F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
June 6, 2005
PUBLISH
PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
TENTH CIRCUIT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
No. 04-4082
REDD ROCK SERAWOP, a/k/a
Reddrock Serawop, a/k/a Redrock
Serawop,
Defendant-Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Utah, Central Division
(D.C. No. 2:03-CR-00339 PGC)
G. Fred Metos, Salt Lake City, UT, for Defendant-Appellant.
Diana Hagen, Assistant United States Attorney (Paul M. Warner, United States
Attorney, with her on the brief), Salt Lake City, UT, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Before TACHA, Chief Circuit Judge, McKAY, Senior Circuit Judge, and EBEL,
Circuit Judge.
EBEL, Circuit Judge.
This appeal requires us to decide what mental state is required to convict a
defendant of voluntary manslaughter under 18 U.S.C. § 1112 and to determine
how district courts must instruct juries regarding that mental element. We hold
that, in order to convict a defendant of voluntary manslaughter under 18 U.S.C. §
1112, the Government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant
acted in the heat of passion with either (1) a general intent to kill, meaning that
the defendant was aware that the result was practically certain to follow from his
conduct regardless of his desire as to that result; (2) intent to do serious bodily
injury; or (3) depraved heart recklessness. Instructing the jury that voluntary
manslaughter requires only an unlawful killing “in the heat of passion” is
insufficient to convey this mental state requirement. Instead, juries must be
specifically instructed that voluntary manslaughter requires the above-stated
intentional or reckless mental state in addition to the homicidal act occurring in
the heat of passion.
In this case, Defendant-Appellant Redd Rock Serawop (“Serawop” or
“Defendant”) was indicted for second degree murder under 18 U.S.C. § 1111(a)
(2000) following the death of his three-month-old daughter, Beyonce, in Indian
Country. The trial court instructed the jury on this charged offense and also on
the lesser-included offenses of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter under 18
U.S.C. § 1112(a). The jury convicted Serawop of voluntary manslaughter.
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Below, and on appeal, Serawop argues that jury instructions failed to charge the
jury with the proper mental state required for voluntary manslaughter and thereby
prevented the jury from considering whether he should instead have been
convicted of the less serious offense of involuntary manslaughter.
With respect to voluntary manslaughter, the district court instructed the
jury:
If you find the defendant is not guilty of murder in the second
degree, then you should proceed to determine whether the defendant
is guilty of voluntary manslaughter.
Voluntary manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human
being without malice in the heat of passion.
In order to prove the charge against the defendant of voluntary
manslaughter, the government must establish beyond a reasonable
doubt each of the following elements:
First, the defendant killed Beyonce Serawop;
Second, the defendant acted unlawfully;
Third, the defendant did so in the heat of passion;
Fourth, the defendant is an Indian; and
Fifth, the crime alleged in the Indictment occurred within
Indian Country.
We agree with Serawop that this instruction fails to articulate any mental state
element for voluntary manslaughter other than “in the heat of passion.”
Therefore, the jury erroneously could have convicted Serawop of voluntary
manslaughter even if they believed he had a less culpable mental state than
murderous intent or recklessness. All the jury had to find to convict Serawop of
voluntary manslaughter with this erroneous instruction was that Serawop acted in
the heat of passion, which could include mere negligent or grossly negligent acts.
-3-
To prevent this error, juries must be specifically instructed that voluntary
manslaughter requires either an intentional or reckless killing. One example of a
proper instruction in this case would be:
In order to prove the charge against the defendant of voluntary
manslaughter, the government must establish beyond a reasonable
doubt each of the following elements:
First, the defendant killed Beyonce Serawop;
Second, the defendant acted unlawfully;
Third, while in a sudden quarrel or heat of passion, and
therefore without malice, the defendant:
a) intentionally killed Beyonce;
b) intended to cause Beyonce serious bodily injury; or
c) acted recklessly with extreme disregard for human
life;
Fourth, the defendant is an Indian; and
Fifth, the crime alleged in the Indictment occurred within
Indian Country.
As used in this instruction, “intentionally killed” means either:
(1) a specific purpose to take the life of another human
being, or
(2) a willingness to act knowing that the death of another
human being is practically certain to follow from that
conduct.
Serawop was not given such an instruction in this case. Therefore, exercising
jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we REVERSE Serawop’s voluntary
manslaughter conviction and REMAND for proceedings consistent with this
opinion.
-4-
BACKGROUND
On November 2, 2002, Ernestina Moya, left her home on the Ute Indian
reservation in northeastern Utah to serve a 12-day jail sentence for providing false
information to a police officer. She left her nephew and three children, including
three-month-old Beyonce Serawop, at home with Beyonce’s father, Redd Rock
Serawop. Beyonce had been sick before Moya left, and she cried almost
constantly while Moya was away. Serawop had also just started a new job at a
bottling company that week.
