Paul v. State
| Decision Date | 19 November 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 5698,5698 |
| Citation | 655 P.2d 772 |
| Parties | Adam PAUL, Appellant, v. STATE of Alaska, Appellee. |
| Court | Alaska Court of Appeals |
Dana Fabe, Public Defender, Anchorage, for appellant.
Charles M. Merriner, Asst. Atty. Gen., Office of Sp. Prosecutions and Appeals, Anchorage, and Wilson L. Condon, Atty. Gen., Juneau, for appellee.
Before BRYNER, C.J., and COATS and SINGLETON, JJ.
Adam Paul appeals to this court from his conviction of first-degree murder. Paul challenges the trial court's failure to submit the issue of self-defense to the jury. In determining whether the jury should have been instructed on self-defense, we must construe the evidence in the light most favorable to the accused. Bangs v. State, 608 P.2d 1 (Alaska 1980); Toomey v. State, 581 P.2d 1124 (Alaska 1978). Accordingly, we will summarize the relevant evidence favorable to Adam Paul's claim of self-defense.
In September, 1979, Adam Paul, who was eighteen years of age, resided near the Yukon River in the small village of Emmonak, where he had grown up. In late August or early September, 1979, Adam Paul had moved into a house in the village occupied by his older brother, Anthony. 1 The house, a small, single story dwelling with a metal roof and plastic-covered windows, measured approximately twenty-eight by twenty feet.
On the evening of September 15, 1979, Anthony decided to have a party at the house. He began drinking "home brew" early in the evening and was joined by a number of people, including Adam. As the evening progressed, Anthony continued drinking. At about 10:00 p.m., everybody at the party except Adam left for the neighboring village of Alakanuk to find some marijuana. As Anthony departed, he handed Adam a pistol and told Adam to use it to threaten anyone who "messed around" while Anthony was gone. When Anthony and his companions returned a short while later (the group had not succeeded in finding any marijuana), Anthony demanded that Adam return the pistol. Adam would not return it, however, and consequently Anthony struck Adam with his fist, knocking Adam to the floor. A woman who was present at the party and saw Anthony hit Adam asked Adam why his brother had hit him. Adam told her,
The party eventually broke up. After the guests had gone, Anthony again demanded his gun from Adam, and this time Adam complied. After obtaining possession of the gun, Anthony began to beat Adam and throw him around. The two men were in the bedroom of the house at the time. Anthony, intoxicated and in a vicious mood, accused Adam of having hated their oldest brother, Nelson, who had drowned in an accident three months earlier. Anthony repeatedly beat Adam with his fists, pausing occasionally to walk angrily around the house before returning to the bedroom to resume his assault. During the course of the assault, Adam became increasingly frightened. Anthony then turned his attention away from Adam. He pulled a shotgun off the wall of the house and began shooting at lightbulbs in the kitchen and firing through walls and windows. Eventually Anthony stopped shooting and reloaded the shotgun.
At about this time, Louis Shelton, who had previously been at the party, returned to the house to pick up a pair of shoes that he had forgotten. As he approached the house, Shelton heard shots. When Shelton arrived at the door, Anthony pointed the shotgun at him. Anthony told Shelton, "I could have blown your head off." Shelton saw Adam at that time and noted that Adam appeared to be frightened; Shelton indicated that he himself was afraid.
After Shelton's departure, Anthony attacked Adam once again. This beating was more severe than before and caused Adam to bleed from the nose. It was at this juncture that Anthony picked up the shotgun that he had previously fired and threw it at Adam, stating, "I should kill you." The gun hit Adam's chest and fell to the floor. Anthony commanded Adam to pick up the gun and kill him before he counted to three. Anthony warned that if Adam did not kill him by the count of three, he would take the gun and kill Adam. Both men were in the kitchen. Anthony stepped back from the kitchen to the living room and began to count slowly. Meanwhile, Adam picked up the shotgun and stood near the freezer in the kitchen, facing Anthony. Adam testified that he picked up the shotgun because he was afraid Anthony would kill him or beat him. Adam considered fleeing the house, but he was afraid an attempt to escape would only aggravate the situation, because he thought Anthony would pursue and kill him if he did manage to get out of the house. At that point, Anthony again ordered Adam to shoot him in the chest. Anthony repeatedly struck himself in the chest, indicating where Adam should shoot him. According to Adam's testimony, he finally decided to fire a shot over Anthony's shoulders in an effort to stop Anthony's tirade and to calm him down. Adam pulled the trigger, and Anthony fell to the floor. Anthony, struck in the region of his chin and neck, died of a wound to the right carotid artery.
