Court Opinion

ID: 9744441
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 22:03:14.360836+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:49.263046
License: Public Domain

FRIEDLANDER, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s conclusion that Spradlin v. State, 569 N.E.2d 948 (Ind.1991) compels reversal of the attempted battery conviction because of a faulty jury instruction. I believe that, in so doing, the majority has effected an unwarranted extension of the principle announced in Spradlin.
In Spradlin, the court overturned an attempted murder conviction because it determined that the instruction setting out the elements of attempted murder was defective. The instruction in question failed to inform the jury that the defendant must have acted with the requisite specific intent, i.e., must have intended to kill the victim.
The pivotal question in the instant case is whether the principle announced in Spradlin extends beyond attempted murder and applies to the offense of attempted battery. The majority answers this question in the affirmative. This case represents the first Indiana appellate decision to extend the Spradlin holding beyond attempted murder. In reaching its conclusion that Spradlin should be extended, the majority decides two additional matters not heretofore resolved in Indiana: 1) specific intent is a required element of attempted battery; and 2) the specific intent concept is required for all attempt instructions. Building upon these conclusions, the majority’s final conclusion is that the supreme court intended that the Sprad-lin rule should be applied broadly enough to include the offense of attempted battery.
I do not agree that the rule announced in Spradlin should be extended beyond the context in which that case was decided, i.e., in eases involving attempted murder. The majority’s conclusion in this regard is based upon its interpretation of certain language in Spradlin that arguably may be understood to implicitly support such a position. However, the fact remains that the supreme court did not explicitly manifest such an intention in Spradlin and has not done so since. Accordingly, I do not believe Spradlin is controlling in a case involving attempted battery.
In my view, for purposes of instructing a jury on the intent element, attempted murder differs from attempted battery in one important respect: the former requires knowing or intentional commission of an act which is intended to accomplish a specific result (killing), while the latter requires only proof of a knowing or intentional act (angry or rude touching). The instruction deemed defective in Spradlin allowed the jury to convict of attempted murder if it determined that the defendant knowingly or intentionally struck, stabbed, or cut the victim, without regard to whether he intended thereby to kill the victim. In other words, the jury was instructed that it could convict even if the attack was undertaken without an intent to kill.
*715Attempted battery, on the other hand, does not require more than a knowing attempt to accomplish an angry or rude touching. There is no requirement, for instance, to prove that the touching was intended to bring about a certain result. The result and the conduct in question are one and the same — an angry or rude touching. I believe that the instruction in the instant case adequately advised the jury of the elements of attempted battery, including the scienter element. In fact, the instruction substantially restates the statutory definitions of the offenses of attempt and battery. It instructed the jury that in order to prove Richeson guilty of attempted battery, the State must show that he knowingly or intentionally took a substantial step to accomplish a rude or angry touching. This instruction adequately clarified that, in order to find Richeson guilty of attempted battery, the jury had to be convinced that Richeson intended a rude or angry touching while committing an act for the purpose of accomplishing that result.
In summary, I believe Spradlin applies only in cases involving attempted murder and therefore does not compel the majority’s result. I also believe the instruction in question adequately and correctly advised the jury of the elements of attempted battery. I would affirm the conviction of attempted battery.