Ex Parte Edwards
Julia Marie Edwards was convicted of vehicular homicide, under
On March 8, 1995, Edwards was rushing her six-month-old son, who had been sick for several days, to a doctor‘s office. Earlier that day, Edwards had tеlephoned the baby‘s doctor because of the child‘s poor condition. At that time, she made an appointment for the baby to see the doctor. Edwards testified that her son‘s condition worsened. She called the doctor again to explain his symptoms. The doctor told Edwards she should bring the baby to the doctor‘s office as soon as possible. While en route to the doctor‘s office, Edwards testified, the baby was making disturbing noises and his eyes rolled backward. She
Edwards was indicted for manslaughter, a violation of
The vehicular-homicide statute,
“(a) Whoever shall unlawfully and unintentionally cause the death of another person while engaged in the violation of any state law or municipal ordinance applying to the operation or use of a vehicle, or vessel, as defined in Section 33-5-3, or to the regulation of traffic or boating, shall be guilty of homicide when the violation is the proximate cause of the death.
“(b) Any person convicted of homicide by vehicle or vessel shall be fined not less than five hundred dollars ($500) nor more than two thousand dollars ($2,000), or shall be imprisoned for a term not less than one year nor more than five years, or may be so fined and so imprisoned.”
(Emphasis added.)
Edwards contends that “unlawfully” describes conduct rather than a state of mind. She argues that the language of the statute implies strict liability because it states no requirement of a culpable mental state. She notes that all other homicide statutes in the Code of Alabama express clear, categorical mental-state requirements. Thus, she claims, the trial court, in charging the jury on vehicular homicide, which is punishable as a felony,1 was required to instruct the jury on a culpable mental state.
The State, however, argued in the trial court that vehicular homicide is a strict-liability offеnse. It argued that no criminal intent is needed to commit vehicular homicide and that the statutory term “unlawfully” means “without excuse or justification.” Thus, the State claimed, when a person violates the traffic code, and a
The Court of Criminal Appeals, in affirming Edwards‘s conviction, however, concluded in its unpublished memorandum that the term “unlawfully” in
In the past, Justice Cook has voiced concern over the constitutionality of the vehicular-homicide statute. See Ex parte Beck, 690 So.2d 346 (Ala.1997) (Cook, J., concurring specially); Ex parte Knowles, 689 So.2d 832 (Ala.1997) (Cook, J., concurring specially). In Knowles, Justice Cook wrote:
“I write specially to express my concern that a statute that punishes an act of simple negligence as a felony raises serious constitutional questions.... [W]e should consider whether [the] conviction under § 32-5A-192, based on acts that constitute no more than simple negligence, violates the right to due process guaranteed by the United States and Alabama Constitutions.”
Justice Cook stated that “[s]ubjecting nonculpable simple negligent conduct to criminal penalties as severe as those provided in § 32-5A-192, without requiring a сulpable mental state, raises serious constitutional questions.” Id. at 834. However, the record in this present case does not support a challenge to § 32-5A-192 on constitutional grounds and, therefore, we do not further consider this issue.
A statute creating a criminal offense, with the exception of a strict-liability statute, requires a culpable mental state. Section 13A-2-4(b), Ala.Code 1975, provides:
“Although no culpable mental state is expressly designated in a statute defining an offense, an appropriate culpable mental state may nevertheless be required for the commission of that offense, or with respect to some or all of the material elements thereof, if the proscribed conduct necessarily involves such culpable mental state. A statute defining a crime, unless clearly indicating a legislative intent to impose strict liability, states a crime of mental culpability.”
(Emphasis added.)
The Alabama Criminal Code defines the following terms relating to culpable mental states:
“(1) INTENTIONALLY. A person acts intentionally with respect to a result or to conduct described by a statute defining an offense, when his purpose is to cause that result or to engage in that conduct.
