Love v. State
| Decision Date | 07 December 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 776,776 |
| Citation | 267 Ind. 302,369 N.E.2d 1073 |
| Parties | Willie L. LOVE, Appellant (Defendant below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below). S 223. |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
Harriette Bailey Conn, Public Defender, David P. Freund, Bobby Jay Small, Deputy Public Defenders, Indianapolis, for appellant.
Theo. L. Sendak, Atty. Gen., David L. Steiner, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.
Defendant-appellant, Willie L. Love, was charged with the first-degree murder of Moses Allen Walker, Jr. Following a trial by jury, he was found guilty as charged and sentenced to life imprisonment. The following issues are presented for consideration upon appeal:
1. The sufficiency of the evidence to support the judgment; and
2. Whether the trial court erred in overruling a defense motion for mistrial.
The evidence most favorable to the judgment establishes the following:
The decedent's father went to the Marshall Tavern on the evening of January 18, 1975. As he was leaving, Carolyn Johnson approached him and requested a ride, which he gave her. Miss Johnson had been dating the defendant about five months and was at the tavern with the defendant and some of his friends. At the corner of Seventeenth and McClure in Marion, Indiana, the defendant rammed his car into the rear of the senior Walker's auto. The accident occurred almost directly in front of the decedent's home. The defendant and the decedent's father began arguing and were joined by the decedent. The defendant then got into his black and white Toronado and drove away. The other three, the decedent, his father and Miss Johnson, went into the decedent's home to call the police. This took approximately three to five minutes; whereupon, the three went outside to determine the extent of the damage to the elder Walker's car. Approximately the same time, the defendant returned, driving the same car, and opened fire with a rifle, killing the younger Walker.
The challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence is twofold. First, it is argued that the evidence was insufficient to establish that the defendant committed the crime; and in the alternative, it is posited that the evidence was sufficient only for a conviction of voluntary manslaughter.
When reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, this Court will consider only that evidence which is most favorable to the judgment and the reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom. If there exists substantial evidence of probative value to support the verdict, the conviction will not be set aside. Daniels v. State (1976), Ind., 346 N.E.2d 566.
The defendant points to the fact that two of the witnesses, the decedent's father and Miss Johnson, could not positively state that it was the defendant doing the shooting. The third eyewitness, Jerelene Walker, stated that she saw the defendant fire the weapon.
This variance in the testimony would affect the credibility of the witness; it does not render the evidence insufficient as a matter of law.
Voluntary manslaughter is defined as a voluntary killing of another human being without malice and in a sudden heat. Ind.Code § 35-13-4-2 (Burns 1975). Killing in the heat of passion is the element which distinguishes voluntary manslaughter from murder. However, to reduce murder to manslaughter, there must be sufficient provocation to engender such passion. Dickens v. State (1973), 260 Ind. 284, 295 N.E.2d 613. To find sufficient provocation one must find:
"(A)ll that is required to reduce a homicide from murder to voluntary manslaughter is sufficient provocation to excite in the mind of the defendant such emotions as either anger, rage, sudden resentment, or terror as may be sufficient to obscure the reason of an ordinary man, and to prevent deliberation and premeditation, to exclude malice, and to render the defendant incapable of cool reflection."
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Jefferson v. State
...court's ruling will be reversed only for an abuse of that discretion. Choctaw v. State (1979), Ind., 387 N.E.2d 1305; Love v. State (1977), 267 Ind. 302, 369 N.E.2d 1073. Appellant's contention has already been answered by our Supreme Court in Hill v. State (1979), Ind., 390 N.E.2d 167, a d......
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Gregory v. State
...the argument escalated into a physical fight, and maintains he never intended to kill his mother. As we stated in Love v. State (1977), 267 Ind. 302, 369 N.E.2d 1073, 1075: "[A]ll that is required to reduce a homicide from murder to voluntary manslaughter is sufficient provocation to excite......
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Neff v. State, 3-1276A292
...See: Welty v. State, supra; Ex parte Moore, supra. In such instances, the offense is reduced from murder to manslaughter. Love v. State (1977), Ind., 369 N.E.2d 1073; Dickens v. State (1973), 260 Ind. 284, 295 N.E.2d 613; Yarber v. State (1962), 242 Ind. 616, 179 N.E.2d 882. This mitigation......
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Hedrick v. State
...the child and that this anger was sufficient to constitute "sudden heat" under the circumstances. As we stated in Love v. State, (1977) 267 Ind. 302, 369 N.E.2d 1073, 1075: "(A)ll that is required to reduce a homicide from murder to voluntary manslaughter is sufficient provocation to excite......