Opinion ID: 304994
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Sufficiency of Evidence-Felony Murder

Text: 20 Defendant alleges that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction of first degree murder, and challenges the applicability of the felonymurder doctrine on various grounds. The felony-murder rule is set out in 18 P.S. Sec. 4701, which provides: 21 All murder . . . which shall be committed in the perpetration of, or attempting to perpetrate, any arson, rape, robbery, burglary, or kidnapping, shall be murder in the first degree. 8 22 In Commonwealth v. Batley, 436 Pa. 377, 260 A.2d 793 (1970), the court said at page 800: 23 . . . 'in order to convict for felony-murder, the killing must have been done by the defendant or by an accomplice or confederate or by one acting in furtherance of the felonious undertaking [citing authorities]' and that 'the thing which is imputed to a felon for a killing incidental to his felony is malice and not the act of killing.' That the killing need not be by the defendant in a felony-murder case is well settled. If the killing is by one acting in concert or in furtherance of a common design with the defendant, the latter is equally guilty. 24 The Commonwealth proceeded under the theory that defendant was an accomplice or one acting in furtherance of the felonious undertaking during which various felonies enumerated in 18 P.S. Sec. 4701, as quoted above, were committed, as well as the assault on Mrs. Alexandroff which resulted in her death. Defendant argues on this appeal that his conviction under this theory was bottomed on conspiracy, a crime for which he was not tried, and that there was no evidence that he participated in a felony which can be related to the death of Mrs. Alexandroff. We find these contentions to be without merit. 25 When a killing by a felon occurs in the furtherance or as the result of any of the five felonies enumerated in 18 P.S. Sec. 4701, not only the actual killer but one who participated by acting in concert or in furtherance of a common design is guilty of murder in the first degree under the Pennsylvania cases. 9 Proof of a common design or concerted action will often be the equivalent of conspiracy, but it is not necessary to bring a defendant to trial on a conspiracy indictment in order to prove such a common design or concerted action. Cf. United States v. Van Orden (3d Cir. 1972). Such proof is necessary to establish causation and to impute malice to the defendant in order to convict for first degree murder, 10 and is therefore admissible under an indictment for first degree murder. 26 While the evidence in this case does not establish defendant's participation in the robbing, beating, or sexual assault of Mrs. Alexandroff, it was sufficient to prove that he acted in concert with the other two participants and that the entire occurrence was carried out in furtherance of a common design. 11 27 Direct evidence was introduced that defendant raped Natalie Tuchar 12 and indecently assaulted her daughter Paula. 13 In light of this activity, defendant's statements upon first encountering the Tuchars that he was a passerby who had heard screams and entered the house to help, can be discounted. 14 Mr. Williams, who first arrived on the scene of the crime, testified that he encountered defendant on the street outside of the Tuchar house while waiting for the police to arrive. Defendant indicated no knowledge of what had transpired and left when asked to phone the police. Considering this direct evidence with the circumstantial evidence of defendant's presence at a party with the other two participants in the crime earlier in the evening, the jury was entitled to find beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant acted in concert with the other two participants pursuant to a common design.