“(2) KNOWINGLY. A person acts knowingly with respect to conduct or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense when he is aware
that his conduct is of that nature or that the circumstance exists. “(3) RECKLESSLY. A person acts recklessly with respect to a result or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense when he is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur or that the circumstance exists. The risk must be of such nature and degree that disregard thereof constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the situation. A person who creates a risk but is unaware thereof solely by reason of voluntary intoxication, as defined in subdivision (e)(2) of Section 13A-3-2, acts recklessly with respect thereto.
“(4) CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE. A person acts with criminal negligence with respect to a result or to a circumstance which is defined by statute as an offense when he fails to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur or that the circumstance exists. The risk must be of such nature and degree that the failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the situation. A court or jury may consider statutes or ordinances regulating the defendant‘s conduct as bearing upon the question of criminal negligence.”
“This section attempts to identify, define and reasonably delimit the main culpable mental states involved in the criminal law. The four states are `intentionally,’ `knowingly,’ `recklessly’ and `criminal negligence‘; and unless the offense is one of strict liability, at least one of these mental states is essential for liability.”
(Emphasis added.) The commentary to
As provided in
The Court of Criminal Appeals, as previously noted, determined in its unpublished memorandum in this case that the mental culpability for vehicular homicide could be found in the term “unlawfully” (relying on Burnett v. State, supra). The court in Burnett defined “unlawfully” as “without legal excuse or justification.” 807 So.2d at 576. In Burnett, however, only two of the judges on the Court of Criminal Appeals agreed that “unlawful” was the actual mental culpability required by
“The main opinion, with its conclusion that `“unlawfully,” as it is used in § 32-5A-192, Ala.Code 1975, means “without legal excuse or justification,“` pulls and stretches bits and pieces of various legal definitions to attempt to arrive at a constitutionally definable state of mental culpability. However, the weaving is too thin, and like so many gossamer threads holding together an ethereal garment, the result is more apparent than real.”
The State argues, however, that
“The minimum requirement for criminal liability is the performance by a person of conduct which includes a voluntary act or the omission to perform an act which he is physically capable of performing. If that conduct is all that is required for commission of a particular offense, or if an offense or some material element thereof doеs not require a culpable mental state on the part of the actor, the offense is one of `strict liability.’ If a culpable mental state on the part of the actor is required with respect to any material element of an offense, the offense is one of `mental culpability.‘”
Under this statute, the State argues, the minimum requirement necessary to violate
While
This Court has previously grappled with the question of what degree of culpability is required by
“(a) A defendant may be convicted of an offense included in an offense charged. An offense is an included one if:
“(1) It is established by proof of the same or fewer than all the facts required to establish the commission of the offense charged; or
“(2) It consists of an attempt or solicitation to commit the offense charged or to commit a lesser included offense; or
“(3) It is specifically designated by statute as a lesser degree of the offense charged; or
“(4) It differs from the offense charged only in the respect that a less serious injury or risk of injury to the same person, property or public interests, or a lesser kind of culpability suffices to establish its commission.
“(b) The Court shall not charge the jury with respect to an included offense unless there is a rational basis for a verdict convicting the defendant of the included offense.”7
In Jordan, the defendant asked for an instruction on vehicular homicide,
In Long, the defendant requested an instruction on vehicular homicide as a lesser included offense as to murder, but the trial court denied the request, charging only on murder, manslaughter, and criminally negligent homicide. Long was convicted of manslaughter and was sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment. This Court found Long indistinguishable from Jordan on the issue of the propriety of an instruction on vehicular homicide as a lesser included offense as to murder. Long, 600 So.2d at 985. Then, the Court noted that in Jordan, manslaughter had been rated as more culpable than vehicular homicide and that the murder verdict in Jordan made it unnecessary for the Court to rate the culpability of conduct falling below manslaughter. But, in Long, where the defendant had been found guilty of manslaughter and acquitted of murder, it was necessary to stratify the degrees of culpability because, if vehicular homicide fell in between manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, then, for all appearing, the jury might have convicted the defendant of vehicular homicide instead of manslaughter, if the jury had been instructed on vehicular homicide, and, if the jury had done so, then the defendant would have received a lesser sentence.
