Robinson v. State

• Decision Date: 19 May 1980
• Docket Number: No. CR,CR
• Parties: James W. ROBINSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee. 79-197.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Page 421

598 S.W.2d 421

269 Ark. 90

James W. ROBINSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee.

No. CR 79-197.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

May 19, 1980.

Thomas E. Brown, Pine Bluff, for appellant.

Steve Clark, Atty. Gen. by Catherine Anderson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.

MAYS, Justice.

Appellant received a sentence of life without parole after a jury found him guilty of capital murder. Included among the issues raised by appellant on appeal is whether the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on lesser included offenses. From our review of the record, we find sufficient evidence to support an instruction on the lesser included offense of second degree murder, Ark.Stat.Ann. § 41-1503 (Repl. 1977). Therefore, we reverse appellant's conviction and remand for a new trial.

Appellant, James Robinson, was charged with capital murder on December 4, 1978 in Jefferson County Circuit Court. The information alleged that appellant, with the premeditated and deliberated purpose of causing the death of any person, caused the death of Linda Sue Williams and Dora Jackson in the course of the same criminal episode.

At the time of the alleged offense, appellant was 36 years of age and had been married for approximately ten years. He had met Linda Sue Williams approximately 21/2 years earlier and entered into an extramarital relationship with her. He had apparently become ambivalent about the relationship and sought emotional comfort from a Reverend Moore who operated a spiritual counseling service for donational fees. Reverend Moore advised appellant that Linda Sue Williams and her mother, Dora Jackson, had placed a "hex" on him and prescribed various rituals for appellant and his wife to perform to remove the spell of their influence.

In the late evening of December 2, 1978, while visiting Linda at her home after returning from a hunting trip with a friend, appellant engaged in a relatively tense conversation with Linda and her mother who were upset because they had heard that appellant had accused them of putting a "hex" on him. Although appellant at first lied and denied the accusations, Linda continued to treat him coldly and left with her mother and aunt to go to a local shopping center. Appellant, apparently disturbed by Linda's lack of attention and less than cordial attitude, followed them to the shopping center and, after approaching them again on the parking lot and being rejected, discharged a shot gun and 22 pistol at them, killing Linda and her mother and wounding Linda's aunt, Amy McKinney. Confessing to the crimes, appellant surrendered to law enforcement officials three days later.

While awaiting trial, appellant was committed on two occasions by the court for a psychological evaluation but was found to be without psychosis. During the trial appellant raised the affirmative defense of not guilty because of mental disease or defect and presented expert testimony which concluded that at the time of trial appellant was a psychotic schizophrenic. Appellant's experts also indicated that at the time of the crime, appellant was "confused" and probably in a "dreamlike state." At the conclusion of the evidentiary presentation, the appellant's attorney requested the trial court to instruct the jury on first degree murder, second degree murder and manslaughter in addition to the instructions on capital murder. The court refused and appellant now alleges error.

No right has been more zealously protected by this court than the right of an accused to have the jury instructed on lesser offenses included in the more serious offense charged. Caton & Headley v. State, 252 Ark. 420, 479 S.W.2d 537 (1972). Where there is the slightest evidence to warrant such an instruction, we have consistently held that it is error to refuse to give it. King v. State, 117 Ark. 82, 173 S.W. 852 (1915); Walker v. State, 239 Ark. 172, 388 S.W.2d 13 (1965); Westbrook v. State, 265 Ark. 736, 580 S.W.2d 702 (1979). This is so, no matter how strongly the trial judge feels that the evidence weighs in favor of a finding of guilty on the most serious charge. Our strong preference for such an instruction has even induced us to approve giving it over the defendant's objections. Kurck v. State, 235 Ark. 688, 362 S.W.2d 713 (1962), cert. denied 373 U.S. 910, 83 S.Ct. 1299, 10 L.Ed.2d 412 (1963). Irrespective of a request, however, the court may refuse to give such an instruction when there is absolutely no evidence to support it. Frederick v. State, 258 Ark. 553, 528 S.W.2d 362 (1975).

Although charged with capital murder, appellant requested an instruction on first degree murder, second degree murder and manslaughter. The crimes of capital murder and first degree murder require proof that the accused acted with premeditation and deliberation in causing the death of another. Although the premeditation and deliberation need not exist for any particular length of time, there must be a weighing in the mind of the consequences of a course of conduct as distinguished from acting upon sudden impulse without the exercise of reasoning powers. A failure of proof in this regard, however, may still result in a conviction of second degree murder which only requires a purposeful homicide or...