At approximately 1:30 a.m. on November 3, 2002, Serawop called for an
ambulance and reported that Beyonce was having difficulty breathing. When she
arrived at the hospital, Beyonce was limp, pale, and not breathing or moving on
her own. A spinal tap produced blood, indicating she had suffered a head trauma.
Beyonce was life-flighted to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, where
she was pronounced dead.
The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Beyonce found rib
fractures and contusions on her face and concluded her death was caused by three
skull fractures along the left side of her skull, which were consistent with a blunt
force trauma. According to the medical examiner, Beyonce would have been
unable to cry or eat after she sustained these injuries, as they would have
immediately rendered her unconscious. The medical examiner also testified that,
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because an infant’s skull is relatively malleable, it would require a considerable
amount of force to compress the head to the point where the skull fractures.
Serawop gave several conflicting versions of what occurred. Initially, he
told emergency room doctors that when he checked on Beyonce in the night he
found she had inexplicably stopped breathing. Later, Serawop said that his 17-
month-old son hit Beyonce in the head with a child’s cup and that one of the
children may have dropped her. In subsequent FBI interviews, Serawop said he
tripped over a shoe and fell with Beyonce in his arms, causing her to hit her head
on the edge of the television stand, and then revised his story to assert that he
accidentally dropped his daughter and that her head struck the bathroom counter
as she fell.
At trial, the Government asked the jury to convict Serawop of second
degree murder. The Government relied on the evidence of multiple blows to
Beyonce’s face, head, and body; the inconsistencies in Serawop’s stories; and the
medical testimony about the amount of force required to cause Beyonce’s death.
In defense, Serawop did not dispute that he had caused the death of
Beyonce but instead argued he was guilty of only involuntary manslaughter or, in
the alternative, voluntary manslaughter. Specifically, Serawop argued that
Beyonce’s death was caused by a single accidental fall and that there was doubt
about the amount of force, as applied to her body, necessary to cause her injuries
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on impact—particularly given Serawop’s size and the weight and relative strength
of the infant’s head and neck. Serawop also argued that the injuries to Beyonce’s
face and ribs were consistent with him attempting to perform CPR. Thus, he
argued, he was guilty of involuntary manslaughter at most.
In the alternative, Serawop argued that if the jury found he used extreme
force, then that force was used in a heat of passion arising out of the frustration,
stress, and exhaustion caused by Beyonce’s consistent crying and Moya’s absence.
If this was the case, he said, he should be convicted of voluntary manslaughter.
The district court instructed the jury on second degree murder and the
lesser included offenses of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. The jury
convicted Serawop of voluntary manslaughter, and this appeal followed.
DISCUSSION
Serawop argues that the district court improperly instructed the jury
regarding voluntary manslaughter’s mental state. In particular, he contends that
voluntary manslaughter requires the Government to prove an intentional or
reckless killing as an element of the offense 1 and that the district court committed
prejudicial error by not instructing the jury to this effect in this case. We agree.
1
At oral argument on appeal, the government conceded, “We agree with
[Serawop’s] statement of the law that there is an intent element in voluntary
manslaughter that is similar to murder except that heat of passion negates the
malice required for murder. That appears clear from the case law.”
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I. Mental State Required for Voluntary Manslaughter
As an initial matter, we must determine what mental state is required for
the federal crime of voluntary manslaughter. “[D]etermining the mental state
required for commission of a federal crime requires ‘construction of the statute
and . . . inference of the intent of Congress.’” Staples v. United States, 511 U.S.
600, 605 (1994) (quoting United States v. Balint, 258 U.S. 250, 253 (1922))
(ellipsis in original). Thus, determining the mental state required under the
federal voluntary manslaughter statute is a question of statutory construction we
review de novo. United States v. McVeigh, 153 F.3d 1166, 1193 (10th Cir.
1998).
A. Statutory language
Voluntary manslaughter is one offense within a hierarchy of federal
homicides. Both voluntary and involuntary manslaughter are established in a
single statute, which provides:
Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without
malice. It is of two kinds:
Voluntary—Upon a sudden quarrel or heat of passion.
Involuntary—In the commission of an unlawful act not amounting to
a felony, or in the commission in an unlawful manner, or without due
caution and circumspection, of a lawful act which might produce
death.
18 U.S.C. § 1112(a). In contrast, the more serious murder offenses are defined as
follows:
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Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice
aforethought. Every murder perpetrated by poison, lying in wait, or
any other kind of willful, deliberate, malicious, and premeditated
killing; or committed in the perpetration of, or attempt to perpetrate,
any arson, escape, murder, kidnapping, treason, espionage, sabotage,
aggravated sexual abuse or sexual abuse, child abuse, burglary, or
robbery; or perpetrated as part of a pattern or practice of assault or
torture against a child or children; or perpetrated from a premeditated
design unlawfully and maliciously to effect the death of any human
being other than him who is killed, is murder in the first degree.
