Harries v. State, 5686
| Decision Date | 26 August 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 5686,5686 |
| Citation | 650 P.2d 273 |
| Parties | Ray W. HARRIES, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff). |
| Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Micheal K. Shoumaker of Koester, Tarver & Shoumaker, Sheridan, for appellant.
Steven F. Freudenthal, Atty. Gen., Gerald A. Stack, Deputy Atty. Gen., Allen C. Johnson, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., and Roger Fransen, Legal Intern (argued), Cheyenne, for appellee.
Before ROSE, C. J., and RAPER, THOMAS, ROONEY and BROWN, JJ.
Appellant was sentenced to serve a term of four to five years in the penitentiary after a jury trial in which he was found guilty of violating § 6-11-101(a), W.S.1977, Cum.Supp.1981. 1 He appeals from the judgment and sentence, wording the only issue: "* * * whether the evidence is insufficient to support the jury verdict."
We affirm.
" * * * " Grabill v. State, Wyo., 621 P.2d 802, 803 (1980).
Following is a summary of the evidence reviewed under this standard:
Appellant and three companions went to a bar in Sheridan at about 12:30 A.M. on December 8, 1981. They rode in a pickup truck which belonged to one of the friends. A fight broke out in the bar and was pushed through the door to the area outside the bar. Most of the patrons of the bar went outside and a number of them were involved in the fight. Shortly after the fight moved to the outside, appellant went out. As he went through the door, someone hit him. He testified that he:
" * * * ran around to the other side of the truck and I thought, I got to get a club or a tire iron or something, and so I opened up the passenger side of Mike's truck, which I didn't even know it was open at that time, and I reached underneath the seat to see what I could find and I came up with a gun * * *."
The person against whom the assault and battery is alleged to have been made, William D. Blanchard, testified as follows:
I'll kill.' Then he waived [sic] the gun and he took a couple steps at me and he stuck the gun right in my chest.
Blanchard testified that he stepped sideways and grabbed the gun as it went off. He testified further:
He testified that he believed he hit appellant with the gun and knocked him down, and that appellant got up and ran from the area.
This evidence was certainly sufficient to form the basis for the jury to draw reasonable inference of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. It could find the elements of the offense to have been so established, i.e. it could find beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant knowingly possessed a firearm with the intent to unlawfully threaten the life or physical well being of another, to commit an assault or an assault and battery on him, or to inflict bodily harm or injury on him.
But appellant argues that his actions were justifiably taken in self-defense and were therefore not criminal. The trial court instructed the jury without objection in this respect as follows:
Instruction No. 10; Wyoming Pattern Jury Instructions 5.208.
Instruction No. 11; Wyoming Pattern Jury Instruction Criminal, 5.210.
"One who has reasonable grounds to believe that another will attack him, and that the anticipated attack will be of such a character as to endanger his life or limb, or to cause him serious bodily harm, has a right to arm himself for the purpose of resisting such attack.
"If the defendant armed himself in reasonable anticipation of such an attack, that fact alone does not make the defendant the aggressor or deprive the defendant of the right of self-defense." Instruction No. 12; Wyoming Pattern Jury Instructions 5.204.
Instruction No. 13; Wyoming Pattern Jury Instruction Criminal, 5.207.
Instruction No. 14; Wyoming Pattern Jury Instruction Criminal, 5.211.
The factual issues upon which a determination of the existence of self-defense were, thus, presented to the jury, and the instructions (which were not objected to) became the law of the case. Gary v. Foster Lumber Company, Inc., Wyo., 531 P.2d 497 (1975); DeWitty v. Decker, Wyo., 383 P.2d 734 (1963).
The jury could reasonably find beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant did not have "reasonable grounds for believing and does believe that bodily injury is about to be inflicted upon him" when he went to the pickup to obtain a tire iron or other weapon. The jury could reasonably find beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant could have then...
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...v. First National Bank of Greybull, Wyo., 684 P.2d 819, 825 (1984); Estate of Altman, Wyo., 650 P.2d 277, 281 (1982); Harries v. State, Wyo., 650 P.2d 273, 277 (1982); In re Parental Rights of PP, Wyo., 648 P.2d 512, 519 (1982); Police Protective Association v. City of Rock Springs, Wyo., 6......
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...(1900); and Ross v. State, 8 Wyo. 351, 57 P. 924 (1899). Self-defense also has been asserted in assault and battery cases. Harries v. State, Wyo., 650 P.2d 273 (1982); Kwallek v. State, Wyo., 596 P.2d 1372 (1979); Hurst v. State, Wyo., 519 P.2d 971 (1974); Mewes v. State, Wyo., 517 P.2d 487......
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