State v. W. J. B.
| Decision Date | 31 March 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 14884,14884 |
| Citation | 166 W.Va. 602,276 S.E.2d 550 |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE of West Virginia v. W. J. B. |
Syllabus by the Court
1. "A man attacked in his own home by an intruder may invoke the law of self-defense without retreating." Syllabus Point 4, State v. Preece, 116 W.Va. 176, 179 S.E. 524 (1935).
2. The occupant of a dwelling is not limited in using deadly force against an unlawful intruder to the situation where the occupant is threatened with serious bodily injury or death, but he may use deadly force if the unlawful intruder threatens imminent physical violence or the commission of a felony and the occupant reasonably believes deadly force is necessary.
3. The reasonableness of the occupant's belief and actions in using deadly force must be judged in the light of the circumstances in which he acted at the time and is not measured by subsequently developed facts.
4. "Once there is sufficient evidence to create a reasonable doubt that the killing resulted from the defendant acting in self-defense, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not act in self- defense." Syllabus Point 4, State v. Kirtley, W.Va., 252 S.E.2d 374 (1978).
William E. Kiger, Parkersburg, for appellant.
Chauncey H. Browning, Jr., Atty. Gen., and Paula D. Dean, Asst. Atty. Gen., Charleston, for appellee.
W.J.B. was adjudicated as a juvenile delinquent by the Circuit Court of Wood County on its finding that he had committed voluntary manslaughter. He appeals the adjudication, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence on the grounds that the State has not met its burden of rebutting his evidence of self-defense. In reviewing the evidence in light of our prior decisions regarding self-defense, we agree.
The juvenile was arrested on February 19, 1979, following the shooting death of Michael Watson. The State filed a juvenile delinquency petition, charging him with murder. Subsequently, the State petitioned for transfer to the criminal jurisdiction of the court so that the juvenile could be prosecuted and sentenced as an adult. Following a hearing on this issue, the court denied the motion to transfer.
On March 27, 1979, the court held an adjudicatory hearing pursuant to W.Va.Code, 49-5-11, to determine the issue of delinquency. 1 The testimony at the adjudicatory hearing was substantially undisputed. Nine neighbors and relatives of the juvenile, four Parkersburg city police officers, a paramedic, and the juvenile himself testified regarding the events surrounding the February 19, 1979, death of Michael Watson. The juvenile admitted the shooting and testified regarding self-defense.
The combined, undisputed testimony established a pattern of violence on the part of Watson, directed toward the family of W.J.B. over the course of the preceding year. At the time of the alleged offense, the juvenile was 17 years old, living at home with his mother and two sisters. His father was deceased. Michael Watson, at the time of his death, was 21 years old, a Parkersburg resident on parole from the State penitentiary for a burglary conviction.
Watson's association with W.J.B.'s family began in the spring of 1978 when he began a courtship of the juvenile's 15-year-old sister. Their relationship was a stormy and intermittent one. It appears that the 15-year-old attempted to break off the relationship after she had suffered a number of beatings at Watson's hands. This apparently led Watson to force his attention on her. On at least one occasion in the summer of 1978, Watson pursued the girl at knifepoint as she fled into her home. Watson continued the pursuit throughout the house. When the juvenile and others attempted to intervene on his sister's behalf, Watson turned with the knife and threatened W.J.B.
On a subsequent occasion, the 15-year-old and her older sister awoke when they heard Watson, in the early morning darkness, climbing on the rooftop beside their bedroom window. As the girls pushed the window closed, Watson broke through the window and chased them as they fled for protection into W.J.B.'s bedroom. Watson forced his way into the bedroom and forcibly dragged the 15-year-old from the bedroom into the family bathroom. When W.J.B. entered the bathroom behind them, Watson attacked the youth, striking him with his fists. This diversion allowed the girl to flee downstairs, where the family concealed her behind the kitchen refrigerator. Unable to locate her, Watson returned outside to the ladder he had used to climb to the roof and drove the ladder through the living-room door.
In response to these and other assaults upon her home and family, the juvenile's mother had obtained, on separate occasions, three warrants for Watson's arrest based on charges of assault and battery, destruction of personal property, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Apparently, no formal disposition was made in regard to any of these charges.