Adam left the scene of the shooting and went to his parents' house. There, he unloaded the shotgun and placed it on a shelf. The following day, Adam reported the incident to the village police officer. While talking to the officer, Adam stated that he "wished it had never happened," that things might have been different if he had not been alone and so afraid of Anthony. Adam further told the officer that "it's not easy" to get away from such circumstances when you are alone and that it is a "helpless feeling to be so frightened of a brother." Finally, Adam told the village police officer that Anthony could easily have killed him if he had not reacted in the way he did to Anthony's threat.
An investigation conducted by Alaska State Troopers provided information corroborating Adam's account of the killing. The troopers found numerous shotgun pellet holes in the ceiling, walls and window frames, large holes in the plastic covered windows, and a number of expended shotgun casings on the floor of the residence. An autopsy disclosed that Anthony's knuckles were freshly skinned and abraded, indicating that he had been beating something or someone with his fists shortly before his death. A trooper who saw Adam on the day after the shooting stated that he had a swollen face, a black and blue eye, and a bloody chin and chest.
Adam Paul's defense at trial was predicated on his assertion that he had not intended to shoot his brother Anthony and that he had fired the shotgun in self-defense. The trial court, however, refused to instruct Paul's jury on self-defense. The court ruled that Adam Paul had presented sufficient evidence to indicate a subjective belief on his part that it was necessary to fire the shotgun in self-defense. However, the court concluded that the evidence would not support an objective finding of reasonableness on Adam Paul's part. Thus, the court believed that, even if Adam Paul subjectively believed he was justified in acting in self-defense, a reasonable person would not have concluded that Adam Paul was in imminent danger at the time of the shooting. 2 Accordingly, the court concluded that the evidence did not merit a jury instruction on self-defense. We must determine whether this finding by the court was mistaken, under the circumstances.
It is well recognized that the burden is on the defendant to produce some evidence in support of a claim of self-defense before he will be entitled to a jury instruction. Bangs v. State, 608 P.2d 1, 5 (Alaska 1980); Toomey v. State, 581 P.2d 1124, 1126 (Alaska 1978); Folger v. State, 648 P.2d 111 (Alaska App.1982). The burden to produce some evidence of self-defense is not, however, a heavy one; this standard is satisfied when self-defense has fairly been called into issue. In each case, the relevant inquiry is, "did the evidence viewed in the light most favorable to the defendant, generate the issue of self-defense for jury consideration?" State v. Millet, 273 A.2d 504, 508 (Me.1971). 3 A jury question will be presented and an instruction required if the evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to the accused, might arguably lead a juror to entertain a reasonable doubt as to the defendant's guilt. 4
Because it is apparent that a colorable claim of self-defense must be resolved by the jury, along with other factual issues relevant to the determination of innocence or guilt, the role played by the trial court in deciding whether a self-defense instruction is called for must be a limited one. The court must be mindful of the need to refrain from adjudicating factual issues that fall within the jury's domain. Application of too severe a standard in determining whether "some evidence" of self-defense has been presented will inevitably place the court in jeopardy of encroaching on the prerogative of the jury and, to that extent, impinging on the right of the accused to a jury trial. It is for this reason that the trial court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the accused in deciding if sufficient evidence to instruct on self-defense has been presented. The same reason has led to the rule that, when a court considers whether the "some evidence" standard has been met, "[a]ny weakness or implausibility in the evidence supporting [the accused's] story is not a relevant consideration." Toomey v. State, 581 P.2d at 1126 n. 10. Thus, in determining whether "some evidence" of self-defense has been presented, the court is not called upon to determine the credibility or strength of the evidence or the weight to be given to testimony. Id. at 1126 n. 6. 5
A review of the facts involved in three cases where evidence was deemed sufficient to require a self-defense instruction is helpful in illustrating the types of cases in which "some evidence" of self-defense has been found to exist. In Toomey v....
To continue reading
Request your trial