Williams v. State, CA
| Decision Date | 05 February 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. CA,CA |
| Parties | James Charles WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee. CR 85-128. |
| Court | Arkansas Court of Appeals |
William R. Simpson, Jr., Public Defender by Carolyn P. Baker, Deputy Public Defender, Little Rock, for appellant.
Steve Clark, Atty. Gen. by Connie Griffin, Asst. Atty. Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.
Appellant, James Charles Williams, was charged with the first degree murder of his brother and convicted of second degree murder by a Pulaski County Circuit Court jury. He was sentenced to thirty years imprisonment in the Arkansas Department of Correction. The only issue raised by this appeal is whether the trial court committed reversible error in refusing to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of manslaughter. We reverse and remand.
Testimony adduced at trial established that appellant, Fred Williams, Elbert Townsend and Johnny Griffin played cards on October 14, 1984, at Townsend's apartment. Griffin testified that appellant and his brother, Fred Williams, argued about appellant cheating. He observed appellant walk over by Fred Williams and pull out a knife. Fred Williams then grabbed a chair to try to protect himself. Griffin also stated that Fred Williams was backing up and that he "wasn't serious with the chair." He further stated that he saw appellant stab his brother three to five times.
Townsend testified that an argument broke out between appellant and his brother. Fred Williams stated to appellant, "Shut your mouth before I put my foot in it." Townsend stated appellant then told his brother that he would kill him first. Townsend testified that appellant had a knife in his hand and tried to swing at his brother. Townsend observed Fred Williams trying to block his brother's advances with a chair.
Appellant took the stand and testified that he and his brother got into an argument and Fred Williams scooted from the table quickly. Appellant did not know what was going on and he stood up. His brother grabbed the chair and scooted back and appellant went into his pocket to get his knife out. Before he was able to get it out of his pocket, appellant stated his brother struck appellant with the chair on his left shoulder. Appellant testified he started swinging with the knife and upon observing blood coming from his brother, got scared and ran. He also stated that when he left the scene he observed that his brother had the chair and was on his feet. Appellant testified that he did not mean to kill his brother and that everything happened real fast.
Roy Jackson testified that on the night of October 14, 1984, appellant came to his home and asked to talk to him. He observed some blood on appellant's shirt and asked him about it. Appellant told him that he and his brother had gotten into a fight and that he had cut his brother. Appellant also told Jackson that his brother had picked up a chair and was going to hit him with it.
Frank Randolph testified that on October 14, 1984, appellant called him and wanted Randolph to pick him up. Appellant told Randolph that he had gotten into a fight with his brother and that he thought he had hurt him real bad. Randolph was subsequently stopped by the police on his way to pick appellant up.
Dr. Lee Beamer, the Associate Medical Examiner, testified that he performed an autopsy on Fred Williams. He stated that Fred Williams sustained five stab wounds to his person which were the cause of death. Toxicology tests performed established that Fred Williams had been drinking alcohol.
The record in the case at bar reflects that appellant requested and proffered an instruction on manslaughter which the trial court refused. The basis of its refusal was that an instruction on manslaughter was not justified under the evidence of the trial. Manslaughter is committed by one who recklessly causes the death of another person. Ark.Stat.Ann. § 41-1504(1)(c) (Repl.1977). "Recklessly" is defined as follows:
"Recklessly." A person acts recklessly with respect to attendant circumstances or a result of his conduct when he consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the circumstances exist or the result will occur. The risk must be of a nature and degree that disregard thereof constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the actor's situation.
On the other hand, second degree murder is committed by a person if he knowingly causes the death of another person under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life or with the purpose of causing serious physical injury to another person, he causes the death of any person. Ark.Stat.Ann. § 41-1503(1)(b) and (c) (Repl.1977). The jury in the instant case was instructed on this basis.
As noted by the Arkansas Supreme Court in Robinson v. State, 269 Ark. 90, 598 S.W.2d 421 (1980), no right has been more zealously protected than the right of an accused to have the jury instructed on lesser included offenses. "This is so, no matter how strongly the trial judge feels that the evidence weighs in favor of a finding of guilty on the most serious charge." Id. at 93, 598 S.W.2d at 423, 424. It is reversible error to refuse to give a correct instruction on a lesser included offense and its punishment when there is testimony furnishing a reasonable basis on which the accused may be found guilty of the lesser offense. Glover v. State, 273 Ark. 376, 619 S.W.2d 629 (1981). Where there is no evidence tending to disprove one of the elements of the larger offense the court is not required to instruct on the lesser one because absent such evidence there is no reasonable basis for finding an accused guilty of the lesser offense. In this type of case the jury must find the defendant guilty either of the offense charged or nothing. Fisk v. State, 5 Ark.App. 5, 631 S.W.2d 626 (1982). Where, however,...
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