State v. McLaughlin

• Decision Date: 10 February 1993
• Docket Number: No. 91-280-C,91-280-C
• Citation: 621 A.2d 170
• Parties: STATE v. David McLAUGHLIN. A..
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Page 170

621 A.2d 170

STATE v. David McLAUGHLIN.

No. 91-280-C.A..

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

Feb. 10, 1993.

James E. O'Neil, Atty. Gen., Aaron Weisman, Jeffrey Greer, Asst. Attys. Gen., for plaintiff.

Richard Casparian, Public Defender, Barbara Hurst, Catherine Gibran, Asst. Public Defenders, for defendant.

OPINION

SHEA, Justice.

This matter comes before the Supreme Court on the appeal of the defendant, David McLaughlin (McLaughlin) from a conviction in Superior Court on the first and third counts of a three-count indictment. The defendant was convicted of manslaughter, in violation of G.L.1956 (1981 Reenactment) § 11-23-3, as amended by P.L.1985, ch. 421, § 1, and of the entering of a dwelling house with the intent to commit larceny, in violation of § 11-8-3. The trial justice entered a judgment of acquittal on the second count charging the defendant with breaking into and entering Del's Lemonade. For the reasons that follow we vacate and remand for a new trial.

On appeal defendant raises these four issues: that the trial justice erred in submitting the theory of involuntary manslaughter by virtue of criminal negligence to the jury; that the trial justice erred in denying a motion for a judgment of acquittal on the theory of misdemeanor manslaughter; that the trial justice erred in failing to grant a judgment of acquittal on the charge of entering the residence of Dr. Charles Round with the intent to commit larceny; and finally that the trial justice's decision on the voluntariness of McLaughlin's statement, his ruling on admissibility of evidence relevant to voluntariness, and his charge to the jury on how to assess voluntariness all suffered from a lack of understanding of the proper standard for determining coercion and all were error.

The tragic events in this case began on the evening of April 1, 1988. ¹ Our knowledge of these events come principally from defendant's testimony. Juston Ellinwood (Juston), ² aged nine and his eight-year-old brother, Jesse, had a few friends over to play Atari and watch television at their home at 15 Harvard Avenue in Warwick. The boys' father, Gary Ellinwood (Ellinwood), was home, but their mother, Laurie Ellinwood, was out for the evening. Sometime between 7 and 8 p.m., McLaughlin came to the Ellinwood home looking for the father. Shortly thereafter, Ellinwood and McLaughlin left the house, leaving the boys alone. Enroute Ellinwood ran into another friend and went for a ride with this other friend leaving defendant behind. Ellinwood returned home alone about an hour and a half later to find his sons and their friends still playing. He remained at home for some time but left to purchase cigarettes later that night, again leaving the boys alone.

While Ellinwood was out getting cigarettes, McLaughlin returned to the Ellinwood home again, looking for him. It was about 11:30 p.m. or midnight by that time. Jesse had fallen asleep on the couch, and the boys' friends had gone home. Juston answered the door and said that he did not know where his father was. The defendant testified that Juston then told him that he was hungry and asked him to go for a ride. According to defendant, Juston told him that he wanted to go and break into some places. Juston and defendant left the house together. The defendant took a bike from the yard, and Juston rode on a scooter.

The first stop they made was Del's Lemonade on Warwick Avenue. Juston entered the building through a window and returned with a collection of candy, gum, baseball cards, and $10's worth of rolled pennies. ³ The pair moved on to the residence of Dr. Charles Round, four blocks up on Warwick Avenue from Del's Lemonade. The defendant knew Dr. Round because he had grown up with his children and had been in the house previously. When defendant was unable to break into the house by kicking a door, Juston broke a cellar window and climbed into the basement. The defendant testified that he waited on the picnic table in the yard while Juston was inside. He then entered the house through the basement window to find Juston. The two remained in the basement until an alarm was activated. The alarm seemed to be set off by an attempt to gain entrance to the main floor of the house from the basement. An old Minerva Tropic Master, described as a radio that Dr. Round had purchased in 1943, was taken from the house. The defendant maintains that although he may have assisted Juston in carrying the radio out the cellar window, it was Juston who took the radio and transported it from the home. In Dr. Round's yard, the two left a trail of packages of gum, Del's Lemonade cups, and garden tools. From Dr. Round's home the two made a brief stop when they came across a Corvette parked in a driveway. Juston broke into the car but could not get it started. The defendant conceded that he got into the car while Juston was trying to start it. When the effort was unsuccessful, they continued on until they reached Buckeye Brook.

