Facts
- At a party, Aaron Johnson and Steve Haddox were with Matt Neel when they were told someone was breaking into Neel’s car and stealing the radio.
- Johnson, Haddox, and Neel ran downstairs to the parking lot and saw a person get into an idling car and drive away quickly.
- Johnson and Haddox each produced a handgun and fired a total of 11 shots at the fleeing vehicle.
- The driver, Abel Gallegos, was struck and died from a gunshot fired from Johnson’s gun.
- Investigators also found a bullet lodged in the car that had been fired from Haddox’s gun.
- The State of New Mexico charged Johnson and Haddox with second-degree murder.
- During trial, the court refused to instruct the jury on a defense theory of “justifiable homicide” based on stopping a fleeing felon.
- After the refusal, Johnson and Haddox entered guilty pleas to involuntary manslaughter while reserving the right to appeal the instructional ruling; Haddox later withdrew his appeal, and Johnson proceeded alone.
Issues
- Whether the trial court erred by refusing to give a jury instruction on justifiable homicide based on the theory that defendants were stopping a fleeing felon.
Decision
- The New Mexico Supreme Court affirmed.
- The court held the trial court did not err in refusing the requested justifiable-homicide instruction.
- Johnson’s conviction based on his conditional guilty plea to involuntary manslaughter remained in place.
Legal Principles
- A defendant is entitled to a jury instruction on a defense theory only when there is evidence that could support each element of that defense and the requested instruction correctly states the law.
- A trial court may refuse a defense instruction when the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the defendant, does not provide a rational basis for the jury to find the defense applies.
- Deadly force is not justified merely to stop or apprehend a fleeing suspect for a suspected property offense; justification requires legally sufficient grounds (including a reasonable basis connected to the level of danger involved), not simply suspicion of wrongdoing.
- A conditional guilty plea may preserve a dispositive legal issue—such as the denial of a defense instruction—for appellate review when the plea is entered with an express reservation of that issue.
Conclusion
State v. Johnson involved a fatal shooting after Johnson and Haddox fired multiple rounds at a car fleeing the scene of a suspected theft from a vehicle. On appeal following Johnson’s conditional plea, the New Mexico Supreme Court upheld the trial court’s refusal to instruct the jury on justifiable homicide premised on stopping a fleeing felon, concluding the record did not warrant submitting that defense to the jury.