Keats v. State

64 P.3d 104

2003 WY 19

Wade Travis KEATS, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).

No. 01-231.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

February 13, 2003.

Representing Appellant: Carol Seeger of Carter Law Office, Gillette, Wyoming.

Representing Appellee: Hoke MacMillan, Attorney General; Paul S. Rehurek, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Theodore E. Lauer, Director, Prosecution Assistance Program; and Patrick J. LeBrun (Student Intern).

Before HILL, C.J., and GOLDEN, LEHMAN, KITE, and VOIGT, JJ.

VOIGT, Justice.

[¶ 1] In July 2001, a Campbell County jury convicted appellant, Wade Travis Keats, of first-degree arson in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-3-101 (LexisNexis 2001). The district court sentenced him to a three-to seven-year prison term. On appeal, appellant argues that the district court failed adequately to instruct the jury on the specific intent element of first-degree arson, improperly excluded evidence that appellant was taken into custody pursuant to Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 25-10-101 through XX-XX-XXX (LexisNexis 2001), improperly precluded the jury from considering appellant's ownership of the occupied structure at issue, and failed adequately to instruct the jury regarding the definition of "maliciously," an element of first-degree arson. We affirm.

ISSUES

[¶ 2] Appellant raises the following issues:

Whether the trial court erred in refusing to give a specific intent jury instruction in the trial of first degree arson which is a specific intent crime.

Whether the trial court erred in limiting evidence of the appellant's mental condition during the trial of the specific intent crime of first degree arson.

Whether the trial court erred in refusing appellant's proposed jury instruction No. G which acknowledges ownership or title to an occupied structure is not a defense to first degree arson, however, ownership or title may be considered in determining appellant's intent or state of mind.

Whether the trial court erred in refusing appellant's proposed jury instruction No. H defining the term "maliciously" to include that ill will, hatred or hostility be directed to another.

FACTS

[¶ 3] On the evening of December 30, 2000, appellant angrily left some friends, stating to one friend "if [you don't] want to go to jail, get out of the car. . . ." The friend complied. Appellant then returned to his mobile home in the early morning hours of December 31, 2000, and, appearing angry and intoxicated, asked his roommate to "get [her] stuff and leave, get out of his house." After gathering some of her property, and her son, in order to leave the residence, the roommate observed appellant break a window and then saw a small fire in the hallway. She extinguished the fire, and as she left, appellant "was talking about burning the house down with himself in it and he was tired of everybody using him." The roommate reported the incident to an emergency dispatcher.

[¶ 4] Campbell County sheriff's deputies responded to appellant's residence just after 1:00 a.m. on December 31, 2000. As they stood outside the mobile home, they observed appellant periodically inside the residence, but he did not initially respond to their requests to exit the residence or talk to them. Eventually, the officers entered the residence and located appellant in the bathroom. A lengthy period of interaction and attempted negotiation between appellant, the officers, and, at appellant's request, another individual ensued. During this period, appellant's unstable demeanor vacillated rapidly between suicidal, threatening, anger, laughter, and depression. For example, appellant frequently exited and retreated to the bathroom, told the officers to get out of his house, threatened to kill himself if they did not do so, displayed three different knives, at times held a knife to his abdomen and throat, stabbed knives into the bathroom wall, door, and floor while yelling at the officers to "come and get some of this," laughed at the officers, and stated that if the officers came through the bathroom door, a knife was positioned such that it would harm appellant.

[¶ 5] Appellant ultimately proceeded to light several fires at different times and at different locations within the residence. The officers, and firemen, were able to extinguish and control these fires until at least one fire began to spread, filling the mobile home with smoke. At one point, appellant broke a window, but upon seeing an officer outside the window pointing a flashlight and firearm at him, appellant took two deep breaths of fresh air and returned to the smoke-filled residence. Eventually, amidst the smoke, flames and steam, the officers subdued appellant, who was proceeding through the mobile home with a knife in his hand, and placed him into custody. The mobile home was "damaged probably beyond replacement fixing."

[¶ 6] The State charged appellant with first-degree arson and possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intent, both felonies. A jury found appellant guilty of first-degree arson, but acquitted him of the possession of a deadly weapon charge. The district court sentenced appellant to a three- to seven-year prison term. He appeals from that judgment and sentence.

