State v. Charles
Annotate this CaseState of South Dakota
Plaintiff and Appellee
v.
Daniel Neil Charles a/k/a
Daniel Heinzelman a/k/a
Daniel Ingalls
Defendant and Appellant
[2001 SD 67]
South Dakota Supreme Court
Appeal from the Circuit Court of
The Fourth Judicial Circuit
Meade County, South Dakota
Hon. Jerome A. Eckrich III, Judge
Mark Barnett
Attorney General
Ann C. Meyer
Assistant Attorney General
Pierre, South Dakota
Attorneys for plaintiff and appellee
Timothy J. Rensch
Patrick K. Duffy
Rapid City, South Dakota
Attorneys for defendant and appellant
Considered on Briefs April 24, 2001
Opinion Filed 5/30/2001
#21526
MILLER, Chief Justice.
FACTS
[¶2.] Daniel Charles, who was fourteen years of age during the summer of 1999, lived on a ranch near Opal, South Dakota with his stepfather, Duane Ingalls. Charles’ mother and Ingalls had divorced the previous summer, but Charles returned to live with Ingalls because his mother’s job as a truck driver rendered her unable to care for him. Charles alleged at trial that he loved Ingalls despite the fact that Ingalls often subjected him to physical and verbal abuse. Charles testified that after abusive incidents he would frequently retreat to his second floor bedroom, and, when he would see Ingalls in the yard, he would aim an unloaded .25-06 caliber rifle at Ingalls’ head and dry fire the rifle to relieve his emotions.
[¶3.] On July 23, 1999, Charles awoke at 4:30 a.m. and prepared breakfast. By 7 a.m. he was in the hayfield about one-half mile from the ranch home. Shortly after he began windrowing, Ingalls arrived and stopped him. Ingalls yelled at him for improper windrowing and “cuffed” him on the side of the head knocking his head into the glass in the door of the tractor. Charles resumed working, finished the windrowing and returned home to prepare lunch.
[¶4.] Charles waited in his room for Ingalls to return from the hayfield. When he arrived and was walking up to the home, Charles pointed the .25-06 caliber rifle at Ingalls’ head and pulled the trigger. Tragically, the rifle fired instantly killing Ingalls. Charles contends he did not know the rifle was loaded.
[¶5.] After shooting and killing Ingalls, Charles dragged the body into the garage, cleaned the blood off the front yard sidewalk with a water hose and telephoned his mother. He convinced her to come to the ranch by telling her that Ingalls had not returned home the previous night. She arrived about 8 p.m., and he then told her there had been an accident and that Ingalls was dead. She immediately called 911.
[¶6.] Law enforcement and other authorities arrived and began processing the crime scene. Pertinent to this appeal, the agents collected four bullets from the rifle and carefully placed them in a baggie. These bullets were used in ballistics, residue and other analyses, but they were never checked for fingerprints.
[¶7.] Charles told the investigators a fabricated story about fox hunting in the front yard, which led to the accidental discharge of the rifle and the death of Ingalls. Out of concern for his emotional state (and considering his prior suicide attempt and hospitalization in a hospital psychiatric ward), Charles was taken to the mental unit of Rapid City Regional Hospital for observation. There he roomed with another youth, W.L. W.L. testified at trial that Charles told him: (1) he wanted to kill his stepfather because Ingalls was a “mean guy”; (2) he shot Ingalls from the upstairs window; (3) the police did not suspect him because they thought it was an accident; (4) he had considered other ways of killing his stepfather; (5) he faked being in shock to make himself more believable; (6) he would kill W.L. and his father if W.L. revealed what Charles had told him.
[¶8.] Despite Charles’ threat, W.L. told law enforcement about his conversation with Charles. Due to the differing stories between Charles and W.L., agents interviewed Charles again. Charles maintained he did not murder Ingalls and that he had lied to W.L. to act tough. Charles’ mother attended this interview and ended it when he became emotionally upset. She then spoke with Charles alone. He admitted to his mother that he fabricated the fox hunting story and that actually he thought the rifle was unloaded. His mother relayed this to the agents.
[¶9.] Charles was originally charged in juvenile court, but, after a hearing, he was transferred to adult court. We denied his attempted intermediate appeal of that transfer order.* Charles was tried on the charges of first degree murder, second degree murder and first degree manslaughter. The jury convicted him of first degree murder and he was sentenced to life in prison. The trial court denied Charles’ post trial motion for judgment of acquittal. Charles appeals.
STANDARD OF REVIEW[¶20.] Charles complains the trial court erred when it refused his proposed mistake of fact instruction which stated, “[a]n act is not a crime when committed or omitted under an ignorance or mistake of fact which disproves any criminal intent.” The trial court instructed the jury on the elements of the crimes charged and gave a specific intent instruction which stated, “[I]n the crimes of First Degree Murder, [. . .] Charles [. . .] must have the specific intent to effectuate the death of Duane Ingalls. If this specific intent did not exist, the crime of First Degree Murder was not committed.” We have previously decided whether it was error for a trial court to refuse a mistake of fact instruction stating “'whenever an intent instruction involving the defendant's mental state is given, the mistake of fact concept is automatically included and does not merit a separate instruction.’” State v. Johnston, 478 NW2d 281, 283 (SD 1991)(citing State v. Griscom, 683 P2d 59 (NMApp 1984)) (emphasis added). Viewing the instructions as a whole and our previous resolution of this issue, Charles failed to show any error by the trial court in refusing to give his proposed mistake of fact instruction.
[¶21.] Affirmed.
[¶22.] AMUNDSON, KONENKAMP, and GILBERTSON, Justices, concur.
[¶23.] SABERS, Justice, concurs specially.
SABERS, Justice (concurring specially).
[¶24.] I concur in the majority opinion except that I write separately to point out that in the future, the police and the prosecution should gather all relevant evidence before conducting tests that renders evidence useless. To do otherwise is irresponsible and actually harms the State in its search for justice. In this case, the State was able to meet its burden despite the presumption or inference created against it by its spoliation of evidence. In future cases, the State could dig itself into an inescapable hole before it gets to trial if it proceeds without caution.
* The issue of transfer to adult court has not been raised on this direct appeal.
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