Opinion ID: 1323067
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Sufficiency of Proof of Robbery

Text: Pope argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction of robbery, and consequently was insufficient to establish the predicate for capital murder under Code § 18.2-31(d), which classifies as capital those killings which are perpetrated in the commission of robbery. The Commonwealth's evidence of robbery was circumstantial, based on the theory that Pope took Cynthia's purse. He contends that the evidence fails to exclude two reasonable hypotheses of innocence: (1) that someone other than Pope entered the car and removed Cynthia's purse from the area between the bucket seats while Marcie was running for help at the hospital; and (2) that Pope himself removed the purse surreptitiously before the shooting and concealed it on his person. In that event, he says, his underlying offense would be mere larceny, rather than robbery. Pope's first hypothesis framed a factual issue for determination by the jury. In that connection, the jury was entitled to consider the distance Marcie ran and the length of time the car, containing Cynthia's body, was out of her view. Officer Vick testified that he ran the same route, which Marcie had covered at the time of the crime, in 27.8 seconds. The jury was entitled to conclude from the evidence, as it did, that Pope's hypothesis that a stranger stole the purse during that interval was neither reasonable nor persuasive. Pope's second hypothesis is fallacious as a matter of law. We decided in Linwood Earl Briley v. Commonwealth, 221 Va. 532, 273 S.E.2d 48 (1980), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 1031-1032, 101 S.Ct. 3022, 69 L.Ed.2d 400 (1981), that where a killing and a taking of property are so closely related in time, place, and causal connection as to make them parts of the same criminal enterprise, the predicates for capital murder under Code § 18.2-31(d) are established. Further, these relationships need not necessarily be jury questions. They may, in a proper case, be determined as a matter of law. 221 Va. at 543-44, 273 S.E.2d at 55-56. See also LeVasseur v. Commonwealth, 225 Va. 564, 590-92, 304 S.E.2d 644, 658-59 (1983), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 1063, 104 S.Ct. 744, 79 L.Ed.2d 202 (1984); Haskell v. Commonwealth, 218 Va. 1033, 1043-44, 243 S.E.2d 477, 483 (1978). The trial court's rulings here implicitly adopted the view that the taking of the purse, the killing of Cynthia, its owner, and the wounding of Marcie, the only other person in a position to resist the taking, were so closely related in time, place, and causal connection as to constitute a common criminal enterprise as a matter of law. We uphold that ruling.