 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Key v. People1/31/1986
idence on the issue of deliberation was overwhelming. The evidence established that Key wanted a truck like Shadday's but could not afford one. There was also evidence that Key was in the process of buying Shadday's truck and had made several payments on the vehicle. The day before the killing, Key told Harold Johnson that he "could take Jimmy Shadday up in the mountains and shoot him. . . . I could take the truck because I had been buying the truck from him. . . ." Key did in fact go up to the mountains with Shadday the following day. After a fight developed between the two men, Key shot Shadday four times in the head. The evidence indicated that Key used his two-shot derringer pistol to shoot Shadday. Thus, Key had to reload the pistol before firing the third and fourth shots. Shadday had four gunshot wounds, two to the front of his head and two to the back of his head. After shooting Shadday, Key, believing that Shadday was still alive, mashed his head in with a rock. Key next positioned Shadday beneath his truck and ran over his head. He then dragged Shadday into the trees. Before leaving, Key removed Shadday's wallet and identification from his body. The following day, Key was seen driving Shadday's truck and said that Shadday had sold it to him and had gone AWOL.
In our view, this evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that Key killed Shadday after deliberation. The jury could have reasonably believed that Key had decided to kill Shadday as early as the day before the homicide, when Key told Johnson that he could take Shadday to the mountains, shoot him, and take his truck. The sequence of events in the mountains the next day also demonstrates deliberation under the test announced in Sneed, 183 Colo. at 96, 514 P.2d at 778. As we have stated, Sneed requires that an "appreciable" length of time must have elapsed between the forming of the intent to do the act and the act itself. Here, even assuming that Key fired the first two shots without deliberation, an appreciable period of time elapsed before the third and fourth shots. Another appreciable length of time elapsed between the fourth shot and the moment when Key began mashing in Shadday's head with a rock. A final appreciable length of time elapsed between the time Key put down the rock, got into the truck, and drove over Shadday's head. In each such period, Key had sufficient time to deliberate whether to kill Shadday. There is no support in the record for Key's contention that he killed Shadday in a hasty or impulsive manner. Accordingly, the error in Instruction No. 15 was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.
The judgment of the court of appeals is affirmed.
JUSTICE LOHR dissents, and CHIEF JUSTICE QUINN joins in the dissent.
JUSTICE NEIGHBORS dissents, and CHIEF JUSTICE QUINN and JUSTICE LOHR join in the dissent.
Disposition
JUDGMENT AFFIRMED
JUSTICE LOHR dissenting:
I join in Justice Neighbors' dissent and add a few remarks by way of emphasis.
The majority correctly notes that the "central issue at trial was whether Key killed Shadday after deliberation." Majority op. at 4. The judge properly instructed the jury in Instruction No. 14 that the term "after deliberation" includes the requirement that "the decision to commit the act has been made after the exercise of reflection and judgment concerning the act." However, the judge then incorrectly instructed the jury in Instruction No. 15 that " he only time requirement for deliberation within the meaning of the first degree murder statute is an interval sufficient for one thought to follow another." This latter instruction erroneously and importantly
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Colorado DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|