Middleton v. McNeil

• Decision Date: 03 May 2004
• Docket Number: No. 03-1028.,03-1028.
• Citation: 541 U.S. 433
• Parties: MIDDLETON, WARDEN v. McNEIL.
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

541 U.S. 433

MIDDLETON, WARDEN v. McNEIL.

No. 03-1028.

Supreme Court of United States.

Decided May 3, 2004.

Respondent was charged with murdering her husband after an argument. Under California law, the malice element needed for a murder conviction is negated if one kills out of fear of imminent peril. If that fear is unreasonable but genuine, California's "imperfect self-defense" doctrine reduces the crime to voluntary manslaughter. The voluntary manslaughter jury instruction in this case erroneously defined imminent peril, but the prosecutor's closing statement correctly stated the law. Respondent was convicted of second-degree murder. In affirming, the California Court of Appeal acknowledged the erroneous instruction, but found that the instructions as a whole and the prosecutor's argument made the correct standard clear. The Federal District Court later denied respondent federal habeas relief, but the Ninth Circuit reversed.

Held: The Ninth Circuit erred in finding that the erroneous instruction eliminated respondent's imperfect self-defense claim and that the state appellate court unreasonably applied federal law by ignoring the unchallenged and uncorrected instruction. A state prisoner is entitled to federal habeas relief if a state court's adjudication of his constitutional claim was "contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law." 28 U. S. C. § 2254(d)(1). When a jury instruction fails to give effect to the requirement that a State prove every element of a criminal offense, the question is whether the instruction so infected the entire trial that the conviction violates due process. Estelle v. McGuire, 502 U. S. 62, 72. Here, the question is whether there is a "`reasonable likelihood that the jury has applied the . . . [ambiguous] instruction in a way' that violates the Constitution." Ibid. Given that there were three correct instructions and one contrary one, the state court did not unreasonably apply federal law when it found no reasonable likelihood that the jury was misled by the erroneous instruction. Though the Ninth Circuit also faulted the state court for relying on the prosecutor's argument, nothing in Boyde v. California, 494 U. S. 370, precludes a state court from assuming that counsel's arguments clarified an ambiguous jury charge, particularly when they resolve the ambiguity in the defendant's favor.

Certiorari granted; 344 F. 3d 988, reversed and remanded.

ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

PER CURIAM.

I

Respondent Sally Marie McNeil killed her husband after an argument over his infidelity and spending habits. The State of California charged her with murder. Respondent's theory at trial was that her husband had tried to strangle her during the argument, but that she had escaped, fetched a shotgun from the bedroom, and killed him out of fear for her life. Fingernail marks were indeed found on her neck after the shooting. She testified that her husband had been abusive, and a defense expert opined that she suffered from Battered Women's Syndrome. The State countered with forensic evidence showing that the fingernail marks were not her husband's and may have been self-inflicted, and with the testimony of a 911 operator who overheard respondent tell her husband she had shot him because she would no longer tolerate his behavior.

Under California law, "[m]urder is the unlawful killing of a human being . . . with malice aforethought." Cal. Penal Code Ann. § 187(a) (West 1999). The element of malice is negated if one kills out of fear of imminent peril. In re Christian S., 7 Cal. 4th 768, 773, 872 P. 2d 574, 576 (1994). Where that fear is unreasonable (but nevertheless genuine), it reduces the crime from murder to voluntary manslaughter—a doctrine known as "imperfect self-defense." Ibid. At respondent's trial, the judge instructed the jury on these concepts as follows:

"`The specific intent for voluntary manslaughter, as opposed to murder, must arise upon one of [the] following circumstances:

. . . . .

"`[A]n honest but unreasonable belief in the necessity to defend oneself against imminent peril to life or great bodily injury. That would be imperfect self-defense.

. . . . .

"`To establish that a killing is murder [and] not manslaughter, the burden is on the People to prove beyond a reasonable doubt each of the elements of murder and that the act which caused the death was not done . . . in the honest, even though unreasonable, belief in the necessity to defend against imminent peril to life or to great bodily injury.

. . . . .

"`A person, who kills another person in the actual but unreasonable belief in the necessity to defend against imminent peril to life or great bodily injury, kills unlawfully, but is not guilty of murder. This would be so even though a reasonable person in the same situation, seeing and knowing the same facts, would not have had the same belief. Such an actual but unreasonable belief is not a defense to the crime of voluntary manslaughter.

"`An "imminent" peril is one that is apparent, present, immediate and must be instantly dealt with, or must so appear at the time to the slayer as a reasonable person.'" App. to Pet. for Cert. 31-33.

The last four words of this instruction—"`as a reasonable person'"—are not part of the relevant form instruction, 1 California Jury Instructions, Criminal, No. 5.17 (6th ed. 1996), and were apparently included in error. The prosecutor's closing argument, however, correctly stated the law.

Respondent was convicted of second-degree murder and appealed on the basis of the erroneous jury instruction. The California Court of Appeal acknowledged the error but upheld her conviction, reasoning:

"[R]eversal is not required because `[e]rror cannot be predicated upon an isolated phrase, sentence or excerpt from the instructions since the correctness of an instruction is to be determined in its relation to the other instructions and in light of the instructions as a whole.' Here, when all of the jury instructions on voluntary manslaughter and imperfect self-defense, are considered in their entirety, it is not reasonably likely that the jury would have misunderstood the requirements of the imperfect self-defense component of voluntary manslaughter. On the contrary, these instructions repeatedly informed the jury that if the defendant had an honest (or actual) but unreasonable belief in the need to act in self-defense, then the offense would be manslaughter and the defendant could not be convicted of murder. Furthermore, in arguing to the jury, the prosecutor set forth the appropriate standard, stating `[i]f you believe it is an imperfect self-defense, that she actually believed but that a reasonable person would not believe in the necessity for self-defense, that lessens the crime to what is called, "voluntary manslaughter."'" App. to Pet. for Cert. 33-34 (citations omitted).

Respondent then sought federal habeas relief. The District Court denied her petition, but the Ninth Circuit reversed. 344 F. 3d 988 (2003). We now grant the State's petition for a writ of certiorari and respondent's motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis, and...