State v. Fuller, No. 22979
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
| Writing for the Court | TOAL; GREGORY; GREGORY |
| Citation | 297 S.C. 440,377 S.E.2d 328 |
| Parties | The STATE, Respondent, v. Albert FULLER, Jr., Appellant. . Heard |
| Decision Date | 14 November 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 22979 |
Page 328
v.
Albert FULLER, Jr., Appellant.
Decided March 6, 1989.
Page 329
Jack B. Swerling, John H. Blume and David I. Bruck, Columbia, for appellant.
Atty. Gen. T. Travis Medlock, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen. Donald J. Zelenka, Columbia, and Sol. (Sp. Prosecutor) Robert J. Harte, Aiken, for respondent.
TOAL, Justice:
Appellant Fuller was indicted for two counts of murder. The jury acquitted Fuller of one count, and found him guilty of the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter on the other count. The Honorable Marion H. Kinon sentenced Fuller to [297 S.C. 441] thirty years imprisonment. Fuller appeals his conviction on three grounds: (1) that the State exercised its peremptory challenges in a discriminatory manner; (2) that the trial court erred in only charging the Davis self-defense charge; and, (3) that the trial court improperly gave an Allen charge. We, however, will only consider the dispositive issue of whether the trial judge erred in limiting the self-defense charge to the language found in Davis. Because the trial judge erred in exclusively charging Davis, we reverse Fuller's conviction and remand for a new trial.
Fuller, who was a Correctional Officer at Kirkland Correctional Institute, admitted that he shot and killed two men. Fuller claimed, however, that he shot the men while acting in self-defense.
On the night of September 20, 1986, Fuller, a black man, solicited a white prostitute, Susan Phillips, on Two Notch Road, in the parking lot of the Columbia Motor Lodge. Fuller agreed to meet Ms. Phillips back at her trailer. Ms. Phillips lived in a trailer on Blume Court, next to the Ole Place Club and behind the Columbia Motor Lodge. Fuller drove to Blume Court while Ms. Phillips ran down Two Notch Road to Blume Court. Fuller parked his car and waited on Blume Court while Ms. Phillips went in the trailer. Upon arriving at her trailer, Ms. Phillips found that another prostitute already had a "bag" (a man) in the bedroom. Since the trailer was occupied by another prostitute, Fuller left to find a friend's party.
Unsuccessful in finding the party, Fuller returned to Blume Court. Upon returning, Fuller encountered a car driven by a white woman blocking the entrance to Blume Court. Fuller asked her to move. Mr. Dixon, the owner of the private Ole Place Club, and Mr. Phillips, the Ole Place Club's bouncer, approached Fuller's car and asked him what he was "trying to do to that white lady." Fuller denied that he was "doing anything." While grabbing Fuller's door, Mr. Dixon responded, "Nigger, don't
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lie to me." Mr. Dixon then grabbed Fuller by the throat, and stated, "that is why we have got to take care of niggers like you."[297 S.C. 442] Fuller, threatened by Mr. Dixon, reached down to the floorboard of his car and retrieved his gun. He then fired a warning shot between Dixon and Phillips. Not knowing Blume Court was a dead end street, Fuller drove to the end of Blume Court. As he began to turn around in an attempt to leave, he saw Dixon and Phillips open the trunk of their car. Both Dixon and Phillips then got in their car and tried to block Fuller's car from exiting Blume Court.
Maneuvering past Dixon's car, Fuller turned right on Two Notch Road. After entering Two Notch Road, Fuller's car crashed into a steel rail at the road's curb. Fuller could not move his car off of the steel rail. The testimony was unclear as to whether the Dixon car forced Fuller off the road or whether he lost control of his car. After Fuller crashed his car, Dixon and Phillips drove their car into Fuller's car. Fuller testified that one of the two men yelled, "we're going to take care of you."
Fuller testified that after his car had been rammed, the two men began to exit their car. He cautioned them to stay in their car. Fuller testified that when the door of the car opened, he saw something shiny in Dixon's hand and thought it was a gun. Fuller fired four shots at the men's car and killed both men. A gun was never found in Dixon's car.
I. SELF-DEFENSE
Fuller contends that the lower court erred in only charging the self-defense charge as set forth by this court in State v. Davis, 282 S.C. 45, 317 S.E.2d 452 (1984). The trial judge charged self-defense as follows:
"Now ladies and gentlemen the defendant has pled in this case what is known as the plea of self-defense and self-defense is a complete defense, if established you must find the...
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State v. Cherry, No. 3296.
...are different legal principles which may apply within the umbrella of this defense, depending upon the facts presented. State v. Fuller, 297 S.C. 440, 443, 377 S.E.2d 328, 330 (1989). For example, "defense of others" may be factually raised in one case, and have no applicability in a case i......
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State v. Cherry, No. 3406.
...the evidence, despite fact that judge had instructed jury in accordance with prior court-approved self-defense charge); State v. Fuller, 297 S.C. 440, 377 S.E.2d 328 (1989) (court erred in giving a prior-approved charge exclusively without considering the facts and circumstances of the part......
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State v. Santiago, No. 4127.
...words accompanied by hostile acts may establish self-defense, there was no evidence of a hostile act by Wisn. See State v. Fuller, 297 S.C. 440, 444, 377 S.E.2d 328, 331 (1989); State v. Harvey, 220 S.C. 506, 518, 68 S.E.2d 409, 414 (1951) ("[W]here death is caused by the use of a deadly we......
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State v. Starnes, No. 25119.
...strike the fatal blow in order to save himself from serious bodily harm or losing his own life.4 (Emphasis added).5 A. In State v. Fuller, 297 S.C. 440, 377 S.E.2d 328 (1989), this Court held it error for the trial judge to exclusively charge the 340 S.C. 320 Davis instruction on self-defen......
-
State v. Cherry, No. 3296.
...are different legal principles which may apply within the umbrella of this defense, depending upon the facts presented. State v. Fuller, 297 S.C. 440, 443, 377 S.E.2d 328, 330 (1989). For example, "defense of others" may be factually raised in one case, and have no applicability in a case i......
-
State v. Cherry, No. 3406.
...the evidence, despite fact that judge had instructed jury in accordance with prior court-approved self-defense charge); State v. Fuller, 297 S.C. 440, 377 S.E.2d 328 (1989) (court erred in giving a prior-approved charge exclusively without considering the facts and circumstances of the part......
-
State v. Santiago, No. 4127.
...words accompanied by hostile acts may establish self-defense, there was no evidence of a hostile act by Wisn. See State v. Fuller, 297 S.C. 440, 444, 377 S.E.2d 328, 331 (1989); State v. Harvey, 220 S.C. 506, 518, 68 S.E.2d 409, 414 (1951) ("[W]here death is caused by the use of a deadly we......
-
State v. Starnes, No. 25119.
...strike the fatal blow in order to save himself from serious bodily harm or losing his own life.4 (Emphasis added).5 A. In State v. Fuller, 297 S.C. 440, 377 S.E.2d 328 (1989), this Court held it error for the trial judge to exclusively charge the 340 S.C. 320 Davis instruction on self-defen......