Henderson v. Kibbe

431 U.S. 145 (1977)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Kibbe (D) and his codefendant encountered an intoxicated man named Stafford at a bar and then decided to rob him after Stafford displayed $100 bills. D agreed to drive him to a nearby town and while in the car slapped Stafford, took his money then abandoned him on an unlighted rural road in a state of partial undress and without his coat or his glasses. The temperature was near zero, visibility was obscured by blinding snow, and snow banks flanked the roadway. An hour later Stafford was struck by a speeding pickup truck. Stafford was seated in the traffic lane about a quarter of a mile from the nearest lighted building. The driver testified that while he was traveling 50 in a 40 zone, the approaching cars flashed their lights. Immediately after those cars passed the driver saw Stafford and hit him. Stafford was pronounced D.O.A. D was convicted of grand larceny, robbery, and second-degree murder. D argued that the negligence of the truck driver caused the death and not D. No charge to the jury was given with respect to the requirement of the statute that D's conduct thereby caused the death of another. D appealed. The court of appeals affirmed in that the adequacy of the jury charge had not been raised at trial. The court also held that it was not necessary that the ultimate harm be intended by the defendant but that the ultimate harm under these facts was certainly foreseeable. D filed a writ of habeas corpus. The District Court affirmed. The Court of Appeals reversed; The Constitution requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt of every element of the crime and the failure to instruct the jury on an essential element as complex as causation created an impermissible risk that the jury had not made a finding that the Constitution requires.