Any other murder is murder in the second degree.
18 U.S.C. § 1111(a).
Unlike many modern penal codes, these federal homicide statutes fail to
articulate expressly which mental states are required for each of the various
offenses. In the case of voluntary manslaughter, the statute requires only the
“unlawful killing of a human being without malice . . . [u]pon a sudden quarrel or
heat of passion.” 18 U.S.C. § 1112(a). Except for this express exclusion of
malice, the statute is silent as to the mental state required for conviction.
Moreover, the statute fails even to define the mental element it specifically
excludes—malice.
Although our case law has consistently held that the “distinguishing
element” among varying degrees of federal homicide is the defendant’s mental
state, see, e.g., United States v. Sarracino, 340 F.3d 1148, 1162 (10th Cir. 2003),
we have not yet fully articulated the precise mental state required for voluntary
manslaughter. Therefore, our task is to determine, given this sparse statutory
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language and its placement within the hierarchy of federal homicides, what
mental state Congress intended for voluntary manslaughter.
B. Interpretative rules
It is certainly true that “federal crimes are defined by statute rather than by
common law.” United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Coop., 532 U.S. 483,
490 (2001). However, the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that statutory
silence as to mental state in a federal criminal statute does not necessarily mean
that Congress intended to dispense with a conventional mens rea element.
Staples, 511 U.S. at 605. To the contrary, “some indication of congressional
intent, express or implied, is required to dispense with mens rea as an element of
the crime.” Id. at 606; see United States v. United States Gypsum Co., 438 U.S.
422, 438 (1978) (“Certainly far more than the simple omission of the appropriate
phrase from the statutory definition is necessary to justify dispensing with an
intent requirement.”); 1 Charles Alan Wright, Federal Practice and Procedure §
125, at 567-68 (3d ed. 1999) (hereinafter “Wright”) (“[C]riminal intent is an
element of some crimes though not mentioned in the statute.”); id. at 568 n.41
(citing Morissette v. United States, 342 U.S. 246 (1952), for proposition that
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“offenses . . . carried over from the common law . . . incorporate a mental element
without special statutory provision.”). 2
The federal homicide statutes “simply adopt the language of the traditional
common-law offenses of murder and manslaughter.” United States v. Browner,
889 F.2d 549, 551 (5th Cir. 1989). Therefore, we must construe the statutes “in
light of the background rules of the common law, in which the requirement of
some mens rea is firmly embedded.” See Staples, 511 U.S. at 605 (utilizing
common law principles to determine the mental state element of a federal firearms
statute). This accords with our general practice that “where a federal criminal
statute uses a common-law term of established meaning without otherwise
defining it, [we] give that term its common-law meaning.” United States v.
Gauvin, 173 F.3d 798, 802 (10th Cir.1999) (quotation omitted); see also
Morissette, 342 U.S. at 263 (“And where Congress borrows terms of art in which
are accumulated the legal tradition and meaning of centuries of practice, it
presumably knows and adopts the cluster of ideas that were attached to each
borrowed word in the learning from which it was taken and the meaning its use
will convey to the judicial mind unless otherwise instructed.”).
2
See also Liparota v. United States, 471 U.S. 419, 426 (1985) (observing
that in United States v. Gypsum Co., 438 U.S. at 438, the Court noted that
“criminal offenses requiring no mens rea have a ‘generally disfavored status.’”)
(emphasis in original omitted).
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Similarly, we have looked to the common law to express the mental state
requirements of other degrees of federal homicide. See, e.g., United States v.
Pearson, 203 F.3d 1243, 1271 (10th Cir. 2000) (using common law to define the
mens rea of second degree murder under otherwise silent 18 U.S.C. § 1111). We
will do the same here, turning to the common law to help us distill the mental
state intended for voluntary manslaughter under 18 U.S.C. § 1112.
C. Analysis
Manslaughter developed at common law as a less culpable form of
homicide for which a lesser sentence seemed justified. Initially, all homicides
were unlawful and punished by death, with exception only for a narrow class of
homicides committed in the enforcement of justice. Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U.S.
684, 692 (1975). In response to this widespread use of capital punishment,
ecclesiastic jurisdiction developed to reduce what would have been death to a
one-year sentence, a branded thumb, and the forfeiture of all of one’s goods. Id.
Later, however, English rulers grew “concerned with the accretion of ecclesiastic
jurisdiction at the expense of the secular” and enacted a series of statutes limiting
ecclesiastic jurisdiction’s benefits only to those unlawful homicides committed
without malice—homicides designated as “manslaughter.” Id. at 692-93.
