State v. Soto

34 A.3d 738 (2011)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Bill threatened Roney White's young cousins with a knife at a 7-Eleven store. When Roney learned of the incident from his cousins, he directed them to identify the man with the knife. Finding Bill standing outside the store, Roney punched him in the face in retaliation and fled the scene. In response to Roney's actions, Kar and his friends drove past a small group of people standing on the street, which included Roney, his brother Roscoe White, and their friend Anthony Clagon, and unsuccessfully attempted to hit one of them with a stick from the moving vehicle. No further encounter between the two groups occurred that night. The next day, Bill and another person attacked Roney with a baseball bat. Badly injured, Roney stumbled home to his mother and two brothers, Roscoe and Raymond Alleyene. Roney's mother took him to the hospital. Alleyene, Clagon, and Roscoe met at Roscoe's house and discussed the possibility of an armed fight in retaliation for the attack on Roney. After Roscoe failed to get his own gun to work, he called some friends in Nashua, asking them to bring a gun. D, his brother Sergio, Andrew Gonzalez, and Clagon's cousin Kim and her children drove from Nashua to Manchester in a red Chevrolet Blazer. The men met Clagon, Alleyene, and Roscoe in the room Roscoe shared with Roney, smoked marijuana, and settled on a plan to find Roney's attackers and confront them. D brought a gun. The six men set out in the Blazer to find Roney's attackers. They found a group of people whom they suspected had been involved. They drove past the group once or twice and parked around the corner and discussed who would do the shooting. They settled on Roscoe as the shooter based on his blood relationship with Roney. D then wiped the gun with his shirt, racked the slide to cock it, and handed it to Roscoe. Roscoe left with a mask on, shot Kar in the leg and abdomen, returned to the Blazer, and the men drove away. Kar later died from his wounds. D was convicted of first-degree murder based on his role as an accomplice in Kar's death. D appealed and argued the trial court erred in not giving the jury a provocation manslaughter instruction.