State v. Riveira

• Citation: 59 Haw. 148,577 P.2d 793
• Decision Date: 25 April 1978
• Docket Number: No. 6132,6132
• Parties: STATE of Hawaii, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Edwin K. RIVEIRA, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Supreme Court of Hawai'i

Page 793

577 P.2d 793

59 Haw. 148

STATE of Hawaii, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Edwin K. RIVEIRA, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 6132.

Supreme Court of Hawai'i.

April 25, 1978.

Syllabus by the Court

1. It was not error for the trial court to deny a motion for judgment of acquittal where the defendant was charged with the offense of robbery in the first degree and where there was sufficient evidence for a reasonable mind to conclude that the defendant committed assault with the intent to rob.

2. An assault by a person armed with a dangerous instrument with the intent to rob is within the ambit of robbery in the first degree as sanctioned by Hawaii Penal Code section 840(1)(b)(i).

3. A defendant is entitled to an instruction on self defense if there is any testimony before the jury which fairly raises that issue, no matter how weak, unsatisfactory or inconclusive the testimony might appear to the court.

4. The denial of an improperly requested instruction does not relieve the court of its duty to properly instruct the jury on the defendant's theory of defense, provided that there is some evidence before the jury to support such an instruction.

Edmund K. U. Yee, Deputy Public Defender, Honolulu, for defendant-appellant.

Rick J. Eichor, Deputy Pros. Atty., Honolulu, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before RICHARDSON, C. J., and KOBAYASHI, OGATA, MENOR and KIDWELL, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

The defendant-appellant Edwin Kaiolani Riveira (hereinafter appellant) was indicted by the grand jury for the offense of robbery in the first degree in violation of the Hawaii Penal Code (H.P.C.) sec. 840(1)(b)(i), Act 9, S.L.H.1972. ¹ However, in a jury trial in the First Circuit, appellant was convicted for the offense of assault in the second degree in violation of H.P.C. sec. 711, Act 9 S.L.H.1972 ² and sentenced to five years imprisonment to run concurrently with any other sentences outstanding. We reverse.

Near midnight between July 12 and 13, 1975, appellant and a Clarence W. Carvalho (hereinafter witness) were upon the Iolani Palace grounds and the appellant wounded the witness. Virtually all the other facts and circumstances surrounding the incident are disputed.

According to the State's version of the incident as related at trial by the witness the appellant approached the witness from the rear and grabbed the witness's wallet from the rear pocket as the witness walked through the Palace grounds. The witness turned and regained possession of the wallet after a brief struggle. The witness told the appellant that he was not looking for trouble, turned and walked away from the appellant in the direction in which he was originally travelling. The witness felt what seemed to be a punch to the neck and upon seeing blood streaming down his arm, reached up and felt a knife protruding from the back of the right shoulder near the base of his neck. The appellant rushed up in front of him and jeered, "come on and get it." After extracting the knife, the witness pursued the appellant who threw an object which wounded the witness's left elbow. The appellant escaped and the witness proceeded to Queen's Medical Center where he received treatment.

The appellant's account conflicts in almost every detail with the witness's. He said the witness accosted him on Hotel Street which runs in an approximately east-west direction, a terminus thereof being at the northwest corner of the Palace grounds. Appellant was walking east toward his sister-in-law's home in Waikiki when the witness grabbed his arm and directed him to walk with the witness. Appellant complied, thinking at the time that the witness was an undercover police officer. They stopped to sit on the steps of the Kanaina Building which is located on the eastern side of the Palace grounds. The witness rubbed the appellant's leg and stated that he wanted to perform fellatio on the appellant. Although the appellant protested, he did not attempt to do anything to prevent the witness from doing so. The witness became irritated when the appellant failed to get an erection, causing appellant to become fearful. As part of an escape plan, the appellant persuaded the witness to remove his trousers. As the witness undressed, the appellant noticed a pocket knife on the ground, picked it up and ran. While running, he opened the knife and hurled it back at the pursuing witness. The witness ducked but the knife struck and penetrated his back. When this failed to stop the witness, appellant picked up a rock and threw it at the witness. After the witness appeared to have given up the chase, the appellant continued running or walking fast toward Waikiki, fearing that the witness would overtake him. He denied ever taking or asking for the complainant-witness's wallet.

