Rucker v. State, 118 Ohio St. 175

Summary

The Ohio Supreme Court affirmed Rucker's homicide conviction. It held that the record supported voluntary intoxication rather than settled insanity, that the trial court properly exercised discretion regarding the timing of the state's peremptory challenges, and that no self-defense instruction was required.

Holdings

1. Voluntary intoxication is not a defense to crime, although it may bear on intent, premeditation, deliberation, or the degree of homicide. Insanity caused by chronic alcoholism may affect criminal responsibility, but the record did not show settled or preexisting insanity; it showed acute voluntary intoxication instead. The trial court therefore committed no reversible error in refusing the requested insanity instruction.
2. Where the statute does not fix the time or order for exercising peremptory challenges, the order of challenges is subject to the sound judicial discretion of the trial court. Passing a peremptory challenge without expressly waiving it does not preclude the State from later exercising its statutory challenge.
3. A defendant generally must call the trial court's attention to an omitted applicable instruction and make a specific request to preserve reversible error based on the omission. In any event, the evidence did not justify a self-defense instruction because Rucker fired at officers after recognizing them and realizing they were about to arrest him.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the evidence raised a legally cognizable defense of insanity distinct from voluntary intoxication and required an insanity instruction or permitted lay witnesses to express opinions concerning Rucker's mental condition.
2. Whether the trial court erred by allowing the State to exercise a peremptory challenge after passing its challenge on an earlier occasion without expressly waiving the right.
3. Whether the trial court committed prejudicial error by failing to instruct the jury on self-defense when the defendant did not request such an instruction.

Disposition

affirmed