State v. Hall

Decision Date21 October 2015
Docket Number2015 Opinion No. 68,Docket No. 40916
CourtIdaho Court of Appeals
PartiesSTATE OF IDAHO, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. ROBERT DEAN HALL, Defendant-Appellant.

Stephen W. Kenyon, Clerk

Appeal from the District Court of the Fourth Judicial District, State of Idaho, Ada County. Hon. Michael R. McLaughlin, District Judge.

Judgment of conviction for murder in the second degree and use of a deadly weapon during the commission of a crime, affirmed.

Sara B. Thomas, State Appellate Public Defender; Jason C. Pintler and Ben P. McGreevy, Deputy Appellate Public Defenders, Boise, for appellant. Jason C. Pintler argued.

Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General; Lori A. Fleming, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, for respondent.

____________________

HUSKEY, Judge

Robert Dean Hall appeals from his judgment of conviction for second degree murder and use of a firearm during the commission of the murder. Specifically, Hall argues that the district court erred in failing to properly instruct the jury on his justifiable homicide defense. He further contends that the district erred in excluding Facebook statements and by admitting testimony about the curriculum of Hall's concealed weapons class. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

I.FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Following a confrontation in the parking lot of Walgreens, the defendant, Robert Dean Hall, shot E.C. in the head and the chest, killing him. Hall's wife, K.H., was employed by E.C.'s law firm and was engaged in a sexual relationship with E.C. K.H. testified that Hall was notaware of her relationship with E.C. prior to the shooting, but several witnesses testified that Hall was suspicious of the relationship and that he had confronted both K.H. and E.C about the nature of their relationship prior to the shooting. In the weeks leading up to the shooting, Hall and E.C. were involved in at least two heated conversations, one at E.C.'s office after Hall observed K.H. and E.C. returning from lunch together and one at the Hall residence that occurred after Hall read text messages sent by E.C. to K.H. These interactions did not include any physical violence from either E.C. or Hall. E.C.'s wife and co-workers testified that in the weeks prior to his death, E.C. was more aggressive and quarrelsome than usual. K.H. testified that E.C. was pressuring her to divorce Hall and was becoming more demanding of her time and attention outside of work.

On the evening of the shooting, during the course of an argument about their relationship, K.H. told Hall that she was having an affair, but that her relationship was with an attorney in Oregon. Following the argument, K.H. left her home and drove to Walgreens, telling Hall she needed to pick up a prescription. K.H. met E.C. in Walgreens' parking lot and they left together in his vehicle. K.H. and E.C. purchased gas at a nearby Fred Meyer, drove around looking at houses, and then had intercourse in E.C.'s vehicle before returning to Walgreens' parking lot. During the time that E.C. and K.H. were together, K.H. received a telephone call from Hall who inquired as to K.H.'s location and whether she was with E.C. While K.H. was on the telephone with Hall, E.C. grabbed the phone and spoke to Hall telling him, "Yeah, f---ing crack your head," and "Yeah, just wait there. We'll be there in a minute." When E.C. and K.H. returned to the parking lot, Hall was waiting for them and confronted the couple.

K.H. was the only witness to the confrontation between Hall and E.C., and the record is unclear as to exactly what happened prior to the shooting. K.H. testified that E.C. and Hall argued, and that E.C. may have insulted Hall about his income and physical characteristics. In response, Hall insulted E.C. for having an affair while he had a wife and five children, including a young baby, at home. The evidence, although contradictory, reflects that K.H. testified she saw E.C. push Hall, she walked away from the argument, heard "scuffling," but did not turn around again until after she heard gun shots. E.C. was shot in the chest and the head and died almost instantly. Hall was transported to the hospital for a head wound that was attributed to a bullet grazing his scalp.

On the night of the shooting, Hall told responding officers that he had carried the gun1 to the scene in the front pocket of his sweatshirt and that the gun fell out during the fight, that Hall and E.C. fought over the gun, and that Hall believed he had been shot in the neck or the head but did not explain how E.C. was shot. When Hall was later questioned, he was not able to clearly explain the events that led to the death of E.C. During the trial, Hall admitted expert testimony that he suffered amnesia as a result of the concussive impact of the injury caused by the gunshot.

