People v. Ramirez

18 P.3d 822 (2000)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D and his Wife (W) were married but separated. W obtained a restraining order against D following their separation. D encountered W at a local bar five months after the separation. When their mutual friends decided to go out for a meal, W agreed to drive D to the restaurant. D broached reconciliation; W demurred. She dropped D off at the restaurant and drove to her boyfriend's house. An hour later, she went home. D made a threatening telephone call to the boyfriend. W arrived home and called her boyfriend. While she was on the telephone, both she and her boyfriend received threatening telephone calls from D on their other telephone lines. D then entered W's house uninvited. He punched her in the face five or six times and held a knife against her throat. She attempted to pull the knife away and cut her finger doing so. D then instructed her to call her boyfriend. She dialed 911. The 911 operator tape-recorded D making death threats, and eventually, D grabbed the telephone and hung it up. W attempted to lock herself in the bathroom. Defendant pulled the door open and entered the bathroom, swinging and poking the knife at her. The police arrived. D claimed that he had been invited to the residence to discuss reconciliation, and had entered with W's permission. D claimed that he assaulted her only after she rejected his attempts at reconciliation and provoked the assault. The jury was instructed on first-degree burglary: D 'entered or remained unlawfully in a building or occupied structure . . . with intent to commit . . . assault and menacing, and . . . while inside . . . the defendant assaulted or menaced any person.' D was convicted of burglary and moved for a new trial. The court granted the motion because the instruction failed to advise the jury that the intent to commit a crime must coexist with the moment of trespass. P appealed.