The common law defined manslaughter as the unlawful killing of another
without malice, Stevenson v. United States, 162 U.S. 313, 320 (1896), and
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recognized two types, voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. See Mullaney,
421 U.S. at 694 n.14. The presence or absence of malice marked the boundary
which separated the crimes of murder and manslaughter. Id. Today, malice still
distinguishes federal murder from federal manslaughter. Compare United States
v. Lofton, 776 F.2d 918, 920 (10th Cir. 1985) (articulating malice as element of
both first and second degree murder), with 18 U.S.C. § 1112 (defining both
voluntary and involuntary manslaughter as “without malice”).
1. Defining murder mens rea
Serawop’s basic argument is that § 1112 incorporates the common law
understanding of voluntary manslaughter as a homicide that would constitute
murder but for the fact that the killing was committed in the heat of passion.
Therefore, we start with an overview of the mens rea element of murder.
Second degree murder is the catch-all murder offense. See 18 U.S.C. §
1111 (defining second degree murder as “[a]ny other murder” not enhanced to
first degree). Our case law defines second degree murder as an unlawful killing
with malice. Pearson, 203 F.3d at 1270 (interpreting 18 U.S.C. § 1111(a)). In
Pearson, we defined the mental element of second degree murder as requiring
either (1) general intent to kill, 3 (2) intent to do serious bodily injury, (3)
3
“A person acts knowingly or with a ‘general intent’ if he is aware that the
result is practically certain to follow from his conduct, whatever his desire may be
(continued...)
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depraved heart recklessness; 4 or (4) a killing in the commission of a felony that is
not among those specifically listed in the first degree murder statute. Id. at 1271.
These mental states make up the core murder intent.
First degree murder, on the other hand, is a more serious offense that
requires proof of something in addition to this basic murder intent. See Wood,
207 F.3d at 1228. While second degree murder requires only a general intent,
meaning that the defendant “is aware that the result is practically certain to follow
from his conduct, whatever his desire may be as to that result,” Welch, 327 F.3d
3
(...continued)
as to that result.” United States v. Welch, 327 F.3d 1081, 1096 n.13 (10th Cir.
2003).
4
Pearson actually uses just the term “depraved heart” to refer to this mental
state; however, we have also held that malice may “be established by evidence of
conduct which is reckless and wanton, and a gross deviation from a reasonable
standard of care, of such a nature that a jury is warranted in inferring that the
defendant was aware of a serious risk of death or serious bodily harm.” United
States v. Soundingsides, 820 F.2d 1232, 1237 (10th Cir. 1987). “The concepts of
‘depraved heart’ and ‘reckless and wanton, and a gross deviation from the
reasonable standard of care’ are functionally equivalent in this context.” United
States v. Wood, 207 F.3d 1222, 1228 (10th Cir. 2000) questioned on other
grounds by United States v. Delgado-Uribe, 363 F.3d 1077, 1082 n.6 (10th Cir.
2004). Thus, we often refer to this single mental state as “depraved heart
recklessness” herein.
Reckless conduct, in the criminal context, is considered a form of
intentional conduct because it “includes an element of deliberateness—a
conscious acceptance of a known, serious risk.” Archuleta v. McShan, 897 F.2d
495, 499 (10th Cir. 1990) (civil due process case). Negligence, on the other hand,
is careless conduct that does not require one of these forms of intent (either actual
intent or intent to act with a depraved heart in reckless disregard of perceived,
serious risks). See id. at 499 n.8.
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at 1095 n.13; accord Soundingsides, 820 F.2d at 1242, first degree murder
requires additional proof of a specific intent—including premeditation,
deliberation, or a killing in the commission of certain enumerated felonies.
Wood, 207 F.3d at 1228; see also United States v. Bailey, 444 U.S. 394, 405
(1980).
Despite these distinct mental state requirements for these different degrees
of murder, we have always said that “malice” is an element of both first and
second degree murder. Lofton, 776 F.2d at 920. Although we have sometimes
been less than precise in our language—suggesting in Pearson, for example, that
second degree murder’s malice element is satisfied simply by establishing one of
the enumerated mental states—malice is actually a legal term of art. See
Browner, 889 F.2d at 551.
Malice is not satisfied simply by killing with an intentional or reckless
mental state; instead, malice specifically requires committing the wrongful act
without justification, excuse, or mitigation. See 50 Am. Jur. 2d Homicide § 37
(1999) (“[Malice] is said to include all those states and conditions of mind which
accompany a homicide committed without legal excuse or extenuation.”)
(emphasis added); Black’s Law Dictionary 976 (8th ed. 2004) (defining “malice”
as “intent, without justification or excuse, to commit a wrongful act”) (emphasis
added); 40 C.J.S. Homicide § 33 (1991) (“Malice has been defined as consisting
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of the intentional doing of a wrongful act toward another without legal
justification, excuse, or mitigation.”) (emphasis added). The Supreme Court has
also described malice as “lack of provocation.” Patterson v. New York, 432 U.S.
