dale and did intentionally take her life without just cause or excuse and after thinking about this matter beforehand for any length of time, then you will find . . ..”
Query: Does the second-degree murder instruction in this case correctly define the crime in accordance with the definition of that crime as set forth in the principal opinion ? The answer is obviously no; however, it must be noted that under this newer method of instructing jurors, there is no instruction given that defines the crime of murder. This is a departure from the traditional method of instructing *7jurors in criminal cases and has been approved in State v. Marston, supra.
It would seem, therefore, that the instruction prepared according to the new method, and under which the jury can convict of a certain offense, must perform the function previously performed by both the definition instruction and the instruction requiring certain findings as a prerequisite to conviction.
The function of instructions is to transmit to the jury those legal propositions and essential factual issues which the law requires to be satisfied before a jury can return a verdict of guilty.
Two of the criteria against which the validity of an instruction must be judged are:
(1) Is it a correct statement of the law?
(2) Is it a complete statement ?
In the instant case the questioned instruction permits the jury to convict without finding an element that the principal opinion holds to be essential to murder in the second degree — malice aforethought (malice with premeditation). The instruction, therefore, is not a correct statement of the law as that law is set forth in the principal opinion. The essential holding in State v. Cooper, supra, is that an intentional killing, without more, is simply not murder in the second degree and hence it was held erroneous there, and in my opinion it is error here to tell the jury that an intentional killing is, without more, murder in the second degree.
The questioned instruction is not a complete statement of the law because it does not require a finding of malice aforethought which, under the principal opinion, is essential to murder in the second degree.
In short, it is my opinion that the instruction in the instant case authorized a verdict of guilty of murder in the second degree contrary to the existing substantive law of this State by permitting such a verdict without a jury finding that the intentional killing was done with malice aforethought and, therefore, I dissent.