Roberts v. State

• Decision Date: 24 April 1986
• Docket Number: No. 16242,16242
• Citation: 717 P.2d 1115,102 Nev. 170
• Parties: Douglas Doyle ROBERTS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Nevada, Respondent.
• Court: Nevada Supreme Court

Page 1115

717 P.2d 1115

102 Nev. 170

Douglas Doyle ROBERTS, Appellant, v.The STATE of Nevada, Respondent.

No. 16242.

Supreme Court of Nevada.

April 24, 1986.

[102 Nev. 171] Conner & Steinheimer, Reno, for appellant.

Brian McKay, Atty. Gen., Carson City, Mark Torvinen, Dist. Atty., James Wilson, Reno, for respondent.

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

In the early morning hours of March 7, 1984, Ranae Loddy and Charlie Johnston were asleep in the bedroom of Johnston's trailer in Jackpot.They were awakened by a persistent knock on the trailer door.Ms. Loddy climbed from bed and went to answer the knock.When she opened the door, she was shot and killed by her boyfriend, the appellant, Douglas Doyle Roberts.Johnston exited the trailer via a back door and was not harmed.He phoned the police from a neighbor's trailer; and when they arrived, Roberts was arrested.

Prior to the night of the shooting Roberts was a senior highway maintenance foreman for the Nevada Department of Transportation.He had worked for the department for twenty eight years and had no prior record of criminal activity.For six years he and Loddy had lived together in his home with her two children.Ms. Loddy and her children moved out of that house in September of 1983, although she and Roberts continued to see each other.Loddy's son, Rick, continued to live with Roberts for a month after she moved out.Thereafter, Rick occasionally visited Roberts on weekends.

Roberts testified that he believed that he and Loddy would get back together.With that hope in mind he kept Loddy's car on his insurance policy and continued to pay the premiums.He also gave Loddy money for her February, 1984, car payment and bought clothes for her children after they moved out.Roberts stated that he did these things because, "I felt that they were still my family."Roberts insisted that he continued to love Loddy and that he saw no reason not to help her and the children.

On March 6, 1984, Roberts worked only half a day.He had made arrangements with Loddy to take Rick to Twin Falls, Idaho, to retrieve one of Roberts' pickup trucks.Roberts intended to loan the truck to Rick so that the boy would have transportation.Loddy asked Roberts to stop at a drug store in Twin Falls and buy her some hair rinse.After retrieving the truck and the hair rinse, Roberts and Rick returned home around 4:00 p.m. Loddy agreed to get together with Roberts later that evening.Roberts then drove to a nightclub in Jackpot and "had a couple of drinks."He left that club and went to another where he stayed most of the rest of the evening, leaving once to see if Loddy was home and returning when he could not find her.

Roberts drank throughout the evening until the bar closed.The bartender at the club, Charles Sallee, testified that Roberts drank 15-25 drinks between 9:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. when the bar closed.According to Sallee, Roberts was intoxicated when he left the bar.Sallee testified that Roberts spent the evening drinking and dancing and that he did not appear to be upset.When Sallee closed the bar at 1:00 a.m., he and some of the other patrons agreed to meet Roberts at another bar.

Roberts testified that he drove by Loddy's trailer on his way to the other bar.He did not see Loddy's car at her trailer and drove on; however, as he passed Charlie Johnston's trailer he noticed Loddy's car parked there.Roberts stated that the next thing he remembered was Loddy's falling and his yelling for help.He had no other memory of the shooting, but he denied that he ever intended to kill Loddy.

Charlie Johnston testified that he and Loddy had spent the evening talking and had then gone to bed.At 1:19 a.m. they heard a knock on the door, and Loddy went to answer it, assuming it was Roberts.As the door opened, Johnston heard a "pop" and saw Loddy fall.He then saw Roberts kneel beside her.As stated above, Johnston left via a backdoor and called the police.

When sheriff's deputies arrived at Johnston's trailer, they found Roberts' car in the driveway with the lights on and the engine running.Roberts was sitting in the trailer doorway cradling Loddy in his lap.He was calling for someone to come help.When the deputies approached him Roberts was whining and saying, "Oh my God, I killed her, please kill me.Please put me out of my misery."The deputies found Roberts' gun on the couch where he had tossed it.Roberts was then taken into custody.He had to be strapped to a stretcher to get him to leave Loddy's body.

Roberts was tried and found guilty of second degree murder.

The only issue it is necessary for us to address is the trial court's refusal to grant Roberts an instruction on voluntary manslaughter.We conclude that this refusal was error warranting the reversal of Roberts' conviction and the granting of a new trial.A defendant in a criminal case is entitled, upon request, to a jury instruction on his theory of the case so long as there is some evidence, no matter how weak or incredible, to support it.Williams v. State, 99 Nev. 530, 665 P.2d 260(1983).

The crime of voluntary manslaughter is defined and described in NRS 200.040,NRS 200.050andNRS 200.060, the pertinent language being set forth in the margin.¹It appears that there is some evidence in this case to support a jury finding that the crime of manslaughter had been committed.²Indeed, the trial judge himself observed that the jury could have inferred that the defendant was acting in the heat of passion.³That there is evidence to support a finding of the "sudden" nature of the passion cannot be gainsaid.NRS 200.040 requires that the "sudden heat of passion" be caused by "a provocation apparently sufficient to make the passion...