People v. Reese

• Decision Date: 14 May 2012
• Docket Number: Docket No. 142913.,Calendar No. 7.
• Citation: 815 N.W.2d 85,491 Mich. 127
• Parties: PEOPLE v. REESE.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

491 Mich. 127

815 N.W.2d 85

PEOPLE

v.REESE.

Docket No. 142913.

Calendar No. 7.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

Argued Jan. 11, 2012.

Decided May 14, 2012.

Bill Schuette, Attorney General, John J. Bursch, Solicitor General, Kym L. Worthy, Prosecuting Attorney, and Timothy A. Baughman, Chief of Research, Training and Appeals, for the people.

State Appellate Defender (by Valerie R. Newman), for defendant.

Opinion of the Court

YOUNG, C.J.

We granted the prosecution's application for leave to appeal to resolve whether Michigan law recognizes the doctrine of “imperfect self-defense” as an independent theory that automatically mitigates criminalliability for a homicide from murder to voluntary manslaughter when a defendant acts as the initial aggressor and then claims that the victim's response necessitated the use of force. We hold that the doctrine of imperfect self-defense does not exist in Michigan law as a freestanding defense mitigating murder to voluntary manslaughter, although we recognize that factual circumstances that have been characterized as imperfect self-defense may negate the malice element of second-degree murder. When analyzing the elements of manslaughter in light of defendant's self-defense claim, we conclude that the Court of Appeals erred in its ruling on the sufficiency of the prosecution's evidence to sustain defendant's manslaughter conviction. Therefore, we reverse in part the Court of Appeals' judgment,¹ affirm the trial court's verdict of manslaughter, and remand this case to the Court of Appeals for further consideration of defendant's remaining issue on appeal.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Defendant, Verdell Reese, III, was charged with second-degree murder ² and, alternatively, voluntary manslaughter ³ for the April 2008 death of Leonardo Johnson.⁴ Defendant waived his right to a jury trial and proceeded to a bench trial in the Wayne Circuit Court.

According to testimony adduced at trial, defendant owed $2,000 to Johnson, who was so upset about the debt that he had not spoken to defendant for approximately six months. Johnson lived with his cousin, James Long, in Detroit. Defendant was Long's close friend; Long described his relationship with defendant as being “like brothers.” Other testimony established that defendant visited the residence that Long and Johnson shared several times a week, even though Johnson did not like that defendant visited with such frequency.

Long testified that on the evening of April 17–18, 2008, defendant and a man named John Smith (also known as J.T.) arrived at the Johnson/Long residence. After they had been at the house for a couple of hours, defendant and another friend, D, drove to a nearby store to purchase liquor. While defendant and D were at the store, Lakeshia Williams, who was Johnson and Long's cousin, left the house with Smith and walked toward the east, where she lived.

Williams testified that, after she left the house, she saw Johnson approach from the east. Once Smith greeted Johnson, Williams heard two gunshots as defendant's car drove past them. She heard the first gunshot come from the driver's side of the car, but testified that she did not know the origin of the second gunshot. Smith placed himself between Williams and the street and, after the second gunshot, ran back to Johnson and Long's house. Johnson also continued on his way to his house, while Williams continued to her house and told her father about the gunshots she heard.⁵

Although Williams did not see the ensuing encounter between Johnson and defendant, Long did. After parking his car on the street, defendant walked toward the house and began talking with Long. According to Long, Johnson then approached the house and asked, “[W]hat's up with that [?]” to which defendant replied, “[W]hat's up with what?” Long testified that he then saw both defendant and Johnson step back and flinch. Long then heard a shot and saw muzzle fire coming from Johnson's direction, followed by five more shots that came from both Johnson's and defendant's positions.

Once the shooting ended, Johnson ran across the street and through a vacant lot, while defendant remained in front of the house. A police officer responding to the shooting found Johnson's body facedown on the driveway of a house one block north of the shootings. Johnson's .40 caliber semiautomatic pistol was nearby and contained a live round that had jammed in the chamber. The medical examiner testified that Johnson had been shot twice and that the fatal bullet passed through his right arm into his chest.