The defendant and Juston left the car and approached Buckeye Brook from the Stillwater Drive side. McLaughlin carried the scooter and the candy to the other side of the brook while Juston brought the bike and the radio he had taken from Dr. Round's house. Once across the brook they left the bike, the scooter, and the radio on the other side. They left the Buckeye Brook area and headed up a path to Cedar Swamp Road. Juston then wanted to break into the Sweet family house on Cedar Swamp Road. The defendant knew the Sweets and warned Juston of potential harm by the Sweets if he attempted to break in. At this point the events of the night turned.

The defendant testified that he was cold and wet and wanted to go home while Juston insisted that they break into the Sweet home. The pair argued about the housebreaking, and Juston then headed back toward the brook. The defendant followed Juston toward the brook and testified that they continued arguing. According to defendant, Juston grabbed the scooter from the side of the brook and headed back into the water. When Juston was in the water, where it was about two feet deep, defendant followed him down from the edge of the brook. McLaughlin stated that during their argument about whether to continue to break into houses, Juston began grabbing at and pulling on his right leg. In order to calm Juston down, defendant hit him in the head with the back of his hand.

After defendant hit Juston in the head, he testified that he, Juston, did not react. He did not fall or begin crying. When defendant looked at Juston he appeared to be half walking and half swimming. He did not appear to defendant to be in any danger. The defendant then picked up the radio taken from Dr. Round's house and threw it into the brook. Even after he threw the radio into the water, defendant indicated, Juston still appeared to be fine. The defendant then left the brook area and ran home. The last he saw of the boy was in the water, appearing to be in control. Juston's body was found the next day, April 2, 1988, by two boys playing near the brook.

I

The defendant first challenges his conviction for involuntary manslaughter on the grounds that the trial justice erred in submitting the theory of criminal negligence to the jury.

At trial the state presented the two theories of involuntary manslaughter on which a jury could potentially convict defendant. Involuntary manslaughter is defined as an unintentional homicide without malice aforethought, committed either (1) in the performance of an unlawful act not amounting to a felony or (2) in the performance of a lawful act with criminal negligence. State v. Robbio, 526 A.2d 509 (R.I.1987).

The state posited that misdemeanor manslaughter could follow from defendant's admission that he had hit Juston in the head. The state argues that this blow, amounting to an assault, was the cause of Juston's drowning. The state presented evidence of the head injury and testimony linking the injury to Juston's death. In order to convict defendant on this theory, the jury would need to find beyond a reasonable doubt both that defendant had committed an assault and that the assault was the proximate cause of the death. This theory as presented to the jury does not raise a problem.

The second theory that the state relied on is the criminal negligence theory. The state concedes in its brief that under the criminal-negligence theory it must be assumed that Juston did not drown as a result of the blow by defendant. Instead, something other than the blow to Juston's head would have to have proximately caused his death. A conviction under this theory would require evidence that defendant was aware that Juston was in peril and did not come to his aid. It follows that if something other than defendant's blow caused Juston to drown and defendant was not aware that Juston was drowning or in any danger, then he could not have been criminally negligent toward Juston.

The state concedes that only if there is some evidence from which the jury could have inferred defendant was aware of Juston's peril and did not act to aid him could defendant be found to have proximately caused Juston's death. State v. Wheeler, 496 A.2d 1382 (R.I.1985). However, awareness and a failure to act alone are not sufficient to support a conviction on this theory. To find criminal liability for failing to act, there must first exist a legal duty to act. In the absence of such a duty, one cannot be held liable, either civilly or criminally, for a failure to act. Id. at 1391. A moral duty is not enough. ⁴

The existence of a legal duty is a question of law and not therefore within the province of the jury. Such a duty of care may be imposed by either the common law or by statutory mandate. ⁵ Under the common law there is no general duty of care imposed on a person to protect, render assistance, or to otherwise be responsible for another's safety and welfare. Exceptions to that general rule do exist, but they are...