DISCUSSION

SPECIFIC INTENT JURY INSTRUCTIONS

[¶ 7] Appellant first argues that the district court did not adequately instruct the jury regarding the specific intent element of first-degree arson. At trial, appellant entered a timely objection, stating that "it is reversible error not to instruct the jury as to the definition of specific intent" and that "the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant maliciously set a fire specifically intending to destroy or damage an occupied structure." See W.R.Cr.P. 30(a). Appellant contends that two jury instructions he offered at trial, which instructions the district court refused, would have adequately instructed the jury on this specific intent element.

[¶ 8] We have stated that the

"trial judge is afforded latitude to tailor the instructions to the facts of the case, and reversible error will not be found as long as the instructions when viewed as a whole and in the context of the entire trial fairly and adequately cover the issues."

Streitmatter v. State, 981 P.2d 921, 925 (Wyo. 1999) (quoting Scadden v. State, 732 P.2d 1036, 1053 (Wyo.1987)). Jury instructions are "designed to inform the jury about the applicable law so that the jury may apply that law to its own findings with respect to the material facts." Brown v. State, 817 P.2d 429, 439 (Wyo.1991).

"Given this purpose, the test whether the jury has been instructed on the necessary elements of the crime charged is whether the instruction `leaves no doubt as to under what circumstances the crime can be found to have been committed.' Graham v. United States, 187 F.2d 87, 90 (D.C.Cir.1950), cert. denied, 341 U.S. 920, 71 S.Ct. 741, 95 L.Ed. 1353 (1951); United States v. Salliey, 360 F.2d 699, 702 (4th Cir.1966). A failure to give any instruction on an essential element of a criminal offense is fundamental error, as is a confusing or misleading instruction, requiring reversal of the defendant's conviction[.] Vigil [v. State], 859 P.2d [659] at 662 [(Wyo.1993)], quoting Cole v. Young, 817 F.2d 412, 423 (7th Cir.1987) (emphasis added); Phillips v. State, 760 P.2d 388, 390 (Wyo.1988); Redland v. State, 766 P.2d 1173, 1174 (Wyo.1989)."

Reilly v. State, 2002 WY 156, ¶ 16, 55 P.3d 1259, 1265 (Wyo.2002) (quoting Miller v. State, 904 P.2d 344, 348 (Wyo.1995)) (emphasis in original).

[¶ 9] According to Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-3-101(a), a "person is guilty of first-degree arson if he maliciously starts a fire or causes an explosion with intent to destroy or damage an occupied structure." The district court instructed the jury as follows regarding the elements of first-degree arson:

INSTRUCTION NO. 7

The necessary elements of the offense of First Degree Arson as contained in Count I are:

1. On or about December 31, 2000;

2. In Campbell County, Wyoming;

3. The Defendant, Wade Travis Keats;

4. Maliciously started a fire(s);

5. With intent to destroy or damage an occupied structure.

[¶ 10] We recently stated:

In the past, crimes have commonly been categorized by whether they require a "specific intent" or a "general intent." For many years, Wyoming had several pattern jury instructions defining and explaining the two terms, and yet, the differences between the concepts were not always readily discernible.

"Realizing that the distinction between a specific intent crime and a general intent crime is apparently troublesome, we can perhaps clarify it by stating it in a somewhat different way. When the statute sets out the offense with only a description of the particular unlawful act, without reference to intent to do a further act or achieve a future consequence, the trial judge asks the jury whether the defendant intended to do the outlawed act. Such intention is general intent. When the statutory definition of the crime refers to an intent to do some further act or attain some additional consequence, the offense is considered to be a specific intent crime and then that question must be asked of the jury."

Reilly, 2002 WY 156, ¶ 8, 55 P.3d at 1262 (quoting Dorador v. State, 573 P.2d 839, 843 (Wyo.1978)). Following that logic, first-degree arson can be categorized as a "specific intent" crime in that the statute requires that one act "with intent to destroy or damage an occupied structure." Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-3-101(a).

[¶ 11] Appellant offered this additional instruction on the specific intent element of first-degree arson, which instruction the district court refused:

DEFENDANT'S PROPOSED JURY INSTRUCTION NO. K

The crime charged in this case is a serious crime which requires proof of specific intent before the Defendant can be convicted. Specific intent, as the term implies, means more than the general intent to commit the act.

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