Opinion ID: 1536017
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Prosecutor's Instructions to the Grand Jury

Text: Defendant also contends that the prosecutor misled the grand jury into thinking that a person may be liable for capital murder despite not being the shooter. The issue is posed in the context of the following colloquy between a grand juror and the prosecutor: JUROR: With the first two charges, they're both being charged with murder. MR. LYNCH: Yes, sir. JUROR: I want to make sure that I got it right. That there's felony murder; okay. The way that it's worded is they worked together and they caused somebody's death. But, murder, is it requiredthe fact that they were there and didn't pull the trigger, does that constitute murder under the law? MR. LYNCH: There is accomplice liability under the law which I will review with you. By the wording of these two charges, accomplice liability is not being alleged, direct participation is being alleged against the two individuals. Accomplice liability could be considered by the panel. It could be made a separate charge against both or either defendant that he acted as an accomplice, but the allegation that's set forth in the charges that you're being asked to consider that I've reviewed with you is direct participation and causation rather than accomplice liability. Is that responsive to your question, sir? Does that help you? JUROR: I think so; yeah. Defendant contends that the prosecutor's answer was misleading because it did not inform the grand jury that accomplice liability does not apply to capital murder. Defendant argues that if the grand jury had understood that only the shooter could be convicted of capital murder, they might not have been willing to indict both him and Staples, but rather would have required more evidence regarding who was the shooter. The foregoing colloquy does not reveal that the prosecutor's responses improperly infringed upon the grand jury's decisionmaking function. The prosecutor's response made it clear that an indictment was sought charging both Simon and Staples with direct participation in Sergeant Gonzalez's murder. The prosecutor explained that accomplice liability was not alleged in the two murder counts, but that accomplice liability could be considered by the panel in other connections. The grand juror who asked the question said the answer was clear. Therefore, we reject defendant's speculation that the grand jury was misled.