UNITED STATES of America v. Michael H. HINKLE, Appellant

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit1973-11-07No. No. 72-1990

487 F.2d 1205

Summary · law.co

Holding. The conviction is affirmed. Although the trial court committed error in providing an improper jury instruction on malice and arguably erred in other respects, these errors were harmless given the undisputed evidence of the stabbing and the weakness of Hinkle's defense theories.

Michael Hinkle was convicted of second-degree murder for stabbing another person. Hinkle claimed he had no memory of the incident due to intoxication and asserted self-defense and other mitigating theories, but the jury rejected these arguments and found him guilty. He received a sentence of five to twenty years.

On appeal, Hinkle challenged his conviction on four grounds: the trial court's failure to hold a coroner's inquest, improper jury instructions defining malice, the court's refusal to allow the jury to consider his intoxication when evaluating recklessness, and denial of a subpoena for the victim's juvenile records. The appellate court found that even if the first and last contentions constituted error, they were harmless because they could not have affected the outcome given the strength of the evidence against Hinkle.

The court identified a legitimate problem with the malice instruction used at trial, which the government conceded was improper. However, the court determined this error was harmless because the case involved a knife wound and straightforward factual circumstances. The court took the opportunity to clarify that future malice instructions should focus on whether the defendant acted with disregard for others' lives and safety, rather than using language about social duty or general depravity. The court declined to reach Hinkle's argument regarding the jury's consideration of recklessness in the context of distinguishing second-degree murder from manslaughter.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

Whether failure to hold a coroner's inquest constitutes reversible error
Whether an improper jury instruction on malice is harmless error when the underlying facts are straightforward
Proper definition of malice in jury instructions
Whether denial of a subpoena for victim's juvenile records requires reversal

Procedural posture

Hinkle appealed his second-degree murder conviction, challenging the trial court's evidentiary rulings and jury instructions.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion · public domain

majority opinion

PER CURIAM:

Appellant was indicted for second degree murder. The evidence showing that Hinkle stabbed the decedent was undisputed. Hinkle, himself, testified that he had no recollection of the events that took place on the evening in question because he was intoxicated. His defense rested on claims of self-defense, provocation, lack of malice, and a contention that the fatal wound was not the one he administered, but one that occurred during the surgery occasioned by the initial wound. The jury found him guilty as charged, and he was sentenced to five to twenty years, to run concurrently with sentences in two other cases.

On appeal, Hinkle raises several challenges to his conviction: failure to hold a coroner’s inquest into the cause of death; improper jury instructions on the definition of malice; failure to allow the jury to consider appellant’s intoxication in deciding whether he acted with sufficient “recklessness” to justify a finding of second degree murder; and failure to grant a subpoena duces tecum for production of the deceased’s juvenile records.

We do not address the issues of whether appellant’s first and last contentions constitute error, for we find that even if they were error, in the context of this case they were harmless. Although appellant was entitled to a coroner’s inquest, Crump v. Anderson, 122 U.S.App.D.C. 173, 352 F.2d 649 (1965), the likelihood that the inquest if held would have produced evidence tending to exculpate him is so remote that we see no justification for reversing, and in effect (since a coroner’s inquest is now impossible), dismissing his homicide charge. Similarly, even if Hinkle were entitled to subpoena the deceased’s juve nile records, it seems inconceivable that they would be of any assistance to him. He claims that they might show prior acts that indicate a propensity toward violence, and thereby buttress his claim of self-defense. But appellant’s case on self-defense was virtually non-existent, and thus it does not appear that he was harmed by being denied the juvenile records.

Appellant’s claim that the trial court gave an improper jury instruction on malice is a troubling one. He requested the proper instruction as set forth in our decision in United States v. Bush, 135 U.S.App.D.C. 67, 416 F.2d 823 (1969) . Bush prohibited use of the phrase “ ‘malice’ is a state of mind showing a heart regardless of social duty,” and in subsequent cases we have advised that the Bush instruction should be used “to avoid a claim of reversible error.” Carter v. United States, 141 U.S.App.D.C. 259, 437 F.2d 692, 697 (1970) . In the face of these decisions, defense counsel’s request, and his subsequent objection, the court still gave the improper “social duty” instruction. The Government now admits that the court’s instruction was error, but argues it was harmless. We are concerned that the court would simply ignore the proper instruction in these circumstances, but since death was caused by a knife wound, we do not find that appellant was harmed by the erroneous instruction. We hope that in the future, trial courts do not place us in this sort of difficult situation.

We take this occasion to amplify on Bush by condemning interrelated portions of the “old” standard instruction :

“Malice” is a state of mind showing a heart regardless of social duty, a mind deliberately bent on mischief, a generally depraved, wicked and malicious spirit.

In Bush, as indicated above, we set forth the need for eliminating the phrase whereby any violation of “social duty” or “duty” might be equated to malice, even though not dangerous to life or limb. On further reflection, we conclude that similar problems of over-réach are presented by the segment that defines malice in terms of “a mind deliberately bent on mischief, a generally depraved, wicked and malicious spirit.” Juries are to determine whether specific acts have been committed with requisite culpability, not whether defendants have generally depraved, wicked and malicious spirits. A sound replacement for the original sentence would be simply this:

“Malice” is a state of mind showing a heart that is without regard for the life and safety of others.

Here again we recognize that there are eases where the old instruction could lead a jury to misconstrue its role or be otherwise prejudicial; however, the facts before us do not present such a case. Although we do not reverse Hin-kle’s conviction, we trust that our comments on the deficiency of the old “standard” instruction will be given heed.

Appellant also alleges error in the failure of the trial court to instruct the jury as to the difference in the nature of recklessness required for second degree murder, and that required for manslaughter. Although we do not foreclose consideration of this issue in an appropriate case, the facts here do not justify serious consideration of the matter at this time.

Otherwise we find appellant’s trial without error. His conviction is therefore

Affirmed.

. The office of coronor and the statutory requirement of an inquest have been abolished in the District of Columbia.

. See Evans v. United States, 107 U.S.App.D.C. 324, 277 F.2d 354 (1960).

. See also United States v. Lumpkins, 141 U.S.App.D.C. 387, 439 F.2d 494 (1970).

. See United States v. Johnson, 140 U.S.App.D.C. 54, 433 F.2d 1160, 1164 n. 27 (1970) ; United States v. McCall, 148 U.S.App.D.C. 444, 460 F.2d 952, 958 (1972).