Opinion ID: 2182404
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Issues VIII-X

Text: Appellant next asserts several errors in the trial court's instructions to the jury. The controlling law was set out in Commonwealth v. Woodward, 483 Pa. 1, 394 A.2d 508 (1978). There the Supreme Court stated the following: This Court has consistently held that, in reviewing jury instructions for prejudicial and reversible error, the charge must be read and considered as a whole. Commonwealth v. Lesher, 473 Pa. 141, 373 A.2d 1088 (1977). Error cannot be predicated on isolated excerpts of the charge. It is the general effect of the charge that controls. See Commonwealth v. Archambault, 448 Pa. 90, 290 A.2d 72 (1972). Id., 483 Pa. at 4, 394 A.2d at 510. Appellant first argues that the lower court erred in instructing the jury that trivial blows were insufficient to constitute provocation which would reduce murder to manslaughter because such a charge was contrary to the evidence. We disagree. We note first that the court charged only that a trivial battery may constitute insufficient provocation. The Commonwealth clearly raised a question as to the extent of the deceased's assault, if any, upon appellant, particularly as to whether the deceased possessed a knife. Voluntary manslaughter requires serious provocation, Commonwealth v. Miller, 473 Pa. 398, 374 A.2d 1273 (1977), and it was certainly within the province of the jury to determine the extent of any assault and whether it was sufficient to constitute serious provocation. Thus, we find no error in this portion of the charge. Appellant next claims the court erred in its instruction that malice may be implied from the use of a deadly weapon on a vital part of the human body because the evidence did not indicate that the gun was so used, but that the bullet struck the victim's arm. We find this contention to be utterly meritless. The Commonwealth's pathologist testified that the bullet grazed the deceased's arm which was held across his chest before it entered the chest cavity. As stated by our Supreme Court in Commonwealth v. Padgett, 465 Pa. 1, 5, 348 A.2d 87, 88 (1975): We are not persuaded that it must be shown that the bullet fired from a revolver, a deadly weapon, initially entered a vital organ before the inference of specific intent to kill can arise. The firing of a bullet in the general area in which vital organs are located can in and of itself be sufficient to prove specific intent to kill beyond a reasonable doubt. The next issue raised by appellant is that the lower court erred in giving additional instructions for a second time only in regard to murder of the third degree and voluntary manslaughter. During the jury's deliberations, it twice requested a clarification of the court's instructions on third degree murder and manslaughter. Defense counsel objected to a third charge on these offenses and, after the objection was overruled and the instructions given, requested that they also be instructed on the element of intent as it relates to third degree murder. Appellant cites no authority for his proposition that the simple fact itself of a third instruction pursuant to the jury's request on these charges constituted error and we see no reason why such would be the case. It is the duty of the court to clarify issues for the jury, Commonwealth v. Litman, 276 Pa.Super. 114, 419 A.2d 121 (1980), and we certainly perceive no prejudice to appellant in its having done so. As to appellant's second ground for objecting, we note that as discussed earlier in this opinion, specific intent is not an element of third degree murder. See Carter, supra . Thus we find this issue to be without merit. [9]