Thornton v. State

919 A.2d 678

397 Md. 704

Tamere Hassan THORNTON v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 62, Sept. Term, 2005.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

March 20, 2007.

Eve L. Brensike, Assigned Pro Bono Counsel (University of Michigan Law School, Arm Arbor, MI; Nancy S. Forster, Public Defender and Michael R. Braudes, Assistant Public Defender, Baltimore), all on brief, for petitioner.

Celia Anderson Davis, Assistant Attorney General (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Attorney General of Maryland, Baltimore), on brief, for respondent.

Argued before BELL, C.J., RAKER, WILNER^*, CATHELL, HARRELL, BATTAGLIA and GREENE, JJ.

GREENE, J.

Petitioner, Tamere Hassan Thornton, seeks review of a Court of Special Appeals's judgment affirming his conviction for murder in the second degree. In his petition for a writ of certiorari, which we granted, Thornton essentially presents two questions for our review:

1. Did the intermediate appellate court and the trial judge correctly interpret and apply the mens rea element of second-degree murder of the intent-to-inflict-grievous-bodily-harm variety?

2. Did the intermediate appellate court and the trial court correctly interpret and apply the law of imperfect self-defense?

Thornton v. State, 388 Md. 673, 882 A.2d 286 (2005). We shall hold that the Court of Special Appeals erred in affirming the trial court's interpretation and application of the intent element for the crime of second-degree murder. As trier of fact, the trial judge was permitted, but not required, to infer from Thornton's wilful act of thrusting the knife outward and into the victim that Thornton intended to commit such grievous bodily harm from which death would likely ensue; however, the trier of fact was not permitted to presume, from Thornton's conduct, that he intended to inflict grievous bodily harm as a matter of law or to presume anything from his use of the knife. Therefore, we reverse the judgment of the intermediate appellate court and remand the case for purposes of a new trial. Because of our disposition of the case, we need not address Thornton's second question.

I.

Tamere Hassan Thornton was charged in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County with first-degree murder in violation of Md.Code (1957, 1996 Repl.Vol.), Art. 27 § 407,¹ and carrying a weapon openly with the intent to injure in violation of Md.Code (1957, 2002 Repl.Vol.), § 4-101(c)(2) of the Criminal Law Article.² After a bench trial, Thornton was found not guilty of first-degree murder, but guilty of second-degree murder and carrying a deadly weapon openly with the intent to injure. The trial court merged the weapons conviction with the conviction for second-degree murder. Thornton was sentenced to fourteen years imprisonment for second-degree murder. He appealed and a majority of a panel of the Court of Special Appeals affirmed the murder conviction, but vacated the weapons conviction.³ Thornton v. State, 162 Md.App. 719, 876 A.2d 142 (2005).

A majority of the panel, in reliance upon State v. Ward, 284 Md. 189, 199, 396 A.2d 1041, 1047-48 (1978), Davis v. State, 237 Md. 97, 104, 205 A.2d 254, 258 (1964), cert. denied, 382 U.S. 945, 86 S.Ct. 402, 15 L.Ed.2d 354 (1965), and Webb v. State, 201 Md. 158, 162, 93 A.2d 80, 82 (1952), held that "to prove second-degree murder, the evidence need only show that the death of the victim resulted from the intentional infliction of serious bodily harm," regardless of whether death was a likely or even a probable result of that harm. Thornton, 162 Md.App. at 727-28, 876 A.2d at 147. (Emphasis added.) Further, the panel majority determined that the Pattern Jury Instruction, MPJI-Cr 4:17, which states that "[s]econd degree murder is the killing of another person with . . . the intent to inflict such serious bodily harm that death would be the likely result[,]" did not substantively "change" the law of Maryland because, "[i]t does not add a likelihood requirement to the intentional infliction of serious bodily harm form of second-degree murder." Thornton, 162 Md.App. at 728, 876 A.2d at 147. Essentially, the panel majority concluded that the intentional infliction of serious bodily harm variety of second-degree murder does not include or require a separate "likelihood requirement." Id. The "likelihood requirement," as reflected in the jury instruction, according to the panel,

make[s] express that which was always implied: that the intentional infliction of serious bodily harm always carries with it the substantial risk that death will follow. Thus to convict an accused of second-degree murder, the State need only convince the fact finder beyond a reasonable doubt that an accused acted with the intention to inflict serious bodily harm and that death was a consequence of the harm."

Id.

