State of Oklahoma v. Eric Jose Barnett

Okmulgee, Oklahoma, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with second degree felony murder.

¶1 Eric Jose Barnett, Appellant, was tried by jury and found guilty of second degree felony murder, in violation of 21 O.S.2001, § 701.8(2), in the District Court of Okmulgee County, Case No. CF-2009-2.1 The jury sentenced Appellant to twenty-three (23) years imprisonment. The Honorable H. Michael Claver, District Judge, pronounced judgment and sentence accordingly.2 Mr. Barnett appeals the following propositions of error:

1. The trial court's refusal to instruct the jury on Appellant's theory of defense deprived him of his rights to a fair trial and to the due process of law, in violation of the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Federal Constitution and in violation of Article 2, §§ 7, 19, and 20 of the Oklahoma Constitution;

2. The trial court's exclusion of extrinsic evidence concerning Vernon Sutton's violent character deprived the defendant of his right to present a defense, to a fair trial, and to due process guaranteed by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Federal Constitution and by Article 2, §§ 7, 19, and 20 of the Oklahoma Constitution;

3. Prosecutorial misconduct deprived Appellant of his constitutional right to a fair trial and due process of law, in violation of the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the Federal Constitution and in violation of Article 2, §§ 7, 19, 20, and 21 of the Oklahoma Constitution;

4. Mr. Barnett was denied effective assistance of counsel in violation of his rights under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Federal Constitution and Article 2, §§ 7 and 20 of the Oklahoma Constitution;

5. Appellant's conviction for second degree felony murder must be vacated because the merger doctrine prohibits using the act that caused the decedent's death as a predicate felony in a felony murder prosecution;

6. Under the unique circumstances of this case, imposition of a twenty-three year sentence for a seventeen-year-old offender is excessive and should be modified;

7. The accumulation of errors deprived Appellant of a fair trial and reliable verdict.

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¶6 In Proposition One, Appellant challenges the trial court's refusal to give requested instructions on self-defense and defense of another. We review the trial court's rulings on requested instructions for abuse of discretion. Dill v. State, 2005 OK CR 20, ¶ 11, 122 P.3d 866, 869. An instruction on a theory of defense is required "when evidence has been introduced at trial that is adequate to raise that defense, i.e., to establish a prima facie case" of that defense. Malone v. State, 2007 OK CR 34, ¶ 22, 168 P.3d 185, 196. Appellant's claim must fail. Evidence that Appellant feared Sutton does not raise an issue of self defense or defense of another, where the evidence showed that Appellant had no reasonable belief that he or his family were in imminent danger of being attacked or killed by Sutton at the time Appellant used deadly force. Instruction Nos. 8-2, 8-6, OUJI-CR(2d); Perryman v. State, 1999 OK CR 39, ¶ 9, 990 P.2d 900, 903-04. Proposition One is denied.