Opinion ID: 3017046
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel for

Text: Failure to Object to Jury Instructions Jacobs’ related claim is that trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to object specifically to the corpus delicti instruction. To the extent that this claim is based on counsel’s failure to object as a matter of federal law, this claim is without merit. For the reasons set forth previously, Jacobs cannot show a reasonable probability that the outcome of the proceeding would have been different if counsel had 17 We note also that Ahlborn was a direct appeal of a criminal conviction. The burden of demonstrating that an erroneous instruction was so prejudicial as to support a federal collateral attack on a state court judgment is greater than that required to establish error on direct appeal. See Martin, 653 F.2d at 809. 40 objected based on the federal Due Process Clause. Whether counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to object to the corpus delicti charge under state law is a separate question. As described previously, Ahlborn suggests that the trial court must specifically charge that the Commonwealth must prove the corpus delicti beyond a reasonable doubt before the jury can consider an out-of-court admission. Significantly, the corpus delicti instruction at issue in Ahlborn is similar to the one given at Jacobs’ trial; the trial court in each case instructed the jury that it had to find “that a crime in fact” was committed. Ahlborn holds that such an instruction essentially dilutes the Commonwealth’s burden of proof. We cannot end our inquiry here, however, because both the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the District Court ruled that the Commonwealth was not required to prove the corpus delicti of Holly’s murder under the closely related exception to the corpus delicti rule. As the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has explained: This exception comes into play where an accused is charged with more than one crime, and the accused makes a statement related to all the crimes charged, but the prosecution is only able to establish the corpus delicti of one of the crimes charged. Under those circumstances where the relationship between the crimes is sufficiently close so that the introduction of the statement will not violate the purpose underlying the corpus delicti rule, the statement of the accused will be admissible as to all the 41 crimes charged. Commonwealth v. Bardo, 709 A.2d 871, 874 (Pa. 1998). We agree that the closely related exception applies here. There is no question that the Commonwealth established the corpus delicti of Tammy Mock’s murder. Jacobs himself testified in court that he killed Tammy Mock when he lost control upon discovering that she had drowned Holly. The police found the bodies of both Tammy and Holly in the bathtub several days later. Because the closely related exception applies, the trial court was not required to instruct the jury that it must find the corpus delicti of Holly’s murder beyond a reasonable doubt. See id. Jacobs counters that the closely related exception applies only to the admissibility tier of the corpus delicti rule. (Appellant’s Opening Br. at 44 n.24). According to Jacobs, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has never applied the closely related exception to the second tier of the rule. (Id.). This is incorrect. In Bardo, for example, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court expressly considered whether “the trial court erred in its instruction to the jury on the corpus delicti rule.” 709 A.2d at 875. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court relied squarely on the closely related exception to conclude that the claim was “meritless.” Id. It follows that Jacobs’ claim of ineffective assistance based on counsel’s failure to raise a state law objection to the corpus delicti instruction must fail. If counsel had raised such an objection, there is no reasonable likelihood that the outcome 42 of the proceedings would have been any different. Likewise, if appellate counsel had raised this argument on direct appeal, it is unlikely that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would have vacated Jacobs’ conviction for Holly’s murder.