State v. Williams
State v. Williams
Opinion of the Court
Defendant pleaded not guilty to a Multnomah County indictment charging him with assault with intent to kill. ORS 163.280. A jury found him guilty of assault with intent to commit manslaughter and he appeals alleging seven assignments of error, only one of which we find it necessary to discuss.
The charge arose when Officer Harmon of the Portland Police Department attempted to arrest the defendant at Black Panther headquarters on Union Avenue, Portland, in the course of which there was gunplay involving the defendant and the officer.
At the conclusion of the trial, the court instructed the jury on the crime of assault with intent to kill, and the lesser included offense of assault with intent to commit voluntary manslaughter. The court then also instructed on what it called the lesser included offense of assault with intent to commit involuntary manslaughter. Defendant’s fifth assignment of error challenges the latter instruction. The court said in part:
“Now, there is also the lesser included form of assault with intent to commit involuntary manslaughter. * * *
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“I instruct you that one who draws a firearm upon another unnecessarily may he found guilty of assault with intent to commit involuntary manslaughter, where it goes off accidentally and seriously injures the other, though he had no intention of discharging it.”
“Under the ‘assault with intent to kill’ statute, OES 163.280, a person may be charged with an attempt to commit first degree murder, second degree murder, or voluntary manslaughter.”
See also State v. Eddins, 5 Or App 277, 482 P2d 757, Sup Ct review denied (1971).
The jury returned a general verdict which found the defendant guilty of assault with intent to commit manslaughter.
Reversed and remanded for a new trial.
Only one verdict form covering manslaughter was submitted to the jury. It did not differentiate between voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.