197, 216 (1977).
Thus, when we say that a murder must be committed “with malice,” we
mean not just that it requires a particular murderous intent but, more to the point,
that it must also be “without legal justification, excuse, or mitigation.” This is
why, in Lofton, we held that to establish malice the prosecution must prove
beyond a reasonable doubt the absence of heat of passion when it is an issue in
the case. Lofton, 776 F.2d at 920. Heat of passion is one legal excuse pursuant
to which what would otherwise constitute murder is mitigated to a less culpable
offense of manslaughter—because with heat of passion, “malice” in the sense of
“lack of provocation” no longer exists. 5 See id.
2. Defining voluntary manslaughter mens rea
This takes us directly to the issue at hand, determining what “without
malice . . . [u]pon a sudden quarrel or heat of passion” means in the context of 18
U.S.C. § 1112(a) and what mental state is intended by this language. The
5
Other legally recognized justifications, mitigating factors, or excuses may
also preclude a finding of malice but would have different consequences. For
example, if a defendant killed in self defense, that killing would also be without
malice, but that conclusion would lead to different results.
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common law recognized “heat of passion” as one mitigating factor pursuant to
which an otherwise intentional or reckless killing would constitute the less
serious offense of voluntary manslaughter and be, because of that mitigating
circumstance, “without malice.” See Mullaney, 421 U.S. at 693; see also 2
Wharton’s C RIM . L AW § 155 (15th ed.) (“As a concession to human frailty, a
killing [in the heat of passion], which would otherwise constitute murder, is
mitigated to voluntary manslaughter.”) (emphasis added); 2 Wayne R. LaFave,
Substantive Criminal Law § 15.2, at 493 (2d ed. 2003) (hereinafter “LaFave”)
(“The usual view of voluntary manslaughter thus presupposes an intent to kill (or
perhaps to do serious injury or to engage in very reckless conduct), holding that in
spite of the existence of this bad intent the circumstances may reduce the
homicide to manslaughter.”) (emphasis added).
As the Fifth Circuit explained:
[t]he separate offense of voluntary manslaughter emerged [at
common law] as an intentional killing that is nonetheless deemed to
be without malice because it occurs in what the courts called “the
heat of passion,” a passion of fear or rage in which the defendant
loses his normal self-control as a result of circumstances that would
provoke such a passion in an ordinary person, but which did not
justify the use of deadly force. Again, the federal statute simply
declares the language of the common-law offense, and so when the
defendant . . . actuated by a sudden passion of fear or rage arising
from attendant circumstances that would provoke such passion in an
ordinary person, kills intentionally (or with one of the other mental
states that constitutes malice), the killing is nevertheless deemed to
be in the absence of malice under the federal statute. The malice that
would otherwise attach is negated by the fact that the intentional
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killing occurred in the heat of passion in response to a sufficient
provocation.
Browner, 889 F.2d at 552 (citations omitted).
We agree with the Fifth Circuit that this common law understanding is
carried into § 1112 where “[v]oluntary manslaughter encompasses all of the
elements of murder: it requires proof of the physical act of unlawfully causing the
death of another, and of the mental state that would constitute malice, but for the
fact that the killing was committed in adequately provoked heat of passion or
provocation.” Id. at 553. Thus, the only difference between second degree
murder and voluntary manslaughter in the homicide hierarchy is that voluntary
manslaughter is committed in the heat of passion, and the presence of this
mitigating factor negates the malice that would otherwise attach given an
intentional or reckless mental state. 6 See id.
6
We note that this accords with the “usual view” of voluntary manslaughter
that, despite the existence of this “bad” intentional or reckless mental state, heat
of passion explains, or reduces, what would otherwise be murder to manslaughter.
LaFave, supra, § 15.2(a), at 493. However, there is a rare minority view
“expressed in an occasional case and in a few [state] manslaughter statutes, to the
effect that the passion must be so great as to destroy the intent to kill, in order to
accomplish the reduction of the homicide to voluntary manslaughter.” Id.
(footnotes omitted). Under this stringent minority view, a defendant “must show
that has passion went so far as to rob him of his normal capacity to entertain
murderous thoughts, rather than that it merely made him lose the normal self-
control which enables him to resist any temptation to slay another person.” Id.
This minority view is inconsistent with the common law as we have interpreted it,
and we do not think Congress intended to imply such a departure by its silence in
(continued...)
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While our court has not yet reached this issue directly, our case law directly
supports this understanding. We have, without much detailed discussion,
consistently noted that “heat of passion” in the voluntary manslaughter context
has the effect of “negating” malice. Lofton, 776 F.2d at 920 (“The heat of
passion defense is directly at odds with malice . . . the defense serves to negative
malice.”) (quotation and citation omitted); United States v. Scafe, 822 F.2d 928,
932 (10th Cir. 1987) (“Malice is negated by heat of passion.”).
