State v. Brown

Jimmy Brown (defendant) drank heavily throughout the day and into the night at Josephine Calanshe's home, where he was introduced to and had an amicable meeting with her boyfriend, Oscar Zapata. Later that night, Brown entered the bedroom where Calanshe and Zapata were and, without warning, shot and killed Zapata with a shotgun. The State of New Mexico (plaintiff) charged Brown with first-degree depraved-mind murder. Brown testified he was extremely intoxicated and could not recall his actions, and described past alcohol-induced blackouts; he asked the trial court to instruct the jury that it could consider his intoxication in deciding whether he had the mental state required for depraved-mind murder. The trial court refused, and the jury convicted him.