Court Opinion

ID: 9533643
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:33:30.619594+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:29:06.444560
License: Public Domain

Opinion by
ELDRIDGE, J.,
Concurring in Part and Dissenting in Part.
I fully concur in that portion of the judgment and the Court’s opinion which reverses the conviction for carrying a weapon openly with the intent to injure. I flatly disagree, however, with the majority’s overruling or disapproval of the most recent Court of Appeals’ opinions defining or setting forth the requirements for one type of second degree murder. If the most recent Court of Appeals’ opinions on a subject are to be overruled or disapproved, it should be done by the Court of Appeals as the Supreme Court of this State, and not by this Court.
In Burch v. State, 346 Md. 253, 696 A.2d 443, cert denied, 522 U.S. 1001, 118 S.Ct. 571, 139 L.Ed.2d 410 (1997), the Court of Appeals began its resolution of a second degree murder jury instruction issue by setting forth the basic definition or scope of second degree murder under Maryland law. Judge Wilner for the Court in Burch stated (346 Md. at 274, 696 A.2d at 454, emphasis added):
“Second degree murder embraces a killing accompanied by any of at least three alternative mentes reae: killing another person (other than by poison or lying in wait) with the intent to kill, but without the deliberation and premeditation required for first degree murder; killing another person with the intent to inflict such serious bodily harm that death would be the likely result; and what has become known as depraved heart murder — a killing resulting from ‘the deliberate perpetration of a knowingly dangerous act with reckless and wanton unconcern and indifference as to whether anyone is harmed or not.’ ”
Four years later, the Court, of Appeals reiterated the definition of the type of second degree murder involved in the instant case, stating “that second degree murder embraced ... ‘killing another person with the intent to inflict such *741serious bodily harm, that death would be the likely result,’ ” Mitchell v. State, 363 Md. 130, 147, 767 A.2d 844, 853 (2001) (emphasis added, internal quotation marks omitted). See also B. Sifrit v. State, 383 Md. 116, 138, 857 A.2d 88, 100-101 (2004) (quoting the trial court’s jury instruction on second degree murder).
The Maryland Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions, prepared by a Committee chaired by Judge Irma S. Raker of the Court of Appeals, with numerous other distinguished Maryland criminal law experts constituting the membership, repeatedly defines the species of second degree murder here involved as “the intent to inflict such serious bodily harm that death would be the likely result;’ MPJI-Cr 4:17, 4:17.1, 4:17.2, 4:17.3, 4:17.4, 4:17.5, 4:17.6, at 218, 223, 227, 233, 239, 246, 251, and 252 (1991, 2003 Supp.) (emphasis added).
The phrase “that death would be the likely result,” contained in the recent above-cited Court of Appeals cases and pattern jury instructions, is, according to today’s majority opinion of this Court, erroneous. The majority labels it a “misconstruction” of “Maryland law.” “[I]n Maryland,” the majority states, “to prove second-degree murder, the evidence need only show that the death of the victim resulted from the intentional infliction of serious bodily harm.” (Emphasis added). The majority continues:
“Thus, to convict an accused of second-degree murder, the State need only convince the fact finder beyond a reasonable doubt that an accused acted with the intention to inflict serious bodily harm and that death was a consequence of that harm.”
Moreover, the various comments by the trial judge in this case, regardless of the gloss which the majority may put on them, shows that the above-quoted standard, or even a lesser one with respect to the State’s burden, was employed by the trial court. The trial court stated that, “even though that [serious bodily harm] wasn’t what he [the defendant] was after”, then “you do something like that, the consequences are yours.” At another point, the trial court held that, if an *742accused did something that in fact “was going to inflict serious bodily harm,” death is one of the “probable consequences” and the defendant is guilty of second degree murder. Other comments by the trial judge, which were said in reference to the facts of this case and not “speaking hypothetically” as the majority chooses to interpret them, confirm the trial court’s view that, regardless of intent, if in fact serious bodily harm is inflicted and death in fact results, the defendant is guilty of second degree murder.
In holding that, “to prove second degree murder, the evidence need only show that the death ... resulted from the intentional infliction of serious bodily harm” (emphasis added), and that the recent Court of Appeals opinions on the subject are erroneous, the majority cites State v. Ward, 284 Md. 189, 199, 396 A.2d 1041, 1047-1048 (1978); Davis v. State, 237 Md. 97, 104, 205 A.2d 254, 258 (1964), cert. denied, 382 U.S. 945, 86 S.Ct. 402, 15 L.Ed.2d 354 (1965); and Webb v. State, 201 Md. 158, 162, 93 A.2d 80, 82 (1952).