Although we have used this language of negation in reference to malice, we
have never suggested that heat of passion eliminates the requirement of an
intentional or reckless killing implicit in the common law and in the structure of
the homicide hierarchy. To the contrary, we have frequently referred to voluntary
manslaughter as a general intent crime. See, e.g., Soundingsides, 820 F.2d at
1242; United States v. Hatatley, 130 F.3d 1399, 1405 (10th Cir. 1997); see also
United States v. Fortier, 180 F.3d 1217, 1228 (10th Cir.1999). Thus, malice is
negated in the voluntary manslaughter context only in the sense that the killing is
6
(...continued)
18 U.S.C. § 1112. Therefore, we read “heat of passion” under the federal statute
as explaining, or actuating, an intentional or reckless killing, not overwhelming a
defendant’s ability to form such an intent or perceive of a grave risk.
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no longer “without excuse” as it would have to be to establish malice for second
degree murder. 7
At least two other circuits have similarly construed 18 U.S.C. § 1112 as
incorporating this common law understanding and requiring the mens rea of an
intentional or reckless killing as an element of voluntary manslaughter. See
United States v. Paul, 37 F.3d 496, 499 (9th Cir. 1994) (striking down a jury
instruction for voluntary manslaughter similar to the instruction given in the
instant case that did not require the jury to find that the defendant had the mental
state of intending to kill, stating “[i]f the defendant killed with the mental state
required for murder (intent to kill or recklessness with extreme disregard for
7
Involuntary manslaughter, on the other hand, is a homicide “without
malice” because the offender’s mental state is not sufficiently culpable to meet
the traditional malice requirements of an intentional or reckless killing. See
United States v. Paul, 37 F.3d 496, 499 (9th Cir. 1994); see also Browner, 889
F.2d at 553. Instead, we have consistently held that involuntary manslaughter
requires only that “defendant’s acts must amount to gross negligence.” Brown,
287 F.3d at 975.
This accords with the common law tradition that involuntary manslaughter
developed is the least serious degree of manslaughter and, as an “offense of
negligence,” one of the “few exceptions” to the common law “requirement of
intention.” Morissette, 342 U.S. at 251 & n.8; Mullaney, 421 U.S. at 694 n.14.
The common law also recognized involuntary manslaughter as a homicide
“committed by accident in the course of perpetrating another unlawful, although
not felonious, act.” Mullaney, 421 U.S. at 694 n.14.
Thus, insofar as voluntary manslaughter is concerned, malice is lacking
because (although intent to kill or recklessness is required), there is a legally
recognized justification or mitigation, i.e., heat of passion. Insofar as involuntary
manslaughter is concerned, malice is lacking because there is no intent to kill.
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human life), but the killing occurred in the heat of passion caused by adequate
provocation, then the defendant is guilty of voluntary manslaughter. The finding
of heat of passion and adequate provocation negates the malice that would
otherwise attach.”) (emphasis added) (citations omitted); United States v.
Velazquez, 246 F.3d 204, 212 (2nd Cir. 2001) (approving language that
“voluntary manslaughter requires a mental state that would be malice except for
heat of passion or provocation”) (emphasis added).
In addition, two other circuit decisions contain language suggesting that
they also agree that a voluntary manslaughter conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 1112
requires proof of the defendant’s intent to cause the death of the victim. See
Wakaksan v. United States, 367 F.2d 639, 645 (8th Cir. 1966) (“An essential
element of [voluntary manslaughter] was to establish that the appellant
intentionally caused the death of the victim.”); cf. United States v. Alexander, 471
F.2d 923, 942, 944 n.54 (D.C. Cir. 1973) (interpreting District of Columbia
manslaughter statute).
Therefore, taking this all together, we read the statutory language of 18
U.S.C. § 1112 in accordance with our sister circuits’ interpretations and with the
history of the common law. Voluntary manslaughter requires proof beyond a
reasonable doubt that the defendant acted, while in the heat of passion or upon a
sudden quarrel, with a mental state that would otherwise constitute second degree
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murder—either a general intent to kill, intent to do serious bodily injury, or with
depraved heart recklessness.
II. Jury instruction
Having determined the mental state required for voluntary manslaughter,
we now address Serawop’s argument that the jury instruction in this case
constituted prejudicial error. “We review de novo a timely challenge to a jury
instruction to determine whether, considering the instructions as a whole, the jury
was misled.” 8 United States v. Curtis, 344 F.3d 1057, 1068 (10th Cir. 2003), cert.
denied, 540 U.S. 1157 (2004) (quotation omitted). “We will reverse a conviction
due to an erroneous instruction only if the error was prejudicial when viewed in
light of the entire record.” United States v. Voss, 82 F.3d 1521, 1529 (10th Cir.
