State v. Collins

461 P.3d 828

STATE of Kansas, Appellant,

v.Seth COLLINS, Appellee.

No. 117,743

Supreme Court of Kansas.

April 24, 2020

Matt J. Maloney, assistant district attorney, argued the cause, and Marc Bennett, district attorney, and Derek Schmidt, attorney general, were with him on the brief for appellant.

Patrick H. Dunn, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, argued the cause and was on the brief for appellee.

The opinion of the court was delivered by Biles, J.:

The lower courts disagree over the defendant's entitlement to statutory self-defense immunity after he drew a knife during an altercation with three unarmed women that ended with one dead and another seriously injured. The district court dismissed second-degree murder and reckless aggravated battery charges, ruling Seth Collins had reasonable grounds to believe he was in danger of great bodily harm. A Court of Appeals panel reversed and remanded the case for further district court proceedings. State v. Collins , 56 Kan. App. 2d 140, 149, 425 P.3d 630 (2018) ("[T]o overcome a defendant's immunity claim, the State does not need to prove that the defendant's use of force was not justified; it merely has to establish probable cause that the defendant's use of force was not justified."). We agree with the panel.

We hold Collins is not entitled to immunity from prosecution under K.S.A. 2019 Supp. 21-5231. On the facts as found by the district court, there is probable cause to believe Collins' use of force was not statutorily justified. To explain this, we parse the escalating sequence of events comprising the deadly encounter by breaking it down into discrete uses of force of varying degrees. And by examining each forceful act in context, we conclude the State met its probable cause burden by showing that an ordinarily prudent and cautious person could conscientiously entertain a reasonable belief Collins was not privileged to apply deadly force. That was all the State had to do at this pretrial juncture. See K.S.A. 2019 Supp. 21-5231(c) ("A prosecutor may commence a criminal prosecution upon a determination of probable cause."); see also K.S.A. 2019 Supp. 21-5231(a) ("As used in this subsection, ‘criminal prosecution’ includes arrest, detention in custody and charging or prosecution of the defendant.").

Whether Collins' conduct, as alleged by the State, was justified under the self-defense statutes must be decided at a trial under our statutory scheme.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Our focus is on two incidents on the same evening at an apartment complex involving Collins and his neighbors. In the first incident, Collins suffered multiple head and body injuries. In the second, Kayla Brown died from stab wounds inflicted by Collins with a foldable knife that had a 4.5-inch handle and "slightly less" than a 4-inch blade. Kayla's twin sister, Shayla Brown, suffered a serious stab wound to her bicep. At the time, Collins was 38 years old, 5'11" tall, and weighed about 250 to 255 lbs. Shayla was 22 years old, 4'11" tall and weighed about 113 lbs. Kayla was the same height as Shayla but weighed about 10 lbs. less. The State charged Collins with second-degree murder for killing Kayla and reckless aggravated battery for stabbing Shayla. See K.S.A. 2019 Supp. 21-5403(a)(1) ; K.S.A. 2015 Supp. 21-5413(b)(2)(B).

Collins filed a pretrial motion to dismiss the State's charges claiming self-defense immunity. See K.S.A. 2019 Supp. 21-5222 (self-defense theory); K.S.A. 2019 Supp. 21-5231 (immunity from prosecution). The district court conducted a three-day evidentiary hearing, during which the parties presented testimony and statements from several witnesses, including Collins, other participants in the conflict, and outside observers. The district court agreed with Collins and dismissed the case.

We recite the facts as found by the district court in its order granting Collins self-defense immunity because our standard of review preserves factual findings supported by substantial competent evidence. See State v. Hardy , 305 Kan. 1001, 1012, 390 P.3d 30 (2017). When necessary, we quote from the district court's order.

The two incidents

The first incident began on the night of April 30, 2016, when Collins drove back to his apartment with his two daughters. He tried to park near a vehicle occupied by Luz Toral. Shayla was outside the vehicle talking to Toral. Collins believed Shayla was obstructing the parking spot. He "made negative comments" towards the women and drove away.

