Opinion ID: 2637623
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Failure to Instruct on Element of Willful, Deliberate and Premeditated Attempted Murder

Text: Defendant contends the trial court erred when it failed to instruct the jury that he was guilty of willful, deliberate, and premeditated attempted murder (§§ 664, 187) as an aider and abettor only if he personally acted with willfulness, deliberation, and premeditation. The People counter that an aider and abettor is guilty of willful, deliberate, and premeditated attempted murder even if he did not personally deliberate or premeditate. We, however, need not resolve this question. Even if we assume the trial court erred by failing to so instruct, reversal is not warranted because the error was harmless under both the federal and state standards. In this case, the evidence overwhelmingly established that defendant weighted] and considered] the question of killing before deciding to aid and abet the attempted murders. Defendant drove his cohorts and the women to an empty field, where each man raped one of the women. His cohorts carried knives with them, and the jury found that defendant personally used a firearm while sexually assaulting and murdering Woodruff. After defendant shot and killed Woodruff, his two cohorts stabbed Emily D. and Lisa H. During the stabbings, defendant asked Estrada, Did you stab her in the back of the neck? In light of this evidence, there is no reasonable doubt the jury would have found that defendant personally acted with willfulness, deliberation, and premeditation once it rejected his claims that he either left the car or was home during the attacks. Accordingly, any omission in the instructions, even if erroneous, was harmless under both Chapman v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705, and Watson, supra, 46 Cal.2d at page 836, 299 P.2d 243.