Springer v. State

• Decision Date: 06 November 2003
• Docket Number: No. 31S01-0302-CR-89.,31S01-0302-CR-89.
• Parties: Steven S. SPRINGER, Jr., Appellant (Defendant below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below).
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

798 N.E.2d 431

Steven S. SPRINGER, Jr., Appellant (Defendant below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below).

No. 31S01-0302-CR-89.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

November 6, 2003.

Matthew Jon McGovern, Louisville, KY, for Appellant.

Steve Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, Michael Gene Worden, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, for Appellee. SULLIVAN, Justice.

When the son of Defendant Steven S. Springer, Jr., tried to crash a party at a private residence, the host beat him up. Defendant responded by taking a loaded and cocked handgun to the residence. The weapon discharged and a boy was injured. The Court of Appeals reversed Defendant's conviction for criminal recklessness on the ground that the jury had not been instructed to acquit Defendant if it found him to be negligent rather than reckless. We find that there was no requirement that the jury be so instructed.

Background

The facts indicate that on the night of November 5, 1999, Phillip Crain, eighteen years of age, engaged in some risky business while his parents were on vacation in Aruba. Although Phillip's parents had forbidden him from having any friends over while they were gone, he threw a party at his parents' home that about 40 to 50 teenagers attended. There was some alcohol consumption at the party and the services of an adult entertainer were procured.

Defendant's son, who had not been invited, crashed the party at some point during the evening. Phillip told him to leave about three times but Defendant's son did not. Ultimately, Phillip attacked Defendant's son and kicked him for about five or ten minutes. After the fight, at approximately one or two in the morning of November 6, Defendant's son left the party and drove home. His head and body were badly bruised and swollen.

Upon returning home, Defendant's son fell asleep without telling his parents about the events at the party and without contacting the police. At about eight o'clock in the morning of November 6, Defendant Steven Springer, Jr., and his wife learned that their son had suffered a beating the previous night. Defendant became very angry about what had happened and decided to confront the individuals responsible for the beating. He grabbed his unregistered.45 caliber semi-automatic handgun and drove with his wife to the Crains' home. He had not obtained any medical aid for his son at that time, nor had he notified the police about the beating.

When he arrived at the Crains' home, he loaded a bullet into the chamber of his gun before approaching. Defendant banged on the door and demanded to be let inside. One of the boys opened the door and Defendant asked if he was Phillip Crain. Another of the boys, Benjamin Waldo, ran to the basement when he saw Defendant approaching the house with a gun. Defendant heard shuffling behind the basement door and headed towards it. Benjamin heard Defendant cursing and yelling for Phillip as well as the sound of drums being kicked.

While this was going on, Jonathan Wendell was washing his face in the bathroom. Jonathan heard a commotion in the house and then was shot in the chest. The bullet that injured Jonathan traveled from Defendant's gun, through a refrigerator in the kitchen, through the back wall, and into the bathroom.

After he was shot, Jonathan fell to his knees. Jonathan gathered himself and then walked to the kitchen and asked Defendant what he was doing. Defendant asked Jonathan if he was Phillip Crain. Defendant replied that he was not and Defendant took him to the hospital. Jonathan received medical treatment, but the bullet remains in his lung because of the medical risk of removal.

The State charged Defendant with Criminal Recklessness, a Class C felony. At trial, Defendant admitted that he carried the gun into the house with a bullet in the chamber and the hammer back but claimed that the safety was on. He claimed that his weapon fired accidentally when he stumbled as a result of jerking open the basement door. The State presented evidence showing that Defendant's gun had several working safeties and that the firearm could not have discharged accidentally.

Defendant tendered instructions on the definition of negligence, definition of recklessness, and the defense of accident to the trial court. The trial court rejected each of these instructions over Defendant's objection.

The jury found Defendant guilty of Criminal Recklessness.

At sentencing, Phillip's father was granted restitution for property damage to his residence as well as the cost of his airline tickets back home from vacation following the shooting. Defendant was sentenced to seven years incarceration with two of those years suspended.

