Court Opinion

ID: 9505580
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 20:06:43.060164+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:04:37.411284
License: Public Domain

BOEHM, Justice,
concurring in result.
I agree that the conviction should be affirmed for the reasons given by the majority in footnote two of its opinion. However, I do not agree that the instruction, was a correct statement of the law. The challenged instruction tracked the statute verbatim, and told the jury that: "A person is not justified in using force if ... [hle is committing ... a crime." But as the majority points out, the statute does not mean what it appears to say because its judicial patina makes clear that not everyone engaged in "a crime" is deprived of the defense of self-defense. Accordingly, the recitation of the naked statutory language was not a proper statement of "the law."
I also believe that it is not proper to affirm the conviction here on the ground that the jury could have determined that there was a causal connection between Mayes' illegal possession of a weapon and his confrontation with the victim. If the jury had been properly instructed that there must be such a connection to negate self-defense, then I would affirm. But there was no instruction that a finding of a causal connection between the illegal activity and the confrontation was required. Accordingly, we have no basis to conclude that the jury made that finding.
More importantly, the majority would preclude a claim of self-defense wherever "but for" the defendant's commission of a crime, the confrontation with the victim would not have occurred. I am concerned that this "but for" test is too broad. There are many situations where "but for the defendant committing a crime, the confrontation resulting in injury to the victim would not have occurred," but where the defense of self-defense should be available. For example, take a situation similar to the one referred to in the majority opinion in State v. Leaks, 114 S.C. 257, 103 S.E. 549, 551 (1920). The defendant is illegally gambling and a fight erupts because the victim believes the defendant is cheating. *397This leads to the victim's death. Under these cireumstances, the defendant should be free to claim self-defense. Similarly, if the victim attempts to take marijuana from the defendant and it leads to an altercation and the victim's death, self-defense should be available. In either case, the majority's "but for" test may be thought to be satisfied, and, i#f so, the defendant would be precluded from raising self-defense. In general, commission of a non-violent crime with no inherently predictable violent outcome should not negate the defense of self-defense.
Because the courts have already taken considerable liberty with the language of this section to avoid draconian and obviously inappropriate results, I believe it is appropriate to fine-tune this tinkering. I suggest it would be preferable to phrase the issue as whether there is "an immediate causal connection" between the aspect of the defendant's activity that renders it criminal and the confrontation.1 In the gambling incident, presumably a fight could also break out in a game with no illegal stakes and, in the marijuana hypothetical, an attempt to steal a lawfully possessed substance could as easily erupt into violence. In sum, I believe that the majority's conclusion is correct based on the reasoning of footnote two, but believe the test established is too broad and eliminates the defense in situations where it should rightly be available.
DICKSON, J., concurs.

. Indiana appears to be unusual in purporting to deny self-defense to anyone committing a crime as opposed to those committing "foreible felonies." See III. Comp. Stat. 38/7-4 (2000); Kan. Stai. Ann. § 21-3214 (2000). The Model Penal Code does not contain a comparable provision.