1996) (quotation omitted). We conclude that the instruction given in this case
erroneously permitted the jury to convict Serawop even if they found that he acted
with a less culpable mental state than intent or depraved heart recklessness, so
8
Serawop objected to the court’s voluntary manslaughter instruction just
before closing arguments, arguing that the instruction failed to require a mens rea
other than “in the heat of passion.” The court ruled that Serawop had waived the
objection by failing to raise the issue earlier. However, the Federal Rules of
Criminal Procedure require that “[a] party who objects to any portion of the
instructions or to a failure to give a requested instruction must inform the court of
the specific objection and the grounds for the objection before the jury retires to
deliberate.” Fed. R. Crim. P. 30(d) (emphasis added). Serawop did so in this
case. Therefore, the Government correctly concedes on appeal that Serawop’s
objection was timely, and we review this issue accordingly.
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long as he acted in the heat of passion; therefore, we reverse and remand for a
new trial.
A. Whether there was error
With respect to the elements of voluntary manslaughter, the district court
charged the jury:
If you find the defendant is not guilty of murder in the second
degree, then you should proceed to determine whether the defendant
is guilty of voluntary manslaughter.
Voluntary manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human
being without malice in the heat of passion.
In order to prove the charge against the defendant of voluntary
manslaughter, the government must establish beyond a reasonable
doubt each of the following elements:
First, the defendant killed Beyonce Serawop;
Second, the defendant acted unlawfully;
Third, the defendant did so in the heat of passion;
Fourth, the defendant is an Indian; and
Fifth, the crime alleged in the Indictment occurred within
Indian Country.
This instruction does not accurately describe the mens rea required for voluntary
manslaughter. Instead of requiring the jury to find that the defendant acted either
intentionally or with depraved heart recklessness, but without malice (e.g., with
mitigation) because the killing occurred in the heat of passion, the elements
instruction only requires the jury to find that Defendant killed “in the heat of
passion.”
It is undisputed that failure to instruct the jury on an element of the offense
is error. United States v. Riggans, 254 F.3d 1200, 1202 (10th Cir. 2001); see also
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2A Wright, supra, § 487, at 392 (“It is grave error to submit a case to a jury
without accurately defining the offense charged and its elements.”); id. § 497.1, at
472-73 (“If intent is an element of the crime, whether or not it is stated as an
element, it is plain error for the court to fail to charge on that element.”).
Nonetheless, the Government here contends that the instructions given
contain no error because:
general intent to kill is implicit in the statutory requirement that the
defendant act in the heat of passion. A finding that the defendant
killed the victim in the heat of passion necessarily includes a finding
that the defendant acted intentionally, albeit with sufficient
provocation. Thus, intent is not a separate element of the crime, but
is subsumed in the requirement that the defendant kill in the heat of
passion.
Thus, the crux of the Government’s argument is that the requirement of an
intentional or reckless mental state is implicit in this heat of passion element.
We are obliged to consider the instructions as a whole to determine whether
the jury, taking everything together, was misled. Curtis, 344 F.3d at 1068. The
district court did give a lengthy instruction on “heat of passion,” in which the
court said in pertinent part:
The third element the government must prove beyond a reasonable
doubt is that the defendant unlawfully killed Beyonce Serawop in the
heat of passion.
What is meant by the expression heat of passion? Heat of
passion is such a passion or emotion as naturally would be aroused in
the mind of an ordinary reasonable person of average disposition in
the same or similar circumstances as confronted the defendant at the
time the killing occurred. It is such a state of passion, or hot blood,
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or rage, anger, resentment, terror or fear as to indicate the absence of
deliberate design to kill or as to cause one to act on impulse without
reflection. . . .
The basic inquiry is whether or not at the time of the killing,
the reason and judgment of the defendant was obscured or disturbed
by passion—or dethroned, to use another expression—to such an
extent as would cause an ordinarily reasonable person of average
disposition to act rashly and without deliberation and from passion
rather than judgment.
Before you may find that the defendant acted in the heat of
passion, you must also find that there was adequate provocation.
Here, too, the provocation or acts arousing such passion must be such
as to create the same degree of passion in a reasonable person and
cause such person to lose self-control. . . .
The Government’s position is that, although this certainly does not use precise
“intentional” or “depraved heart reckless” language, its emphasis on proving that
Serawop was in a state of mind that would “indicate the absence of deliberate
design to kill or as to cause one to act on impulse without reflection” or that
would cause a reasonable person “to act rashly and without deliberation and from
passion rather than judgment” suggests the same. We disagree.
