State v. Holland
| Citation | 682 S.E.2d 898,385 S.C. 159 |
| Decision Date | 18 August 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. 4609.,4609. |
| Parties | The STATE, Respondent, v. Lemond Corneilus HOLLAND, Appellant. |
| Court | Court of Appeals of South Carolina |
Lemond Holland (Holland) seeks review of his convictions for murder, assault and battery with intent to kill, and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Holland challenges the trial court's admission of testimony about his possession of a handgun prior to the incident and the trial court's failure to charge the jury on voluntary manslaughter. We affirm Holland's convictions.
FACTS/PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Shortly after midnight on December 30, 2005, Brandt Koehler (Koehler) and his girlfriend, Yessica Caruthers (Caruthers), went to McCatz Tavern and Bar in North Myrtle Beach. The two socialized and bought drinks at the bar. Before leaving the bar, Koehler became involved in a verbal altercation with Holland. None of the eyewitnesses could determine the subject of the argument, but they all confirmed that there was no physical contact between the two men. After the argument dissipated, Koehler and Caruthers left the bar through the south exit. Jeffrey Bennick (Bennick), the bar's manager and bartender, witnessed Holland watching Koehler and Caruthers exit. Holland then exited the bar through the north door. Bennick and Raphael Walke (Walke) followed Koehler and Caruthers to try to prevent another altercation in the parking lot. Bennick testified that Koehler took off his shirt while facing Bennick and Walke, as if preparing for an altercation. Bennick assured Koehler that nothing was going on and told him to get into his car. Koehler and Caruthers then proceeded to get into Caruthers' car.
Holland's friend, Carlos Adams (Adams), realized that Holland was still agitated over his verbal altercation with Koehler, and, therefore, Adams followed Holland out of the bar's north door in an attempt to calm him down and determine what was happening. According to Adams, Holland went to his car, reached inside, and then locked the door. He then ran toward the passenger side of Caruthers' car, where Koehler was sitting. At this point, Caruthers was attempting to drive out of the parking lot. Holland began banging on the car's passenger side window and pulling on the passenger door. Caruthers testified that Holland was pointing a gun at Koehler through the window. Bennick never saw a gun, but he testified that the banging on the window sounded like metal hitting glass. Adams testified that while he did not see Holland pull anything out of his car that night, a few weeks earlier Holland had shown him a semi-automatic gun that he had in his car.
Caruthers got out of her car and went around to the passenger side of the car, yelling for Holland to stop hitting her car. Holland continued to pull on the passenger door. Both Caruthers and Walke tried to pull Holland away from the car, but they were unsuccessful. Bennick then saw the passenger door open, but he was unsure whether Holland was able to pull the door open or whether Koehler opened the door himself. Holland and Koehler then grabbed each other and locked arms, moving about fifteen to twenty feet away from Caruthers' car. According to Bennick, Koehler had his head down at this time, while it appeared that Holland was hitting Koehler over the head. Then, three shots were fired. After the third shot, Koehler fell to the ground. Holland then ran to his car and drove away. Koehler received a gunshot wound to the head that led to his death, and Walke received a gunshot wound to his leg. Holland was charged with murder, possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, and assault and battery with intent to kill (ABIK).
Crime scene investigators found two shell casings at the scene. South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) agent David Black determined the shell casings to be 9 mm Luger caliber cartridge casings. Agent Black also determined that the same gun fired the two casings. Also, the fatal bullet retrieved from Koehler's head was consistent with 9 mm Luger caliber bullets.
At trial, defense counsel objected to the State's questioning of Adams about his observation of a weapon in Holland's possession weeks prior to the incident. Counsel initially argued that the testimony was not relevant, and the trial court overruled the objection. After a break in the trial, defense counsel asserted that he was making his objection pursuant to Rule 403, SCRE, on the ground the testimony's prejudicial effect outweighed its probative value. The trial court allowed Adams to answer the question, and Adams testified that a few weeks prior to the incident, Holland had shown him a semi-automatic gun that he kept in his car.