The appellant brings the instant appeal on two grounds. First, he alleges that the trial court should have granted his motion for judgment of acquittal after the close of the prosecution's case because the State failed to produce sufficient evidence to amount to a prima facie case of robbery in the first degree. Second, appellant claims that the trial court committed reversible error by refusing to give appellant's jury instruction on self defense.

I.

The appellant contends that because the State failed to produce sufficient evidence to amount to a prima facie case of robbery in the first degree, the trial court erred in denying the motion for judgment of acquittal after the close of the prosecution's case. We said in State v. Cannon, 56 Haw. 161, 163, 532 P.2d 391, 394 (1975):

To deny a motion to acquit there must be sufficient evidence to support a prima facie case. The evidence must enable a reasonable mind fairly to conclude guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, giving full play to the right of the fact finder to determine credibility, weigh the evidence, and draw justifiable inferences of fact. State v. Rocker, 52 Haw. 336 at 345-346, 475 P.2d 684 at 690 ((1970)).

See State v. Stuart, 51 Haw. 656, 466 P.2d 444 (1970); State v. Kekaualua, 50 Haw. 130, 433 P.2d 131 (1967).

We see no error in the trial court's denial of the appellant's motion for judgment of acquittal made pursuant to Hawaii Rules of Criminal Procedure (H.R.Cr.P.) 29(a). ³ The appellant contends that this motion should have been granted because the assault alleged in the State's version of the incident was not "in the course of committing a theft." See supra, n. 1. He maintains that because the witness regained possession of the wallet and walked away, the subsequent stabbing was a separate offense in both the temporal and spatial senses. See State v. Pia, 55 Haw. 14, 514 P.2d 580 (1973). We hold that because there was sufficient evidence to enable a reasonable mind to find that the appellant intended to re-take the wallet from the witness and attempted to do so by first stabbing the witness, it could reasonably be concluded that the appellant committed robbery in the first degree. There was no second taking, however, H.P.C. sec. 840(1)(b)(i) encompasses assault by a person armed with a dangerous instrument with the intent to rob. See Model Penal Code § 222.1, Comments (Tent. Draft No. 11, 1960). Because the State produced sufficient evidence to enable a reasonable mind to reach the conclusion that appellant committed the offense charged, the trial court acted correctly in denying the appellant's motion for judgment of acquittal. Under this state of the record the trial court also properly denied appellant's motion for judgment of acquittal made after the close of all of the evidence.

II.

The other error which the appellant alleges to have been committed by the trial court was its refusal to give to the jury the appellant's instruction on self defense as to the offense of assault in the second degree. The appellant requested the trial court to give to the jury an instruction reading as follows:

DEFENDANT'S REQUESTED INSTRUCTION NO. 5

The use of force upon or toward another person is justifiable when the actor believes that such force is immediately necessary for the purpose of protecting himself against the use of unlawful force by the other person on the present occasion.

The use of deadly force is justifiable if the actor believes that deadly force is necessary to protect himself against death, serious bodily injury, kidnapping, rape or forcible sodomy.

The trial court refused to give the instruction since it believed that the evidence did not warrant such an instruction. ⁴ Appellant argues that the error amounted to an infringement upon his right to a jury trial as protected by the sixth amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 11 of the Hawaii State Constitution.

We hold that the trial court committed reversible error in refusing to instruct the jury on the law of self defense. The appellant testified that he was "scared for his life" and though he acceded to the witness's demand to submit to deviant sexual intercourse, he attempted to escape. It may be inferred therefrom by a jury that the appellant reasonably believed that throwing the knife was necessary to protect himself against death, serious bodily injury ⁵ or forcible sodomy.

Because there was evidence before the jury on the issue of self defense, appellant "was entitled to an instruction on that issue no matter how weak, unsatisfactory or inconclusive the testimony might have appeared to the court." State v. Santiago, 53 Haw. 254, 271, 492 P.2d 657, 667 (1971); State v. Irvin, 53 Haw. 119, 121, 488 P.2d 327, 328 (1971); State v. Chang, 46 Haw. 22, 47, 374 P.2d 5, 18 (1962); Territory v. Alcantara, 24 Haw. 197, 208 (1918). Other courts have adhered to the same rationale. State v. Boyd, 216 Kan. 373, 532 P.2d 1064 (1975); People v. Moya, 182 Colo. 290, 512 P.2d 1155 (1973); People v. Sam, 71 Cal.2d 194, 77 Cal.Rptr. 804, 454 P.2d 700 (1969).

The rule requiring the submission of factual determinations to the jury if there is any evidence upon which the jury may act is based on...