Assuming that the instruction requires the jury to find that Serawop acted
“rashly” and “from passion,” or “on impulse without reflection,” or without
“judgment,” that is insufficient to differentiate voluntary manslaughter from
involuntary manslaughter. Indeed, if the act was without “judgment,” and
perhaps if it was “without reflection,” it might only be involuntary manslaughter,
and not voluntary manslaughter at all, because voluntary manslaughter requires
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general intent to commit murder or at least the ability to perceive of serious risks.
See Soundingsides, 820 F.2d at 1237, 1242; Hatatley, 130 F.3d at 1405.
Both voluntary and involuntary manslaughter could be committed in the
heat of passion, on impulse, or rashly. The essential difference between these
crimes is that the more serious voluntary manslaughter offense requires that the
defendant had an intent to kill (or one of the surrogate core murder intents), while
involuntary manslaughter may be established even though the defendant lacked
such intent, and acted only negligently or even grossly negligently. Although heat
of passion is the defining difference between second degree murder and voluntary
manslaughter, it is not the defining difference between voluntary manslaughter
and involuntary manslaughter. Both voluntary manslaughter and involuntary
manslaughter could take place in the heat of passion.
The defining difference between voluntary and involuntary manslaughter is
whether the defendant acted with intent to kill (as defined for second degree
murder) or negligently or carelessly. By refusing to instruct the jury on this mens
rea component of voluntary manslaughter, the court gave an erroneous instruction
that might have resulted in Serawop being convicted of voluntary manslaughter
when his conduct merited an involuntary manslaughter conviction. Under the
instruction as given, the jury could have convicted Serawop of voluntary
manslaughter for negligent acts, albeit under heat of passion, when instead, under
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that version of events, he should have been convicted of involuntary
manslaughter. Therefore, we find there was certain error in the instructions
given. See Paul, 37 F.3d at 501 (finding plain error in nearly identical
instruction).
B. Whether error was harmless
Jury instructions that omit an element of the offense are subject to harmless
error analysis. Neder v. United States, 527 U.S. 1, 4 (1999). The harmless error
test is “whether it appears ‘beyond a reasonable doubt that the error complained
of did not contribute to the verdict obtained.’” Id. at 15 (quoting Chapman v.
California, 386 U.S. 18, 24 (1967)); see also Fed. R. Crim. P. 52(a). The burden
of proving the error was harmless is on the Government. United States v. Lott,
310 F.3d 1231, 1250 (10th Cir. 2002).
Here, the Government argues that if there was error it was harmless “given
the overwhelming evidence supporting the jury’s conviction for voluntary
manslaughter.” 9 Although it is true that the medical testimony, combined with the
inconsistencies in Serwop’s stories, present a convincing case for voluntary
9
The Government also points out that the court did allow Serawop’s counsel
to argue to the jury the substance of his jury instruction objections at closing.
However, this is not a cure-all for prejudice. The instructions stated, “It is your
duty as jurors to follow the law as stated in the instructions of the Court.”
Moreover, our case law recognizes that “[a]rguments and evidence cannot
substitute for instructions by the court.” Lofton, 776 F.2d at 921.
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manslaughter, we cannot conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the jury did not
erroneously base its verdict on the given instruction, nor can we conclude beyond
a reasonable doubt that the jury could not have returned a verdict of involuntary
manslaughter on the evidence before us. See Neder, 527 U.S. at 15.
In Neder, the Supreme Court said that an erroneous instruction is properly
found to be harmless “where a reviewing court concludes beyond a reasonable
doubt that the omitted element was uncontested and supported by overwhelming
evidence, such that the jury verdict would have been the same absent the error.”
Id. at 17.
To the contrary, in this case, the only issue actually in dispute is the very
subject of the instruction’s error—whether Serawop’s mental state warranted
conviction for involuntary or voluntary manslaughter. Because the jury here was
not properly charged on this basic issue, the conviction cannot stand. See id. The
risks of misunderstanding are simply too significant to overlook in this case. See
also Paul, 37 F.3d at 501 (reversing under plain error analysis instruction that
failed to distinguish the different mental state requirements of voluntary and
involuntary manslaughter).
Thus, in light of the theory of the defense’s case, we are convinced that
Serawop was prejudiced here. Under the instructions given, the jury was free to
convict Serawop of voluntary manslaughter regardless of the culpability of his
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mental state, as long as they found he was “in the heat of passion.” Because of
the prejudice of this improper instruction, Serawop’s conviction under 18 U.S.C.
§ 1112 cannot stand.
CONCLUSION
We REVERSE the judgment of the district court and REMAND the case for
a new trial on voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. The jury’s guilty verdict
on the lesser-included offense of voluntary manslaughter constituted an “implicit
acquittal on the charge of second degree murder” and so he may only be retried on
these lesser offenses. See Green v. United States, 355 U.S. 184, 190-91 (1957).
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