Howard v. Com., 80-SC-848-MR
| Decision Date | 07 July 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 80-SC-848-MR,80-SC-848-MR |
| Citation | 618 S.W.2d 177 |
| Parties | Patrick HOWARD, Appellant, v. COMMONWEALTH of Kentucky, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky |
Appellate Patrick Howard was tried by a jury, found guilty of the murder of Harold Baker in violation of KRS 507.020, and sentenced to twenty years in prison. Patrick appeals to this court as a matter of right. We reverse.
On December 2, 1979, police found Harold Baker's bullet-riddled automobile abandoned on a back road in Bell County. The body of Harold Baker was found in the woods about 75 feet away from the car. The victim had been shot numerous times in the head and chest, and had been partially buried under leaves and pine needles.
It was the Commonwealth's theory that Patrick and his brother, Wayne Howard, robbed Baker of several hundred dollars, and then shot him. There were no eyewitnesses to the killing, and physical and circumstantial evidence was offered to connect Patrick to the offenses. Patrick was indicted with his brother, Wayne, for having murdered Harold Baker by shooting him, but prior to trial the trial court ordered that the appellant and his brother receive separate trials. Though the evidence against Patrick was not overwhelming, it was sufficient for a reasonable jury to find him guilty. Trowel v. Commonwealth, Ky., 550 S.W.2d 530 (1977).
This court must reverse Patrick's conviction for murder, however, because the murder instruction given to the jury by the trial court, viewed in its entirety, substantially prejudiced Patrick's right to a fair trial.
Patrick was indicted for (1) murder and (2) being a persistent felony offender. Over Patrick's objection, the following instructions were given to the jury:
INSTRUCTION NO. A
You will find the defendant guilty under this instruction if, and only if, you believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt all of the following:
(a) That in this county, on or about December 1st or 2nd, 1979, and before the finding of the indictment herein, he voluntarily participated in a robbery of Harold Baker;
(b) That during the course of that robbery, and as a consequence thereof, Harold Baker was intentionally shot and killed.
(If you find the defendant guilty under this instruction, you shall say in your verdict only that you find him guilty, and return the verdict to the Court without deliberating on the question of fixing the punishment.)
(a) "Intentionally" A defendant acts intentionally with respect to another's death when it is his conscious objective to cause that death.
Instructions must be based upon the evidence and they must properly and intelligibly state the law. Simpson v. Commonwealth, 313 Ky. 599, 233 S.W.2d 118, 120 (1950). Their function is "only to state what the jury must believe from the evidence ... in order to return a verdict in favor of the party who bears the burden of proof." Webster v. Commonwealth, Ky., 508 S.W.2d 33, 36 (1974).
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