This Court in Long, noting the more severe punishment available for vehicular homicide than for criminally negligent homicide, rated vehiculаr homicide as more culpable than criminally negligent homicide and concluded:
“Because vehicular homicide is the next lesser included offense under manslaughter, at least under the circumstances presented here, the failure to instruct on vehicular homicide cannot be harmless error, as it was in Jordan. Nothing in the jury‘s verdict supports the contention that it could not have returned a verdict on that offense instead of manslaughter if it had been given the opportunity, or that any finding implicit in the jury‘s verdict necessarily precludes a verdict on homicide by vehicle. By returning a verdict on manslaughter, the jury has found that Long acted recklessly, but that finding could also support a verdict of vehicular homicide. Therefore, the affirmance by the Court of Criminal Appeals is inconsistent with Jordan, at least as we reinterpret the relative degrees of culpability of vehicular homicide and criminally negligent homicide, and that court‘s judgment is due to be reversed.”
In order to apply a level of intent commensurate with the maximum punishment of five years on a conviction of vehicular homicide, Long holds that there must be some culpability above criminal negligence. Id. Criminal negligence is conduct that causes one not to perceive a risk that is of such a degree that the failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that would be experienced
Faced with the problematic phraseology “unlawfully and unintentionally” and with the settled provisions of our criminal law fastening different punishments to varying degrees of intent associated with wrongdoing, we are obliged to construe
Edwards, while driving at a speed exceeding the legal speed limit, attempted to pass a vehicle in front of her, and in so doing, crossed a double yellow line marking a no-passing zone. The dictum in Long suggests that such conduct, when it can be characterized as more culpable thаn criminal negligence (i.e., as conduct undertaken or committed by one who fails to perceive a risk that is of such a degree that the failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that would be exercised by a reasonable person in the same situation) and as less culpable than reckless conduct (i.e., conduct undertaken or committed by one who is aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk but consciously disregards it), constitutes vehicular homicide.
At the conclusion of the presentation of the evidence, the trial court stated:
“The standard charge under this statute suggests that the court charge on one of the mental states set forth in the Criminal Code. So the committee establishing thе Pattern Jury Instructions [(Criminal)] clearly believes that a culpable mental state of some sort is necessary and suggests that any mental state other than intentional conduct would suffice based upon whatever the evidence in the case might be. The Code itself says that no statute will be deemed to be a strict-liability offense unless the statute makes it absolutely clear that strict liability is intended. So looking at that particular standard in the Code itself, what do you make of the word `unlawful‘? ... What does the word `unlawfully’ add to the statute if it is not some requirement of one of the culpable mental states set forth in [sic; by?] the Legislature in the Criminal Code? ... Is `unlawfully’ just a redundancy or does it mean something else?”
The State responded by challenging the precedential value of committee comments and contending that the vehicular-homicide statute was a strict-liability offense. The trial court ultimately concluded that the vehicular-homicide statute “covers any unintentional conduct which may violate the law and therefore, it‘s broader than criminally negligent homicide.” The trial court then gave a charge dealing with vehicular homicide, a charge that adhered strictly to the text of the statute, and it rejected Edwards‘s attempt to have the court charge the jury on criminal negligence as a requisite mental state. Edwards did not request an instruction telling the jury that, as dictum in Long suggests, the intent must fall somewhere between criminal negligence and reckless conduct in order to support a conviction for vеhicular homicide.
The jury in Edwards‘s case was charged on manslaughter and on criminally negligent homicide as a lesser included offense as to manslaughter, and on vehicular homicide. The jury found Edwards guilty of only vehicular homicide. We conclude that the trial court‘s initial reservations about tying the requisite mental state to the word “unlawfully” were sound. We endorse the “Use Note on Mens Rea Element” that accompanies the Alabama pattern jury instruction applicable to
“The judge should insert the appropriate mens rea element considering the indictment and the evidence before the court. `There are few, if any, strict liability offenses in this Criminal Code....’ Ala. Code § 13A-2-3 Commentary. See also § 13A-2-4(b).”
