Court Opinion

ID: 9550826
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:43:05.538509+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:22:31.084136
License: Public Domain

WADE, Justice
(concurring).
I agree with the prevailing opinion on the jurisdictional question and also conclude that prejudicial error was committed in the instructions. I agree that second degree murder is possible even where the killing was intentional. Probably State v. Russell, 106 Utah 116, 145 P. 2d 1003, created the impression that where the killing was intentional there could be no second degree murder but that the case did not so hold nor did the trial court so instruct the jury in this case. The instructions here merely failed to point out the factual situation under which the defendant would be guilty of second degree murder with an intentional killing. I recall no other case where this possibility has been expressly pointed out either by an appellate court or by jury instructions, and I believe that this defect has existed in practically all murder case instructions in which I have participated.
*256In the Russell case the trial court instructed the jury .that unless they found that the killing was intentional they should not find defendant guilty of second degree murder. There we pointed out that such intention was not a necessary element of second degree murder but was a necessary element of first degree murder. We also pointed out that according to some courts a more cool and collected mind is required by the term “deliberation” which is used in describing murder in the first degree, than is required by the term “malice aforethought” which is used in describing murder in the second degree; and in the later case of State v. Thompson, 110 Utah 113, 170 P. 2d 153, in commenting on this we definitely pointed out that first degree murder requires a more cool and calm consideration in arriving at the intention to kill than is necessary for murder in the second degree. This being true, it follows that with an intentional killing but without sufficiently cool deliberation to constitute murder in the first degree, where the other necessary elements are present, second degree murder would result.
Closely allied to the above omission the instructions failed, in applying the law to the facts in instruction No. 7, to point out two other factual situations which would require a second degree murder verdict: (1) The court failed to point out that more cool and calm deliberation, State v. Thompson, supra, and more clearness of mind, State v. Stenback, 78 Utah 350, 2 P. 2d 1050, 79 A. L. R. 878, are required in planning a first degree murder than is necessary for murder in the second degree although in defining terms in instruction No. 2, the jury was told that the term “deliberation” required a more cool mind in the planning than “malice aforethought.” (2) The court failed to point out that if the defendant fired the fatal shot without intending to kill or do decedent great bodily harm but did intentionally shoot him knowing that such would be the natural and probable result thereof he would still be guilty *257of second degree murder. But in instruction No. 2 it was pointed out that such an intention was sufficient to constitute second degree murder. In none of these omissions did the court in terms expressly misstate the law or misapply the law to the facts, it merely failed to point out all of the possible fact situations which would constitute second degree murder.
Where human life is at stake it is very important that the jury receive a correct impression of the necessary facts within the evidence which must be found in order to warrant a conviction of the various degrees of murder and manslaughter. It requires great skill and careful thought on the part of a trial judge to accurately explain to the jury the various distinctions. The important thing is to enlighten the jury on their problem. A learned treatise on the law for the appellate court is not necessary. The law should be applied to the facts disclosed by the evidence in clear and concise layman’s language and ancient legalistic terms and involved definitions should be avoided where possible, even though the statute is couched in such terms. The jury will usually understand much more clearly an explanation in layman’s terms than one in legal language accompanied by involved definitions. Only the law applicable to the facts as shown by the evidence should be mentioned and theories of guilt not supported by the evidence should not be submitted to the jury. The instructions as a whole as well as individual instructions should be made as brief as possible and still cover the required field, for the human mind is incapable of retaining even the salient features of instructions which are too long even though they are otherwise unobjectionable.
This case presents a common pattern of murder cases where the facts would sustain a finding of either first or second degree murder and, in my opinion, of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. Under the evidence here if defendant is guilty of first degree murder it comes only *258under categories (1) or (3) of the classifications thereof in the Russell case. It involves only the last part of category (1) which is the same as category (3) except in the latter the intention must be to kill someone other than the person killed. I doubt that the evidence here would sustain a conviction under category (3). The following discussion applies only to the law governing the facts of this cast under the last part of category (1). If this was first degree murder thereunder it must have been, to use the words of the statute, “willful, deliberate, malicious and premeditated killing.” Section 103-28-3, U. C. A. 1943. That requires that the fatal shot was fired by defendant with the intention to kill the decedent pursuant to a previously formed plan or design arrived at after cool deliberation ■ and with a clear understanding of the nature of his acts and without adequate justification. Anything short of this was not murder in the first degree but might have been murder in the second degree.