Defendant had been shot in the right leg. Long and Smith drove defendant to the hospital in defendant's car, but not before Long put defendant's gun in the house. Another officer was dispatched to the hospital where defendant was admitted and took a brief statement from defendant.⁶ Defendant “was very vague [and] did not want to give any information about what happened.” However, defendant did say that “he was standing outside by the car, heard several shots and was struck by several shots” before being taken to the hospital. Defendant claimed to know neither the person who fired the shots nor where the shots had come from. He later changed his version of the events and told another officer that the shots came from a vacant lot across the street, although defendant again said that he could not provide a description of the shooter. In his third statement to police, defendant denied having seen who shot him and did not state the location of the shooter. However, he claimed that he did not think he was the intended target of the shooting.

At the bench trial, defense counsel did not call any witnesses and argued that defendant did not shoot Johnson or, alternatively, that defendant shot Johnson in self-defense. The trial court made its findings of fact and issued its ruling from the bench. First, the trial court rejected defense counsel's claim that defendant did not shoot and kill Johnson: “There's no question ... [that] Mr. Johnson shot at Mr. Reese and Mr. Reese shot at Mr. Johnson, okay. So to suggest that Mr. Reese never shot Mr. Johnson is a mischaracterization of what was proffered by way of evidence here.” The trial court theorized that the shootings occurred because defendant and Johnson “[couldn't] settle their scores in a diplomatic or a professional or responsible way.”

Addressing the defendant's alternative claim of self-defense, the trial court explained that the general rule of self-defense in Michigan is that “one ... may use deadly force in self-defense if he ... honestly and reasonably believes that he is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and that deadly force is necessary to prevent such a death or great bodily harm.” The trial court emphasized that “the touchstone of any claim of self-defense as justified for homicide is a necessity....” Thus, the trial court determined that “whether or not the Defendant himself was the original aggressor ... [is] key to the evaluation of the self-defense defense.”

The trial court then explained that “Michigan courts have recognized the doctrine of imperfect self-defense ... [as] a qualified defense that mitigates second degree murder to voluntary manslaughter....” The trial court continued, emphasizing that “the doctrine only applies where the Defendant would [have] had the right of self-defense [and] ... he acted as the initial aggressor.” Finally, the trial court explained that an initial aggressor is entitled to the justification of self-defense when “he generally stopped fighting his assault and clearly let the other person know that he wanted to make peace.”

The trial court acquitted defendant of second-degree murder, explaining:

Is this homicide murder in the second degree? It is not. I don't think the People have proven [their] case beyond a reasonable doubt, but what the Court has found is that in this case there's no question that the victim shot at Mr. Reese.

The trial court then concluded that defendant was the initial aggressor in the confrontation:

The fact of the matter is, is that Mr. Reese was the one that fired the first shot as Mr. Johnson is walking back to his house and I agree with the prosecutor. This is Mr. Johnson's house, not Mr. Reese's house and Mr. Reese knew that if he'd come to that house there would be trouble....

That being stated the evidence shows clearly the Defendant shot out of the car the first shot. That was verified by Miss Williams. She saw that. The Court can use circumstantial evidence and you [defendant] were in the car. This is verified by Mr. Long who says you got out of the car and as you're walking up, so, too, is Mr. Johnson and at that point this is where the evidence parts ways, who fired the first shot.

This is where the imperfect self-defense comes in and that is clearly that you were the aggressor. The Court finds, Mr. Reese, that you were the aggressor in this case; that you fired the first shot prompting Mr. Johnson to be on guard, prompting Mr. Johnson to pull his weapon on you, prompting you then to pull your weapon on him and no question, this was a shoot-out.

After identifying this as a case involving imperfect self-defense, the trial court applied the elements of manslaughter to the evidence in this case:

The Court finds the prosecution has proven, first, that the Defendant caused the death of Mr. Johnson; that is, that Mr. Johnson died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds.

Second, the Defendant had one of these three states of mind; he either intended to kill Mr. Johnson or he intended to do great bodily harm to Mr. Johnson and pumping five rounds into somebody is pretty much evidence that you intended to at least, at the very least, do great bodily harm to Mr. Johnson or knowingly created a very high risk of death or great harm bodily harm knowing that death or such harm would be the likely result of your actions and, third, the Defendant caused the death without legal justification.

The Court fi...