SALAZAR-BALDERAS v. the STATE.
SALAZAR-BALDERAS v. the STATE.
Opinion
*201 Salvador Salazar-Balderas appeals from the denial of his motion for a new trial following his convictions for serious injury by vehicle, reckless driving, failure to stop at or return to the scene of an accident, following too closely, and driving without a license. Salazar-Balderas argues that the trial court erred when it refused to charge the jury on the defense of habitation. He further argues that he received ineffective assistance when his trial counsel did not effectively manage the request for a jury charge on habitation, and when trial counsel failed to renew his motion for a mistrial following the *202 court's curative instructions on the State's improper closing argument. We agree that the trial court erred by refusing to charge the jury on the defense of habitation and reverse.
"On appeal from a criminal conviction, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, and the defendant no longer enjoys the presumption of innocence."
Fields v. State
,
At trial, Salazar-Balderas testified that when he returned to his car with the victim to retrieve his insurance information, the victim reached through his open driver's side window into his vehicle and started grabbing and pulling his left shoulder, saying she did not believe Salazar-Balderas had insurance. The two began arguing, and Salazar-Balderas' nine year-old son, who was a passenger in his vehicle, started crying. Salazar-Balderas became scared and then decided to drive away from the victim, who continued holding onto his vehicle as he began driving away. Salazar-Balderas testified that he was unaware he had hit the victim. Police apprehended Salazar-Balderas a few minutes after leaving the scene, and he was charged with serious injury by vehicle, reckless driving, failure to stop at or return to the scene of an accident, following too closely, and driving without a license.
Trial counsel for Salazar-Balderas did not include a pattern jury charge for defense of habitation in his original requests to charge. But Salazar-Balderas' trial counsel orally requested the additional pattern jury charge on habitation *646 1 during the charge conference. *203 After reviewing the pattern jury charge in question and considering the request, the trial court declined to give the charge, noting that a motor vehicle can be a deadly weapon, and that use of a deadly weapon to defend oneself was not justified under the facts of the case because Salazar-Balderas testified that the victim was merely grabbing him through the window. Instead, the trial court charged the jury on justification and knowledge. Trial counsel renewed his objection regarding the requested jury charge on defense of habitation following the trial court's jury instruction.
Salazar-Balderas was convicted on all counts. Following his conviction, Salazar-Balderas filed a motion for a new trial, which the trial court denied. Salazar-Balderas then filed a motion for an out-of-time appeal, which was granted. This appeal followed.
1. Salazar-Balderas first argues that the trial court erred when it failed to instruct the jury on defense of habitation. We agree.
"A requested charge must be legal, apt, and precisely adjusted to some principle involved in the case and be authorized by the evidence. If any portion of the request to charge fails in these requirements, denial of the request is proper."
Kendrick v. State
,
As an initial matter, we note that Salazar-Balderas failed to submit a written request to charge on habitation. Instead, he made an oral request that the trial court give the pattern jury charge on habitation. This request fails to comply with the requirements of Uniform Superior Court Rule 10.3.
3
See
*204
Kendrick
,
The defense of habitation is available to prevent or terminate an "unlawful entry into or attack upon a habitation" if the "entry is made or attempted in a violent and tumultuous manner[,]" there is a reasonable belief that entry is made "for the purpose of assaulting or offering personal violence to any person" therein, and "that such force is necessary to prevent the assault or offer of personal violence[.]" OCGA § 16-3-23 (1) ;
see also
Benham v. State
,
The trial court explained that it did not give the requested instruction because Salazar-Balderas' use of deadly force was not warranted by the victim's mere grabbing his person, and because Salazar-Balderas claimed that he was entirely unaware that he had run over the victim with his vehicle. The trial court is mistaken.
"Unlike the defense of justification, the habitation defense, in recognition of the sanctity of a person in his home or motor vehicle or place of business, allows the use of deadly force in certain situations even if the occupant does not fear death or great bodily injury."
Coleman v. State
,
Under OCGA § 16-5-20 (a), "[a] person commits the offense of simple assault when he or she either: (1) [a]ttempts to commit a violent injury to the person of another; or (2) [c]ommits an act which places another in reasonable apprehension of immediately receiving a violent injury." Moreover, "the focus of a reasonable apprehension of harm is on the apprehension of the victim, and it is for the factfinder to determine whether the victim's apprehension was reasonable."
Thompson v. State
,
Salazar-Balderas testified that when he returned to his vehicle to obtain his insurance and other paperwork, the victim reached through his window and began grabbing his shoulder while accusing him of not having insurance. Salazar-Balderas testified that he became nervous and frightened, and that his son, who was also in the vehicle, began to cry. Salazar-Balderas' testimony indicated that he intended to use the force that resulted in the victim's injury-that is, driving his vehicle away from her-so as to escape her reaching through his open vehicle window and grabbing him while she was verbally accosting him. The victim's actions provide the slight evidence needed for the jury to decide whether Salazar-Balderas used the force resulting in injury to escape a violent or tumultuous entry into his vehicle that he reasonably believed was for the purpose of assaulting or offering personal violence against him. Therefore, a jury instruction on the defense of habitation was warranted.
See
*648
Coleman
,
"Where a defendant raises an affirmative defense and testifies to the same, the burden is on the State to disprove the defense beyond a reasonable doubt."
Jones v. State
,
2. In view of our holding in Division 1, we need not address Salazar-Balderas' remaining enumerations of error.
Judgment reversed .
McFadden, P. J., and Branch, J., concur.
Georgia Suggested Pattern Jury Instructions, Vol. II: Criminal Cases (4th ed. 2007), § 3.12.10 Justification; Use of Force in Defense of Habitation (Motor Vehicle), provides:
A person is justified in threatening or using force against another person when, and to the extent that, the person reasonably believes that such threat or force is necessary to prevent or terminate the other's unlawful entry into or attack upon a [motor vehicle]. A person is justified in the use of force that is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm only if (a) the entry is made or attempted in a violent and disorderly manner and the person reasonably believes that the entry is attempted or made for the purpose of assaulting or offering personal violence to any person living or present in the [motor vehicle] and that such force is necessary to prevent the assault or offer of personal violence[.]
Salazar-Balderas preserved his objection regarding the requested habitation charge when he renewed his objection following the trial court's jury instruction.
Nel v. State
,
Uniform Superior Court Rule 10.3 reads:
All requests to charge shall be numbered consecutively on separate sheets of paper and submitted to the court in duplicate by counsel for all parties at the commencement of trial, unless otherwise provided by pre-trial order; provided, however, that additional requests may be submitted to cover unanticipated points which arise thereafter.
This Court has previously held that a trial court's refusal to give a requested charge was not in error when such refusal was based on the defendant's failure to comply with Uniform Superior Court Rule 10.3.
See Temple v. State
,
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.