To constitute second degree murder requires an “unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought,” Sec. 103-28-1, U. C. A. 1943, and a homicide other than first degree murder “committed under such circumstances as would have constituted murder at common law,” Sec. 103-28-3, U. C. A. 1943. The defendent could have had any one of three possible different intentions in firing the fatal shot in order to be guilty of second degree murder; (1) an intention to kill decedent thought out and planned beforehand but without the necessary cool and calculated deliberation or without a sufficiently clear understanding of the nature of his act necessary for first degree murder; (2) without an intention to kill but only intending to do decedent great bodily harm; and (3) without intending to kill decedent or do him great bodily harm but intending to shoot him knowing that the natural and probable consequence thereof would be death or great bodily harm to decedent. (2) and (3) the defendant’s intention may have been arrived at through cool and calculated deliberation the same as in first *259degree murder, but it would be sufficient if Ms plan was thought out beforehand the same as in (1) above without the cool, calculated consideration and clear understanding required for first degree murder. In all of these cases if the shooting was on a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion, it would not be second degree murder. Thus, if defendant intentionally killed decedent pursuant to a previously thought out plan but lacked the cool, calculated deliberation, or the clear understanding required for murder in the first degree, or if he intentionally shot decedent intending only to do him great bodily harm, or not even intending to harm him but knowing that the natural and probable result of such shooting would be death or serious bodily harm to decedent, he was guilty of second degree murder. In second degree murder there may be an intention to kill and there must be either that or an intention to do great bodily harm or an intention to do an act knowing that the natural and probable consequence thereof will be death or great bodily harm. In any event, the intention and the act must have been previously planned and thought out beforehand and in case there is no intention to kill, the intention may be the result of cool and calculated deliberation, but where there is an intention to kill formed by cool and calculated deliberation then it is murder in the first degree.
Thus under the evidence here presented the jury could find either first or second degree murder or voluntary or involuntary manslaughter. Each of those crimes except involunatary manslaughter require either an intention to. kill or to do great bodily harm or an intention to do an act knowing death or great bodily harm will be the natural and probable result. In first degree murder under the evidence here presented an intention to kill the decedent arrived at by cool and calculated deliberation and a clear understanding of the nature of the act is necessary. In second degree murder there.may be an intention to kill *260and there must be either that or an intention to do great bodily harm or to do an act knowing that the natural and probable result thereof will be death or great bodily harm, and the intention as well as the doing of the act complained of must have been previously planned, designed or thought out beforehand, and in the last two instances may be the result of cool and calculated deliberation but, cool and calculated deliberation is never required for second degree murder.
In voluntary manslaughter there must be an intention to kill or do great bodily harm or to do an act knowing the natural and probable consequences thereof will be death or great bodily harm, but there is no requirement that such intention be formed or the action planned or thought out beforehand. On the contrary, it must be a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion. In other words, the homicide in voluntary manslaughter must be the result of a sudden quarrel or great emotional upset so that the killing or the act causing the death, although intentional, was not the result of reasoning and controlled action but of sudden quarrel or violent emotion which deprives the killer of control over his actions.
There can be no possible self-executing standards by which the jury can accurately measure the emotions and intentions of the defendant. The dividing line between the different degrees of crime are often very indistinct. Pointing out the similarities and differences in the intentions and emotions necessary to constitute the various degrees of crime would greatly aid the jury to understand their task.
In view of all the circumstances, the fact that circumstances which would require a second degree murder verdict were not called to the jury’s attention, that a human life is at stake, that the killing was the result of drinking, fighting and quarreling and there is much doubt whether the defendant or someone else actually did the shooting, I conclude that prejudicial error was committed and that there should be a new trial.