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Washington v. Bergeson2/20/1992
Aleric Bergeson appeals his conviction for second degree murder. We affirm.
The sole issue on appeal is whether Bergeson was entitled to have the jury instructed on the lesser included offense of first degree manslaughter. On that issue, he is entitled to have the evidence taken in the light most favorable to him. Cf. State v. Speece, 115 Wash. 2d 360, 362, 798 P.2d 294 (1990) (instruction required if there is evidence sufficient to warrant an inference favoring its proponent). Thus, we recite the facts from his point of view.
Bergeson was the caretaker of rural property located west of Port Angeles. He was vaguely acquainted with William Whitten and Patrick Riley.
During the afternoon of October 4, 1988, Whitten and Riley began drinking beer at various taverns in Port Angeles. Late on October 4 or early on October 5, they drove to Bergeson's home. The house was rudimentary, but it had a kind of "family room" with a built-in bar. Bergeson mixed drinks for all three of them, and they chatted and listened to music in the family room.
After a time, Riley became sick from drinking too much. He went outside, vomited, and eventually fell asleep in his car.
In the house, Whitten became increasingly agitated, apparently because of music that Bergeson was playing on the stereo. Bergeson went out to the car and asked Riley to take Whitten away. Riley refused, and Bergeson went back into the house.
When Bergeson reentered the house, he found Whitten standing at one end of the bar, holding a pistol normally kept behind the bar. Bergeson demanded the gun, then physically took possession of it. As Bergeson put it, "I pulled it out of his hands, he let it go. He held onto it at first, then let it go." Bergeson then stepped behind the bar to put the gun back where it belonged. Before he completed that movement, however, Whitten uttered threats and pulled a knife. At this point both men were "pretty inebriated". Whitten was still in front of the bar, opposite its middle and a few
feet away. With Bergeson continuing to hold the gun, Whitten taunted him about whether he was willing to use it. Whitten then attacked with the knife, and Bergeson fired three shots. Two hit Whitten in the forehead; the third went into the wall behind. During the attack, Whitten did not get close enough to grab Bergeson or the gun.
Immediately after being shot, Whitten pitched forward, hit the bar, then fell to the floor. Bergeson felt for a pulse but could find none. Bergeson put a garbage bag over Whitten's head and put the body in a wheelbarrow. He carted the body several hundred feet from the house and buried it. After changing clothes in the house, he went back out to the car, awakened Riley, and told him that Whitten had left on foot. Riley then drove both of them into town.
Later that day, after returning to the house with its owner, Bergeson told the owner what had happened and showed him the "mess". After the owner left, Bergeson cleaned up, including cutting out and removing bloodstained portions of carpet.
Within the next 24 hours, Bergeson told two other friends and his father what had happened. He also told his father that he wanted to turn himself in. Thus, on October 6 he and his father went to the police station, where Bergeson made a statement to the police. Until this time, the police were unaware that there had been a homicide.
After additional investigation, the State filed a charge of second degree murder and the matter proceeded to trial. A pathologist testified that Whitten had suffered two gunshot wounds to the head; that Whit
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