In opposition to that view, Judge Eldridge, in his dissenting opinion, pointed out that the majority's reliance upon Webb, Davis, and Ward was misplaced because those cases "[w]ith regard to the element of intent[,] . . . do not use the majority's `only' language or language to the effect that the State need show `only . . . the intentional infliction of serious bodily harm.'" Thornton, 162 Md.App. at 742, 876 A.2d at 155-56 (Eldridge, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). According to the dissent, the language relied on by the majority, from the three cases cited, does not define the "intentional infliction of serious bodily harm" variety of second-degree murder. Moreover, "[t]he language in Burch v. State [, 346 Md. 253, 696 A.2d 443, cert denied, 522 U.S. 1001, 118 S.Ct. 571, 139 L.Ed.2d 410 (1997)], Mitchell v. State[, 363 Md. 130, 147, 767 A.2d 844, 853 (2001)] and the pattern jury instructions, including as a form of second-degree murder a homicide with `the intent to inflict such serious bodily harm that death would be the likely result,' does not, as suggested by the majority, `change' Maryland law or add a new element to the offense of second-degree murder." Thornton, 162 Md.App. at 744, 876 A.2d at 156 (Eldridge, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). To the contrary,

[t]he language `that death would be the likely result' simply clarifies or illuminates the intent element. It is consistent with the evidentiary principle that evidence of `using a deadly weapon directed at a vital part of the body' may give rise to an inference of an intent to commit grievous bodily injury or an intent to kill.

Id. (citations omitted). Thus, what the dissent denotes as "efforts [by the majority panel] to disapprove of the later opinions of the Court of Appeals in Burch and Mitchell and to overrule the pattern jury instructions [,]" according to the dissent, is not supported by the very cases relied on by the panel majority. Thornton, 162 Md. App. at 743-44, 876 A.2d at 156 (Eldridge, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).

The intermediate appellate court held further that the evidence was sufficient to support the conviction of second-degree murder. Thornton, 162 Md.App. at 728, 876 A.2d at 148. In addition, the court held that the trial court, by its rulings on the evidence, neither improperly relieved the State of its burden to prove that Thornton acted with specific intent to inflict serious bodily harm, nor presumed that Thornton intended the consequences of his actions and thereby did not unconstitutionally shift to Thornton the burden of proof as to the element of intent. Thornton, 162 Md.App. at 731-32, 876 A.2d at 149-150.

In order to determine whether the trial judge and the intermediate appellate court correctly interpreted and applied the intent element of second-degree murder to the facts of the instant case, we will review the mens rea requirement for that offense, focusing on the definitions of murder, malice, and grievous bodily harm, including the meaning of the phrase "that death would be the likely result." We emphasize that where murder is predicated upon a theory of intent to commit grievous bodily harm,⁴ the intended harm must be grievous bodily harm and must be the legal equivalent of malice. Furthermore, in the context of a murder prosecution, intent to inflict grievous bodily harm means such harm that a reasonable person could or should know, under the circumstances, would likely result in death to the victim. Because the crime involves an unintentional killing, the defendant need not actually know that his conduct will result in the victim's death. The requisite mens rea is measured by an objective standard, i.e., could or should a reasonable person, under the circumstances, have foreseen that death would likely ensue as a result of his or her conduct. Thus, the likelihood requirement is no more than an objective, not a subjective, standard used to circumscribe and clarify the elements of intent and malice.

We have said that "[i]ntent to commit grievous bodily harm is but one of four qualifying states of minds for murder; specifically, second-degree murder." Selby v. State, 361 Md. 319, 335, 761 A.2d 335, 344 (2000) (citing State v. Earp, 319 Md. 156, 162, 571 A.2d 1227, 1230 (1990)). It is the absence or presence of malice, which distinguishes murder from manslaughter. Selby, 361 Md. at 331-32, 761 A.2d at 342 (citations omitted). The burden rests on the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the elements of the crime of second-degree murder. State v. Evans, 278 Md. 197, 206, 362 A.2d 629, 634 (1976). "[G]enerally, there are two components to every crime, the actus reus or guilty act and the mens rea or the guilty mind or mental state accompanying a forbidden act." Garnett v. State, 332 Md. 571, 577-78, 632 A.2d 797, 800 (1993) (citations omitted). Limiting our discussion to the element of intent, we note that the State must prove that the defendant acted with a specific intent to inflict grievous bodily harm and malice. Evans v. State, 28 Md.App. 640, 700-01, 349 A.2d 300, 337-38 (1975) (noting that the substantive mental element, intent to inflict grievous bodily harm can be proven by direct...