On the evening of Watson's death, several friends and family of the juvenile were present in the living room of the home watching television. Shortly after midnight, the juvenile's younger sister noticed Watson looking in the living-room window. As she stated, "It's Mike Watson," Watson broke in the living-room door, announcing, "You're damn right it's Mike Watson." It appeared that Watson had been drinking. The girl fled from the room screaming, and, chased by Watson, ran into W.J.B.'s bedroom where she locked herself in and barricaded the door with furniture. Several persons ran to a neighbor's house to call the police while Watson attempted, unsuccessfully, to break into the bedroom. Upon learning that the police had been called, Watson fled out an upstairs window.
Two Parkersburg police officers responded to the call, but departed shortly thereafter, unable to locate Watson. Soon after their departure, Watson reappeared outside the house, shouting threats and challenges and throwing snowballs and other objects against the house. A passerby testified to a brief conversation that he had with Watson at this time, during which Watson appeared intoxicated and "clanked" a butcher knife and beer mug together in his hands while speaking of forthcoming "trouble."
While Watson was outside he challenged W.J.B. to come outside and fight him, but W.J.B. declined and requested that Watson leave the family in peace. During this time, the family had again concealed the 15-year-old behind a barricaded bedroom door. The juvenile took a shotgun from his room and positioned himself on a living-room chair with the shotgun placed across his legs. Two family friends remained seated elsewhere in the living room.
When Watson kicked open the living-room door a second time and confronted W.J.B., he again asked Watson to leave. Watson continued to challenge W.J.B. to fight and dared him to shoot. One of the witnesses testified that Watson held a butcher knife and tapped it against the door frame. At the trial, the juvenile testified that he did not recall seeing the knife, but that Watson's hand was obstructed from his view. Amid continued threats and profanity, Watson advanced upon W.J.B., whereupon the juvenile, without raising the shotgun from his lap, pulled the trigger, shooting Watson in the chest. He died immediately.
When the police again arrived at the house, they found Watson lying in the doorway with a knife in his hand under his body. The juvenile freely admitted the shooting, and police took W.J.B. into custody and obtained his written statement of the incident. 2
At the conclusion of the testimony at the adjudicatory hearing, the court found that the juvenile had committed voluntary manslaughter, and adjudicated him delinquent under W.Va.Code, 49-1-4(1). Following a disposition hearing on September 5, 1979, the court ordered that the juvenile be placed in the temporary custody of the Department of Welfare for placement in a group home facility.
The issue before this Court on appeal is whether the facts of this case are sufficient to support a finding of voluntary manslaughter in light of the testimony regarding self-defense.
The law regarding the use of deadly force in self-defense is often deceptively and simply stated: that a defendant who is not the aggressor and has reasonable grounds to believe, and actually does believe, that he is in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm from which he could save himself only by using deadly force against his assailant has the right to employ deadly force in order to defend himself. See State v. Kirtley, W.Va., 252 S.E.2d 374, 381 n. 8 (1978); State v. Green, 157 W.Va. 1031, 206 S.E.2d 923 (1974); State v. Bowyer, 143 W.Va. 302, 101 S.E.2d 243 (1957); State v. Preece, 116 W.Va. 176, 179 S.E. 524 (1935); W. LaFave & A. Scott, Criminal Law § 53 (1972).
The generality of the foregoing rule does not address in any detail the question of the "retreat" rule, an aspect of which is involved in this case where a person is assaulted in his own home. In this situation, we have recognized that a person in his own home who is subject to an unlawful intrusion and placed in immediate danger of serious bodily harm or death has no duty to retreat but may remain in place and employ deadly force to defend himself. State v. Preece, 116 W.Va. 176, 179 S.E. 524 (1935); State v. Thornhill, 111 W.Va. 258, 161 S.E. 431 (1931). This principle is sometimes called defense of habitation and springs from the English common law concept that a man's home is his castle. 3 Syllabus Point 4 of Preece tersely states this no-retreat rule:
"A man attacked in his own home by an intruder may invoke the law of self-defense without retreating."
See also Bryant v. State, 252 Ala. 153, 39 So.2d 657 (1949); People v. Ceballos, 12 Cal.3d 470, 526 P.2d 241, 116 Cal.Rptr. 233 (1974); Watkins v. State, 197 So.2d 312 (Fla.App.1967); Gainer v. State, 40 Md.App. 382, 391 A.2d 856 (1978); People v....
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