Alabama Pattern Jury Instructions: Criminal, 14-4 to 14-6 (3d ed.1994). When the indictment charges the appropriate mens rea element and the trial court finds the evidence sufficient to support a finding of that element, the sentence imposed upon a convicted defendant should not exceed the punishment appropriate for such conduct under other provisions of the Criminal Code. We reject the
Justice Maddox, dissenting, 816 So.2d at 111, expresses his views on the legislative intent behind
Justice Maddox states in his dissent: “[I]t appears to me that the Legislature had the power to adopt a statute that would meet society‘s needs to preserve human life and which would punish an individual for causing the death of another, even though the wrongdoer may not have possessed a culpable mental state at the time.” 816 So.2d at 111. (Emphasis added.) However, the power of the Legislature to enact a strict-liability offense is not here at issue. As previously noted,
Justicе Maddox also states: “I believe the Legislature intended to enact a statute that did exactly that [punish individuals for mere carelessness] when it adopted
Justice Maddox‘s dissent suggests in a footnote that the definitions in the Criminal Code are not applicable to
Edwards‘s indictment did not describe a necessary culpable mental state, and the court refused her request for an instruction on a culpable mental state. An indictment under
Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals and render a judgment of acquittal.
REVERSED AND JUDGMENT RENDERED.
HOOPER, C.J., and HOUSTON and ENGLAND, JJ., concur.
JOHNSTONE, J., concurs specially.
SEE, J., concurs in the result.
MADDOX, J., dissents.
BROWN, J., recuses herself.*
JOHNSTONE, Justice (concurring specially).
I concur in the main opinion, but subjеct to a caveat. Because no constitutional challenge is procedurally properly before us, our opinion is not written either to decide or to anticipate any constitutional challenge. Our opinion does not decide whether or not the State‘s compliance, and the trial court‘s compliance, with the rule announced in this case will cure or foreclose any due process, equal protection, or other constitutional infirmities in the vehicular homicide statute or in any prosecution pursuant to that statute. Likewise neither our opinion nor this special concurrence of mine suggests whether or not any such constitutional infirmities do or may exist.
SEE, Justice (concurring in the result).
I concur in the result of the main opiniоn; however, I write briefly to explain why I disagree, in part, with the rationale of that opinion.
The main opinion finds error in the failure of the court to instruct the jury “on a culpable mental state” and also appears to conclude that the indictment was fatally flawed because it “did not describe a necessary culpable mental state.” 816 So.2d at 109. I do not agree that the indictment was flawed.
The Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure govern the form and content of indictments.
“The indictment ... shall be a plain, concise statement of the charge in ordinary
language sufficiently definite to inform a defendant of common understanding of the offense charged and with that degree of certainty which will enable the court, upon conviction, to pronounce the proper judgment.”
The аppellate courts of this State have held that an indictment is sufficient if it conforms to the language of the statute on which it is based. See Ex parte Harper, 594 So.2d 1181 (Ala.1991); Inmon v. State, 585 So.2d 261 (Ala.Crim.App.1991); see also 1 Hugh Maddox, Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure § 13.0 at 427 (3d ed.1999).
The main opinion considers the “`Use Note on Mens Rea Element’ that accompanies the Alabama pattern jury instruction applicable to § 32-5A-192,” 816 So.2d at 107, and apparently concludes that the word “unintentionally,” appearing in
I believe the indictment conformed to the language of the statute by charging that the defendant had “unintentionally” caused the death of the victim.15 Therefore, I believe the indictment was sufficient to “inform [the] defendant ... of the offense charged.”
