Opinion ID: 2304700
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 19

Heading: Chance Jury Instructions

Text: The problem identified by Chance in this appeal relates to Chance's liability as an accomplice. Chance contends that the Superior Court should have instructed the jury to assess Chance's guilt for the degree of homicide offense in accordance with his own culpable mental state, pursuant to Section 274. According to Chance, the omission of such an instruction constituted plain error. In Chance's case, the use of the word offense in Section 271 and Section 274 is reconciled by construing it to mean homicide. Accordingly, as a matter of Delaware law, the jury was required to distinguish between Chance's liability for the offense of homicide and Chance's culpability for the degree of homicide, i.e., the crime of Murder in the Second Degree, Manslaughter or Criminally Negligent Homicide. [7] The latter determination was dependent upon the jury's assessment of Chance's own culpable mental state without regard to another participant's guilt for a different degree of homicide. The questions from the jury demonstrate that it properly understood its task. The first question asked if Chance could be charged, as a principal, with Murder in the Second Degree if his actions alone did not cause the death. The second question asked if Chance could be guilty of Murder in the Second Degree, as an accomplice, if his actions alone did not cause the death. The comments by Chance's trial attorney in response to the jury's questions reflect that he also understood the jury to be asking about Chance's liability as either a principal or accomplice for causing the death, i.e., the offense of homicide. My thought was or what the defense would request would be is that since this is a case in which the State's theory is two-fold; that is, one, that he is the person that caused the death or he is the principal and, two, that he is an accomplice to someone else who caused the death, my request was going to be you instruct the jury that they must find either that Mr. Chance himself caused the death or that he aided and abetted others who caused the death and the causation language obviously I would leave up to Your Honor, but it seems to me that's what the primary thrust of the note is and I don't want to stray too far from the language from the defense point of view of the statutes given the instructions that have already been given on causation. The questions from the jury reflect that it understood it was required initially to determine Chance's liability for the homicide, i.e., death, and thereafter Chance's liability for the degree of homicide. After the jury determined Chance's liability for the death, it would assess Chance's degree of culpability in accordance with the hierarchy of instructions given for the crime of Murder in the Second Degree and the series of lesser-included crimes. Pursuant to those instructions, the jury could have found that, even though Chance was a participant in the beating, his own culpable mental state was different from those of the other participants. The jury instructions for each of the lesser-included crimes permitted the jury to return a verdict for the degree of homicide that was commensurate with its determination of Chance's own culpable mental state. Therefore, although the Superior Court's instructions to the Chance jury should have included the provisions in Section 274, [8] the omission of that specific instruction to the Chance jury did not constitute plain error. Cf. Probst v. State, Del.Supr., 547 A.2d 114 (1988).