## Facts

- Raymond Hill shot his mother with a high-powered rifle in their home and reported the shooting to police.
- Hill’s mother was found sitting in a chair with her right jaw, shoulder, and upper chest destroyed.
- Hill’s rifle was found in the living room, and there was a bullet hole in the living-room floor.
- Hill was indicted for murder.
- The State argued Hill purposely shot his mother to acquire her house and car or to stop her from harassing him, pointing to Hill’s bankruptcy, loss of his own house, separation from his wife, and drinking before the shooting.
- Hill testified his mother was undergoing chemotherapy, drank heavily, and was too intoxicated to go for treatment.
- Hill testified he fired into the living-room floor to scare his mother into telling him where liquor was hidden, then reloaded the rifle and forgot to put the safety on.
- Hill testified he followed his mother into a bedroom where they continued arguing, and the rifle discharged accidentally when he stood up.
- Hill testified that while hunting he never carried a loaded gun without the safety engaged, supporting his claim that the safety being off was inadvertent.
- The trial court instructed the jury on purposeful murder and accident, but refused Hill’s request to instruct on involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide.

## Issues

1. Did the trial court commit reversible error by refusing to instruct the jury on involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide when the evidence could support an unintentional but culpable killing rather than purposeful murder or a blameless accident?

## Decision

- Yes. The Court of Appeals of Ohio reversed Hill’s murder conviction and remanded for a new trial.
- The court held the evidence permitted a reasonable jury to find Hill lacked a purpose to kill yet still caused death through criminally culpable conduct, so instructions on involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide were required.
- The court rejected limiting the jury to an all-or-nothing choice between murder and acquittal based on accident when the record supported intermediate verdicts.

## Legal Principles

- A defendant is entitled to instructions on a lesser-included offense or inferior degree of the charged offense when the evidence would allow reasonable jurors to acquit on the greater offense but convict on the lesser.
- In determining whether to instruct on lesser offenses, the trial court must view the evidence to decide whether a jury could reasonably find the lesser mental state; it may not deny instructions simply because it doubts the defense evidence.
- Where evidence supports a finding that a death resulted from reckless or negligent handling of a firearm during a dispute, instructions on negligent homicide and involuntary manslaughter may be required even if the defendant also claims the shooting was accidental.
- A jury should be permitted to consider supported alternatives between purposeful homicide and complete accident; withholding supported lesser-offense instructions risks an improper verdict.

## Conclusion

Because the evidence allowed a rational jury to find that Hill did not purposely kill his mother but instead caused her death through reckless or negligent conduct with a loaded rifle during an argument, the trial court’s refusal to instruct on involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide was reversible error, requiring a new trial.


State v. Hill, 31 Ohio App. 3d 65 (1987)