The Court of Appeals reversed the conviction. Although it found that the trial court properly rejected Defendant's tendered instruction on his accident defense, the Court of Appeals concluded that the trial court erred in refusing to give Defendant's tendered instructions on negligence. Springer v. State, 779 N.E.2d 555, 562-63, 564 (Ind.Ct.App.2002). It also determined that the trial court improperly granted restitution for the cost of airline tickets home from vacation. Id. at 563. Judge Bailey dissented from the finding that the trial court abused its discretion in rejecting the tendered instructions involving negligence. Id. at 564-65. We granted transfer. Springer v. State, 792 N.E.2d 39 (Ind.2003).

Discussion

I

Defendant maintains that the trial court abused its discretion by refusing his tendered instruction no. 2 defining "recklessly" and tendered instruction no. 3 defining "negligence."

"This Court reviews a trial court's refusal to give a tendered instruction for an abuse of discretion. We consider (1) whether the instruction correctly states the law; (2) whether there is evidence in the record to support the giving of the instruction; and (3) whether the substance of the tendered instruction is covered by other instructions that are given." Forte v. State, 759 N.E.2d 206, 209 (Ind.2001) (citations omitted).

The trial court gave the jury an instruction defining "recklessly." In relevant part, final jury instruction no. 5 read: "A person engages in conduct `recklessly' if he engages in the conduct in plain, conscious, and unjustifiable disregard of harm that might result and the disregard involves a substantial deviation from acceptable standards of conduct." (Appellant's App. at 186.)

Defendant proffered two instructions as an alternative to the court's. The key factor distinguishing Defendant's proposed instructions from the trial court's final instruction was their emphasis on negligence.

Defendant's tendered instruction no. 2 also defined "recklessly." It read: "A person engages in conduct `recklessly' if he engages in the conduct in plain, conscious and unjustified disregard of the harm that might result therefrom, and the disregard involves a substantial deviation from acceptable standards of conduct. This requires the State to prove more than mere negligence on the behalf of the Accused." (Appellant's App. at 175.)

Defendant's tendered instruction no. 3 defined "negligence." It said: "Negligence is the failure to do what a reasonably careful and prudent person would have done under the same or like circumstances, or the doing of some thing which a reasonably careful and prudent person would not have done under the same or like circumstances; in other words, negligence is the failure to exercise reasonable or ordinary care." (Appellant's App. at 176.)

Defendant claims that his tendered instruction no. 2 should have been used because the trial court's instruction was an incorrect statement of the law. Defendant suggests that "the Indiana Court of Appeals has repeatedly held that the state must prove recklessness as opposed to mere negligence," and he suggests that his instruction defining "recklessly" more accurately states the law because it reminds the jury that recklessness is graver than negligence. (Br. of Appellant at 10.)

The instruction given by the trial court defined recklessly in terms almost identical to Defendant's proposal. Indeed, the trial court's instruction closely tracks the statutory definition of recklessness.¹ In its review of the matter, the Court of Appeals found that "it is undisputable that the definition of `recklessly' itself was adequately covered" by the trial court's instruction. Springer, 779 N.E.2d at 560. We agree that the trial court's instruction defining "recklessly" correctly stated the law.

Defendant also claims that both of his instructions should have been given because none of the trial court's jury instructions explained the difference between recklessness and negligence and, therefore, the substance of his tendered instructions nos. 2 and 3 was not covered by other instructions that were given. He points out that "nowhere in the trial court's final instructions was the word `negligence' even mentioned." (Br. of Appellant at 12.) A direct result, Defendant maintains, is that the trial court effectively prohibited the jury from hearing any instruction on any theory of his defense.

To this point, the trial court noted that the State had to prove that Defendant "intentionally, knowingly or recklessly" acted, not that he "negligent[ly] discharged a firearm." (R. at 437.) The trial court commented that if the jury found that the State had not met its burden of proof, it would have to acquit the Defendant.

The Court of Appeals disagreed with the trial court. It held that Defendant's "substantial rights were most likely prejudiced by the failure of the trial court to explain the legal concept of negligence." Springer, 779 N.E.2d at 560. In significant part, the Court of Appeals relied on Cichos v. State, 243 Ind. 187, 184 N.E.2d 1 (1962), and Sipp v. State, 514 N.E.2d 330 (Ind.Ct. App.1987), for this conclusion.

In Cichos, the defendant was convicted of reckless homicide after he was involved in a head-on collision. 243 Ind. at 188-90, 184...