Opinion ID: 2014063
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Accomplice Witness Instruction

Text: Defendant also claims error at trial based on the circuit court's refusal to give the jury the accomplice witness instruction contained in Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions, Criminal, No. 3.17, which provides: When a witness says he was involved in the commission of a crime with the defendant, the testimony of that witness is subject to suspicion and should be considered by you with caution. It should be carefully examined in light of the other evidence in the case. Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions, Criminal, No. 3.17 (3d ed. 1992) (hereinafter IPI Criminal 3d). Defendant proposed this instruction at the instruction conference, but the State objected, and the circuit court refused the instruction. The test for determining whether a witness is an accomplice for purposes of the accomplice witness instruction is whether there is probable cause to believe that the witness was guilty of the offense at issue as a principal or as an accessory under a theory of accountability. People v. Harris, 182 Ill.2d 114, 144, 230 Ill.Dec. 957, 695 N.E.2d 447 (1998). Thus, an accomplice-witness instruction should be given to a jury if the totality of the evidence and the reasonable inferences that can be drawn from the evidence establish probable cause to believe not merely that the person was present and failed to disapprove of the crime, but that he participated in the planning or commission of the crime; if probable cause is established the instruction should be given despite the witness' protestations that he did not so participate. People v. Henderson, 142 Ill.2d 258, 315, 154 Ill.Dec. 785, 568 N.E.2d 1234 (1990). A reviewing court will not overturn a circuit court's refusal to give an accomplice witness instruction absent an abuse of discretion. Harris, 182 Ill.2d at 144, 230 Ill.Dec. 957, 695 N.E.2d 447. Defendant argues that the accomplice witness instruction should have been given because Warner could have been indicted for the Brewer murders as a principal or under an accountability theory. Defendant relies on evidence that the murder weapon belonged to Warner, defendant had asked Warner for a weapon and had said he would do whatever it took to get money, Warner helped defendant burn his bloody clothing, Warner threw the knife into the Kaskaskia River, and Warner did not speak to police for five days after the murders. Defendant claims that Warner's actions in covering up the crime suggest a consciousness of guilt and that Warner's version of events could have been an effort to frame defendant. In addition, defendant contends that the evidence of his DNA on the cigarette butt at the murder scene was not inconsistent with a conclusion that Warner was an accomplice. According to defendant, Warner could have planted the cigarette butt at the scene, defendant could have been at the scene after the murders occurred, Warner could have transferred defendant's DNA onto the cigarette butt because he and defendant had shared a crack pipe before the murders, or the cigarette butt could have fallen out of a car driven by Warner at the murder scene. Defendant also argues that Warner could have left Bonnie Brewer's blood in defendant's car. After carefully reviewing the record in defendant's case, we find that the circuit court properly denied defendant's request for an accomplice witness instruction. Although Warner admitted helping defendant to conceal evidence related to the Brewer murders after they occurred, defendant's entitlement to an accomplice witness instruction was dependent on a showing of probable cause that Warner aided or abetted defendant in planning or committing the Brewer murders. There was no such evidence. According to Warner's uncontradicted testimony, he did not give defendant permission to use his knife and was not present at the murder scene. Based on defendant's statements on August 7 and August 8, Warner may have thought that defendant planned to commit a crime when he left Warner's house in the early morning hours of August 8, but mere knowledge that a crime is to be committed is not enough to show that a witness was an accomplice. See Henderson, 142 Ill.2d at 314, 154 Ill.Dec. 785, 568 N.E.2d 1234. Similarly, admitted participation in a related but distinct offense, such as Warner's admission to performing acts that constituted obstruction of justice, does not make a witness an accomplice. See Henderson, 142 Ill.2d at 314, 154 Ill.Dec. 785, 568 N.E.2d 1234. Furthermore, defendant's suggestions that Warner could have left Bonnie's blood in defendant's car and could have been responsible for the cigarette butt found in the Brewers' yard are based on speculation and do not support a finding that Warner was an accomplice. For example, although the State's expert testified that the DNA of one person could be transferred to the lips of another who shared a crack pipe, Warner was excluded as a source of the DNA found on the cigarette butt. Accordingly, the evidence was insufficient to support giving the accomplice witness instruction, and the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant's request for such an instruction. See, e.g., Harris, 182 Ill.2d at 144-45, 230 Ill.Dec. 957, 695 N.E.2d 447. We affirm defendant's convictions.