The Webb, Davis, and Ward cases do not compel, or even lend much support to, the majority’s position. It is true that, in commenting upon the “intent to inflict serious bodily harm” type of murder, these opinions do not add the language “that death would be the likely result.” With regard to the element of intent, however, the three opinions do not use the majority’s “only” language or language to the effect that the State need show “only ... the intentional infliction of serious bodily harm”.
In addition, the issue presented by the case at bar was not an issue in any of the three opinions relied upon.
Webb v. State, supra, involved a conviction of assault with intent to murder, and not a conviction of second degree murder. Furthermore, the language in Webb relied on by the majority today, 201 Md. at 161-162, 93 A.2d at 82, is a quotation from Wharton, Criminal Law (12th Ed.). The Court of Appeals has more recently criticized reliance upon Webb’s quotations from Wharton, calling some of the quotations an “unfortunate use of language” and “misleading,” State *743v. Jenkins, 307 Md. 501, 511, 513, 515 A.2d 465, 470, 471 (1986).
The principal issue in Davis v. State, supra, was the validity of a jury instruction that “all homicides are presumed to be murder and that the burden is on the accused to show circumstances of alleviation, excuse or justification,” 237 Md. at 99, 205 A.2d at 255. Davis upheld the instruction, and the Davis case was, of course, overruled by Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U.S. 684, 95 S.Ct. 1881, 44 L.Ed.2d 508 (1975), and State v. Evans, 278 Md. 197, 362 A.2d 629 (1976). In addition, the language in Davis relied upon by the majority today, 237 Md. at 104, 205 A.2d at 258, was a repeat of the Webb language, with the Court citing Webb and Wharton. Furthermore, immediately after the language cited by the majority, the Davis opinion, ibid., referred to the “nature of the injuries inflicted upon” the victim, and the “brutality and severity of’ the “beating.” This qualifies what was previously said and supports the later Court of Appeals’ language in Burch and Mitchell.
In State v. Ward, supra, the trial court had dismissed the indictment, and the issues before the Court of Appeals concerned the correctness of the dismissal in light of the Maryland common law doctrine of accessoryship. The issues involving second degree murder were whether there may be an accessory before the fact of murder in the second degree and whether the indictment was sufficient for the defendant to be tried for such an offense. No issue regarding the intent element of “intent to do serious bodily injury” murder was presented in the Ward case. The language from Ward, 284 Md. at 199, 396 A.2d at 1047, relied on in the majority opinion today, was simply a quote from the Davis case and a quote from Wharton.
By relying on a quote from a criminal law encyclopedia contained, as dicta, in the Webb, Davis, and Ward opinions, the majority employs an extremely slender reed in its effort to disapprove of the later opinions by the Court of Appeals in *744Burch and Mitchell and to overrule the pattern jury instructions.
The language of Burch, Mitchell, and the pattern jury instructions, including as a form of second degree murder a homicide with “the intent to inflict such serious bodily harm that death would be the likely result,” does not, as suggested by the majority, “change” Maryland law or add a new element to the offense of second degree murder. The language “that death would be the likely result” simply clarifies or illuminates the intent element. It is consistent with the evidentiary principle that evidence of “using a deadly weapon directed at a vital part of the body” may give rise to an inference of an intent to commit grievous bodily injury or an intent to kill. See, e.g., State v. Jenkins, supra, 307 Md. at 513-515, 515 A.2d at 471-472, and cases there cited; State v. Evans, supra, 278 Md. at 205, 362 A.2d at 634 (“While it may be proper to infer an intention to kill or to do grievous bodily harm from the directing of a deadly weapon at a vital part of the human anatomy, it is improper to infer ‘malice’ therefrom”). Under the majority’s and the trial court’s formulation, however, if an accused directs a knife at the victim’s finger, intending to inflict serious bodily harm, and the finger is severed, and, unknown to the accused, the victim is a hemophiliac, and bleeds to death, the accused will be guilty of second degree murder. The formulation of the “intent” element set forth in Burch, Mitchell, and the pattern jury instructions, would avoid this result.
To reiterate, if the language from the Burch and Mitchell opinions is to be disapproved or revised, it should be done by the Court of Appeals and not by this Court. I would reverse the murder conviction and remand the case for a new trial under the proper standards.