State v. Brown

Facts

D met Josephine Calanshe and the two became friends. They dated briefly, but shortly they were both dating other people. Nonetheless, Josephine and D remained friends. D and his friends would often 'hang out' at her house drinking beer. Sometimes they would drink for a number of days in succession, which is what occurred prior to the murder in question. On Monday, D, along with Toby and Richard Horton began drinking beer around noon and continued drinking throughout the afternoon. That evening they went to Josephine's house, where they continued to drink beer. By all estimates quite a large quantity of beer had been consumed throughout the day of the murder, approximately four and one-half cases (over 100 bottles of beer). D, Toby, and Richard arrived at Josephine's house. A number of people were already there, including Josephine, her boyfriend, Oscar Zapata, Brandy Matta, Josephine's two children, and Brandy's younger brother and sister. Albert Padilla arrived shortly after D. Josephine introduced everyone to Oscar. Oscar and D shook hands. For most of the evening, D, Toby, Albert, and Richard were drinking beer in the living room, and Josephine, Brandy, and Oscar were in the bedroom. The children were in the playroom off the living room. No arguments or fights occurred at any time prior to the killing. At some point in the evening, D showed Albert a shotgun that he had brought to Josephine's house the previous Friday. After Albert examined it, D placed the shotgun behind the stereo. Josephine and Oscar were kissing on the bed in the bedroom. Oscar was lying halfway on top of Josephine and halfway on the bed. Also in the bedroom were Josephine's two-year-old son, Arthur, who was standing by the bed, and Brandy. Brandy testified that while she was plugging a portable fan into the wall socket, she heard a loud sound. She then turned and saw D standing at the foot of the bed holding a shotgun. She saw Oscar lying on top of Josephine. He had been shot in the back of the head. Josephine yelled for Brandy to get Arthur out of the room. Brandy grabbed Arthur and began dragging him from the room. Brandy stated that D pointed the shotgun at her and Arthur, but he did not shoot. The discharge awakened Toby and he ran into the room and grabbed at the shotgun. The gun discharged a second time, hitting the ceiling. Toby testified that he grabbed the shotgun and told D to get out of the house. Toby then ran out of the house carrying the shotgun and threw it down in the front yard. The police found the shotgun several blocks away. D took the stand and testified that he was so intoxicated on the night of the murder that he did not recall anything about the shooting. He testified that he had blackout episodes in the past due to excessive alcohol consumption and had been a heavy drinker since he was fifteen years old--he was nineteen at the time of the murder. D recalled going to Josephine's house, meeting Oscar, sitting in the living room, and showing the shotgun to Albert. He testified that he had no reason to kill Oscar. The last thing D remembered before the shooting was falling asleep on the couch. The next thing he remembered he was standing in the doorway of Josephine's room. He recalled hearing screaming but did not know the reason for the screams. He also recalled seeing Toby facing him holding a shotgun. When Toby told him to get out of there, D ran. D testified that, at that time, he did not know what had happened at Josephine's house or why Toby had told him to leave. P sought a first-degree murder conviction.  An instruction on voluntary intoxication submitted by the D was refused. D was convicted and appealed.

Issues

Rule of Law

Holding and Decision

Legal Analysis

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