The trial court also denied counsel's request for a jury charge on voluntary manslaughter on the ground there was no evidence of sufficient legal provocation.1 The jury returned a verdict of guilty for all three charges against Holland, and the trial court denied all of Holland's post-trial motions. The trial court sentenced Holland to fifty years of imprisonment for the murder conviction, twenty years for the ABIK conviction, concurrent, and five years for possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, to run consecutively to the other sentences. This appeal followed.
ISSUES ON APPEAL
1. Did the trial court err in refusing the charge the jury on voluntary manslaughter?
2. Did the trial court err in allowing Adams to testify about his observation of a weapon in Holland's possession prior to the incident?
STANDARD OF REVIEW
The conduct of a criminal trial is left largely to the discretion of the trial court, and this Court will not interfere unless the rights of the appellant were prejudiced. State v. Bridges, 278 S.C. 447, 448, 298 S.E.2d 212, 212 (1982). Therefore, this Court reviews errors of law only and is bound by the trial court's factual determinations unless they are clearly erroneous. State v. Baccus, 367 S.C. 41, 48, 625 S.E.2d 216, 220 (2006).
LAW/ANALYSIS
I. Charge on Voluntary Manslaughter
Holland asserts that the trial court erred in refusing to charge the jury on voluntary manslaughter because the evidence showed he acted in a sudden heat of passion upon sufficient legal provocation. We disagree.
"The law to be charged must be determined from the evidence presented at trial." Cole, 338 S.C. at 101, 525 S.E.2d at 512. In determining whether the evidence requires a charge of voluntary manslaughter, the Court views the facts in a light most favorable to the defendant. State v. Byrd, 323 S.C. 319, 321, 474 S.E.2d 430, 431 (1996). However, "[a]n instruction should not be given unless justified by the evidence." State v. Moultrie, 273 S.C. 532, 534, 257 S.E.2d 730, 731 (1979). "If a jury instruction is provided to the jury that does not fit the facts of the case, it may confuse the jury." State v. Blurton, 352 S.C. 203, 208, 573 S.E.2d 802, 804 (2002). This Court will not reverse the trial court's ruling regarding jury instructions unless the trial court abused its discretion. State v. Williams, 367 S.C. 192, 195, 624 S.E.2d 443, 445 (Ct.App.2005).
Voluntary manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being in sudden heat of passion upon sufficient legal provocation. Heat of passion alone will not suffice to reduce murder to voluntary manslaughter. Both heat of passion and sufficient legal provocation must be present at the time of the killing.
Cole, 338 S.C. at 101, 525 S.E.2d at 513 (internal citations omitted).
"The sudden heat of passion, upon sufficient legal provocation, which mitigates a felonious killing to manslaughter, while it need not dethrone reason entirely, or shut out knowledge and volition, must be such as would naturally disturb the sway of reason, and render the mind of an ordinary person incapable of cool reflection, and produce what, according to human experience, may be called an uncontrollable impulse to do violence."
Id. at 101-02, 525 S.E.2d at 513 (quoting State v. Byrd, 323 S.C. 319, 474 S.E.2d 430 (1996)).
"[M]ere words, no matter how opprobrious, are insufficient to constitute adequate legal provocation when death is caused by the use of a deadly weapon." State v. Rogers, 320 S.C. 520, 525, 466 S.E.2d 360, 362 (1996). Further, merely displaying a willingness to fight, unaccompanied by any overt threatening act toward a defendant, does not constitute sufficient legal provocation. See State v. Johnson, 324 S.C. 38, 40-41, 476 S.E.2d 681, 682 (1996) ().
Moreover, "[t]he exercise of a legal right, no matter how offensive to another, is never in law deemed a provocation sufficient to justify or mitigate an act of violence." State v. Ivey, 325 S.C. 137, 142, 481 S.E.2d 125, 127 (1997). "A victim's attempts to resist or defend himself from a crime cannot satisfy the sufficient legal provocation element of voluntary manslaughter." State v. Shuler, 344 S.C. 604, 632, 545 S.E.2d 805, 819 (2001).
Here, there is no evidence, nor any reasonable inferences from the evidence, that at the exact moment Holland killed Koehler,...
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