After leaving his vehicle in guest parking, Collins and his daughters walked to his apartment building. Another verbal exchange ensued between Collins and Toral. Collins' daughters kept walking toward his apartment. Shayla and Kayla got involved. Collins "clearly received and delivered numerous verbal insults" including some that were "racist, vulgar and inciting." A physical altercation broke out that Collins "started ... by pushing himself physically up to Ms. Toral in the parking lot." Kayla, Shayla, "and possibly others joined in against" Collins. At that time, his daughters called 911. Trishall Dear, the twins' mother, arrived in the parking lot and calmed the situation. Collins went into his apartment, having "sustained significant external injuries to his face, head and other portions of his body ...."

About 10 minutes later, the deadly second incident began when Collins returned to the parking lot to look for his glasses. Kayla, Shayla, and Dear were still outside. Collins, Shayla, and Kayla reengaged in a verbal quarrel with more insults. After Collins found his glasses, he had more words with the twins and walked back toward his apartment. As he passed Dear, who was standing near the door into the building, he "quietly stated something derogatory" to her.

The district court found there was no physical contact between Collins, Shayla, Kayla, and Dear up to this point of the second incident. But the court commented there was

"evidence that Mr. Collins ... verbally provoked Kayla and Shayla ... while in the parking lot during the second encounter when he looked for and located his glasses. Mr. Collins was still verbally ‘provoking’ when he made a negative comment to Ms. Dear as he went by her on the way back into the building. Yet, the totality of the evidence does not support a finding that physical force was provoked by Mr. Collins during the second encounter."

Dear followed Collins into the building. Her daughters started after them. Collins walked up a nine-step staircase. As he approached the top, "all three ladies [were] very close (just a step or two) behind him and he look[ed] back at them." The district court characterized this moment elsewhere in its order as the women "confront[ing him] from behind in a very aggressive way" and noted "it [was] apparent from the evidence [the twins] intended to physically punish him for the way he had treated them and their mother."

Then, the court found:

"As Mr. Collins gets to the top of the first flight of stairs, he turns towards the three ladies immediately behind him and displays a knife. The testimony indicates that Collins initially held the knife in his right hand; with the blade open; with the blade pointing up; and he held it about shoulder to head-high next to him.

"While the precise details concerning these few key seconds vary significantly, the evidence indicates that within moments of Mr. Collins displaying the knife, Shayla Brown grabbed the back of his shirt collar and pulled him back towards her, her sister and her mother. In the next few moments, Mr. Collins, Shayla, Kayla, and Ms. Dear all fell back down the staircase.

....

"No evidence was presented to clearly indicate who was stabbed first or the exact location of Kayla or Shayla at the time they were stabbed. The evidence is clear that Shayla Brown was stabbed on her left bicep and Kayla Brown sustained a fatal stab wound on the left side of her neck.

"Once at the bottom of the stairs Shayla held Mr. Collins down momentarily and Mr. Collins still had the knife. Once Ms. Dear saw how seriously wounded Kayla was ... she went to aid Kayla. Shayla then released her hold on Mr. Collins to assist her mother and sister.

"Mr. Collins gets up, folds up his pocket knife and goes back up the stairs to his apartment."

The district court did not clearly address how Kayla and Shayla were stabbed, but Collins testified he "start[ed] waving the knife" as they all tumbled down the stairs. He denied using "precision stabs or cuts" or "looking at exactly where the knife [was] going."

After analyzing the applicable statutory provisions, the district court dismissed all criminal charges. It explained,

"The court has considered the totality of the circumstances and weighed much conflicting evidence. The evidence presented does not establish probable cause that Mr. Collins' use of force was not justified under the statutes applicable to this case. Based upon these statutes and the recent case law cited herein, Mr. Collins is not subject to criminal prosecution for the tragic death of Kayla Brown or the injuries sustained by Shayla Brown."

The State timely appealed, arguing it had established probable cause that Collins' use of deadly force was not necessary to prevent great bodily harm to himself. See K.S.A. 2019 Supp. 21-5222. It also argued Collins' use of deadly force was not statutorily justified because he was the initial aggressor in the stairwell incident under K.S.A. 2019 Supp. 21-5226. A Court of Appeals panel reversed.

The panel acknowledged the district court faced conflicting evidence but concluded the court applied the wrong legal standard. Collins , 56 Kan. App. 2d at 152, 425 P.3d 630. It reasoned that the district court erred by deciding what a jury was supposed to decide, i.e., "whether Collins was justified in his use of deadly force in self-defense." 56 Kan. App. 2d at 152, 425 P.3d 630. As the panel explained, "[t]he State's burden in overcoming Collins' immunity claim was simply to establish probable cause...