Nonetheless, I concur in the result, because I agree with this conclusion in the main opinion: “Because Edwards was acquitted of both manslaughter (ruling out recklessness) and criminal negligence, the court should have granted Edwards‘s postjudgment motion for a judgment of acquittal.” 816 So.2d at 109.
MADDOX, Justice (dissenting).
Because I believe the trial judge did not err in refusing to instruct the jury as requested by the defendant, I must respectfully dissent.
Punishing a defendant for unintentionally causing the death of another while in the commission of a misdemeanor is not a new legal concept, in either a criminal case or a civil case. For example, in Pippin v. State, 19 Ala.App. 384, 387, 97 So. 615, 617-18 (1923), the Court of Appeals said that “[t]he killing of a human being without malice, the slayer being at the time in the commission of a misdemeanor, and not having the intent to kill or to inflict the injury causing death,” is рunishable as a criminal act. The same act is punishable in a civil case based on the tort of wrongful death. For example, in Louis Pizitz Dry Goods Co. v. Yeldell, 274 U.S. 112, 47 S.Ct. 509, 71 L.Ed. 952 (1927), a defendant in a wrongful-death action appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, contending that Alabama‘s wrongful-death statute was unconstitutional because it authorized a plaintiff to recover punitive damages for a defendant‘s simple negligence if death resulted from the negligence. In that case, the Supreme Court held that Alabama could authorize the recovery of punitive damages for simple negligence if death resulted, without violating
Even though Yeldell was a civil case, I believe the principle therein stated should apply to the Legislature‘s power to punish criminally a person who violates a traffic law, when the evidence shows that the violation of that traffic law was the proximate cause of another‘s death. Stated differently, it appears to me that the Legislature had the power to adopt a statute that would meet society‘s needs to preserve human life and which would punish an individual for causing the death of another, even though the wrongdoer may not have possessed a culpable mental state at the time. For an excellent law review article on the subject of criminalizing negligence, see Lesliе Yalof Garfield, A More Principled Approach to Criminalizing Negligence: A Prescription For The Legislature, 65 Tenn. L.Rev. 875 (1998). In that article, Professor Garfield says, “Although criminal law has never been comfortable with punishing individuals for mere carelessness, the increased potential for technology-related accidents in our fast-paced culture makes it necessary to reexamine this reluctance and to question whether there are circumstances when lack of due care should be a sufficient predicate for invoking the sanctions of criminal law.” 65 Tenn. L.Rev. at 877. I agree with Professor Garfield, and I believe the Legislature intended to enact a statute that did exactly that when it adopted
I believe the trial court proрerly refused to instruct the jury as requested by the defendant; therefore, I would affirm the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals.
Notes
“`An individual accused of the greater offense has a right to have the court charge on the lesser offenses included in the indictment, when there is a reasonable theory from the evidence supporting his position. A court may properly refuse to charge on lesser included offenses only (1) when it is clear to the judicial mind that there is no evidence tending to bring the offense within the definition of the lesser offense, or (2) when the requested charge would have a tendency to mislead or confuse the jury. In fact, our decisions are to the effect that every accused is entitled to have charges given, which would not be misleading, which correctly state the law of his case, and which are supported by any evidence, however weak, insufficient, or doubtful in credibility.‘”
600 So.2d at 986 (quoting Chavers v. State, 361 So.2d 1106, 1107 (Ala.1978); citations omitted).
“The Grand Jury of Covington County charges that before the finding of this indictment, [the defendant] ... did unlawfully and unintentionally cause the death of another person, to-wit: George E. Kilcrease, while engaged in the violation of a state law... applying to the operation or use оf a vehicle or to the regulation of traffic, to-wit: passing in a no passing zone and/or speeding, and such violation was the proximate cause of the death of George E. Kilcrease, in violation of Title 32-5A-192 of the Code of Alabama, 1975, and as last amended, against the peace and dignity of the State of Alabama.”
(C.R. at 1.) (Emphasis added.)