Hall was charged with first degree murder and use of a deadly weapon during the commission of a crime. After a jury trial, he was convicted of second degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of that offense. He was sentenced to a unified sentence of thirty years, with a determinate sentence of seventeen years. Hall appeals, challenging the district court's jury instructions, a pretrial evidentiary ruling excluding social media evidence, and an evidentiary ruling allowing testimony regarding a concealed weapons course he had taken.

II.ANALYSIS
A. Justifiable Homicide and Self-Defense Jury Instructions

Hall raises two issues on appeal regarding jury instructions for his justifiable homicide and self-defense claims. First, we are asked to determine whether the district court erred in denying Hall's request to instruct the jury with a justifiable homicide instruction consistent with Idaho Criminal Jury Instruction 1514. Second, we address Hall's claim that the district court erred by instructing the jury with the pattern self-defense instructions, consistent with Idaho Criminal Jury Instructions 1517, 1518, and 1519. The State asserts that Hall failed to preserve these issues for appeal.

Whether the jury has been properly instructed by the trial court is a question of law over which this Court exercises free review. State v. Southwick, 158 Idaho 173, 181, 345 P.3d 232, 240 (Ct. App. 2014). This Court must review the instructions as a whole and determine if the instructions fairly and accurately reflect the applicable law. Id. In a criminal case, a defendant is entitled to have the jury properly instructed on his theory of the case. State v. Arrasmith, 132 Idaho 33, 43, 966 P.2d 33, 43 (Ct. App. 1998). Idaho Code § 19-2132(a) requires that thetrial court must provide to the jury being charged "all matters of law necessary for their information" and must give a requested jury instruction if it determines that instruction to be correct and pertinent. Under a four-part test, a requested instruction must be given where: (1) it properly states the governing law; (2) a reasonable view of the evidence would support the defendant's legal theory; (3) it is not addressed adequately by other jury instructions; and (4) it does not constitute an impermissible comment as to the evidence. State v. Fetterly, 126 Idaho 475, 476-77, 886 P.2d 780, 781-82 (Ct. App. 1994); see also State v. Evans, 119 Idaho 383, 385, 807 P.2d 62, 64 (Ct. App. 1991). To meet the second prong of this test, the defendant must present at least some evidence supporting his or her theory and any support will suffice as long as his or her theory comports with a reasonable view of the evidence. State v. Kodesh, 122 Idaho 756, 758, 838 P.2d 885, 887 (Ct. App. 1992). In other words, a defendant must present facts to support each element of a prima facie case for each defense. State v. Camp, 134 Idaho 662, 665-66, 8 P.3d 657, 660-61 (Ct. App. 2000). If the defendant fails to provide evidence supporting any one of the necessary elements of a defense, the defendant has failed to meet his or her burden and is not entitled to have the jury instructed on that defense. A trial court's decision not to instruct the jury in accordance with the defendant's proposed instructions will be upheld when the proposed instruction is: (1) erroneous in its statement of the law; (2) not supported by the evidence or constitutes an impermissible comment on the evidence; or (3) adequately covered by other instructions given by the court. Arrasmith, 132 Idaho at 43, 966 P.2d at 43.

Further, the pattern Idaho Criminal Jury Instructions are presumptively correct statements of law, and trial courts are expected to use them unless another instruction would more adequately, accurately, or clearly state the applicable law. State v. Reid, 151 Idaho 80, 85, 253 P.3d 754, 759 (Ct. App. 2011). Both ICJI 1514 and 1517, at issue here, were approved by the Idaho Supreme Court and both reference Idaho Code §§ 18-4009, 18-4010, and 18-4013 in the comments sections of the instruction. The district court's jury instructions will be upheld unless it is determined that another instruction would have been more applicable to the charges and evidence before the jury.

1. Hall sufficiently preserved his objection to the jury instructions

The State argues that Hall failed to preserve this issue for appeal because he did not object to the final jury instructions when the district court ruled that it would not include the justifiable homicide instruction, ICJI 1514, and would only give the pattern self-defenseinstructions. It further alleges that Hall's argument on appeal regarding I.C. § 18-4009(1) and ICJI 1514, discussed below, is not the argument Hall made before the district court and thus, the issue is not preserved for appeal.

Idaho Criminal Rule 30(b) provides that "no party may assign as error the giving of or failure to give an instruction unless the party objects thereto before the jury retires to consider its verdict, stating distinctly the instruction to which the party objects and the grounds of the objection." It has been held, however, that unless a defendant causes or plays a role...

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