Opinion ID: 2305923
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Challenge to Accomplice Liability Instruction

Text: In his next claim, Appellant seeks a new guilt phase trial based on the trial court's allegedly erroneous instructions to the jury regarding accomplice liability and the specific intent to kill. Appellant claims that the instruction given impermissibly failed to inform the jury that in order to convict Appellant of first-degree murder as an accomplice they would still have to conclude that he possessed the requisite specific intent to kill. Appellant finds fault with the following portion of the instruction: It will be your duty in this case to determine whether Jade Wong died as a result of a gunshot wound inflicted upon her by the defendant or whether the defendant was an accomplice of a person who actually inflicted the gunshot wound ....     Thus, in order to find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree, you must find that the defendant caused the death of another person, or that an accomplice caused the death of another person. Thereafter, you must determine if the killing was intentional. Brief for Appellant at 45, (emphasis in original, quoting N.T.(Jury), 2/1/88, at 28, 31-32). Initially, Appellant must demonstrate that the issue was neither previously litigated nor waived. While the PCRA court concluded that the issue was previously litigated, we reject this conclusion. On direct review, this Court considered whether trial counsel failed to request an instruction clearly indicating that the Commonwealth had the burden to prove malice and intent to kill beyond a reasonable doubt because without such a charge, the burden shifted to appellant to disprove malice or intent to kill. Ly, 599 A.2d at 619. Clearly, the question presented on direct review did not involve the question currently before the Court concerning the trial court's potential error in instructing on the requisite state of mind for murder in the first degree in situations involving accomplice liability. We next consider whether the issue has been waived due to the failure to object to the instructions at trial and appellate counsel's failure to claim trial counsel ineffectiveness. Appellant offers two justifications for review. First, Appellant claims that the doctrine of relaxed waiver that existed for capital cases at the time of his trial and when he filed his first PCRA petition should be applied to his case and allow him to revive claims that otherwise would be deemed waived. See Commonwealth v. Freeman, 573 Pa. 532, 827 A.2d 385, 393-404 (2003) (eliminating relaxed waiver in capital appeals). Appellant fails to acknowledge that even when the relaxed waiver rule applied, it was a discretionary rule that did not mandate this Court's review of waived issues. See Commonwealth v. Williams, 594 Pa. 366, 936 A.2d 12, 25 (2007). Recognizing the weakness of his argument, Appellant also couches his claim in terms of ineffectiveness for failure to preserve what he contends is a meritorious issue. We will address the issue under the rubric of ineffectiveness of counsel. [27] As with any claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, Appellant must prove that the underlying claim has arguable merit, that counsel did not have a reasonable basis for his or her actions or inaction, and that the defendant was prejudiced by the action or inaction of counsel. Pierce, 515 Pa. 153, 527 A.2d 973. Appellant fails to meet his burden if he does not prove each element, including the arguable merit prong, which we find deficient in this case. Collins, 957 A.2d at 245. In addressing the arguable merit prong, Appellant asserts that the charge provided impermissibly diminished the prosecution's burden of proof and thus deprived him of due process of law by allowing the jury to convict him of murder in the first degree based on his accomplice's specific intent to kill, without a determination that Appellant himself possessed the specific intent to kill. He argues that the language used in this case is similar to that given by the same trial court judge in Commonwealth v. Huffman, 536 Pa. 196, 638 A.2d 961 (1994), where this Court reversed. [28] Moreover, Appellant argues that the charge in this case fails to satisfy the requirements of Commonwealth v. Simpson, where we held that specific intent to kill should be elevated above principles of conspiratorial liability, and that to be guilty of first degree murder, each co-conspirator must individually be found to possess the mental state necessary to establish first degree murderthe specific intent to kill. Simpson, 562 Pa. 255, 754 A.2d 1264, 1274 (2000). Appellant argues that the error was compounded by the instruction regarding conspiracy to commit robbery, which provided that Appellant could be convicted of all natural and probable consequences occurring in furtherance of the commission of the robbery, without separately specifying that for murder, the jury must find a specific intent to kill. In support of this argument, Appellant relies on federal precedent in Bronshtein v. Horn, 404 F.3d 700, 712 (3d Cir.2005), in which the Court of Appeals found fault even when the instruction provided a proper accomplice liability instruction. The court in Bronshtein concluded that the jury could have concluded that the conspiracy charge provided a separate avenue for conviction that did not require demonstration of the defendant's specific intent to kill. However, the court did not grant a new trial because the defendant was convicted of conspiracy to murder, which also required a finding of the defendant's specific intent to kill. Appellant distinguishes Bronshtein by noting that in this case Appellant was convicted of conspiracy to commit robbery, not murder, which did not involve the element of specific intent to kill. Conversely, the Commonwealth urges this Court to conclude that Appellant's claim regarding accomplice liability is frivolous because Appellant was the principal actor. It asserts that Appellant was identified at trial as the principal, not the accomplice, with respect to the murder, based on testimony of Janice Wong. N.T.(Jury), 1/26/88, 66-72. Accordingly, even if the instruction was defective, the Commonwealth claims it could not have affected the verdict. Additionally, the Commonwealth asserts that the accomplice liability instruction was not erroneous, but instead provided the jury with the statutory definition of first degree murder and emphasized that Appellant could not be convicted of first-degree murder unless he personally possessed the specific intent to kill. The Commonwealth notes that the instructions required the jury to find that the defendant had the specific intent to kill, and observes that Appellant was the only defendant in the case, given that he was tried separately from his co-conspirators. [29] In addressing challenges to jury instructions, we consider the challenged portions in light of the entire instruction, Commonwealth v. Pursell, 555 Pa. 233, 724 A.2d 293, 314 (1999), and we acknowledge that trial courts have broad discretion in phrasing the charge so long as the law is clearly, adequately and accurately described, Commonwealth v. Johnson, 572 Pa. 283, 815 A.2d 563, 587 (2002). Upon initial review of Appellant's excerpted language, it appears that Huffman would compel relief; however, Appellant omits crucial language in the instruction. In full, the trial court's instructions provided as follows: It will be your duty in this case to determine whether Jade Wong died as a result of a gunshot wound inflicted upon her by the defendant or whether the defendant was an accomplice of a person who actually inflicted the gunshot wound resulting in the death of Jade Wong; and if so, whether such killing amounted to murder of the first degree, murder of the second degree, murder of the third degree or voluntary manslaughter     Now, what is murder of the first degree? The Act of Assembly or statute under which defendant is being tried expressly defines what is murder of the first degree. This statute, which is known as the Crimes Code ... provides verbatim or word-for-word as follows: Murder of the first degree: A criminal homicide constitutes murder of the first degree when it is committed by an intentional killing. Thus, in order to find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree, you must first find that the defendant caused the death of another person, or that an accomplice caused the death of another person. And thereafter, you must determine if the killing was intentional.     Therefore, in order to find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree, you must find that the killing was a willful, deliberate and premeditated act. You must ask yourselves the question did the defendant have the willful, deliberate and premeditated, specific intent to kill at the time of the killing. N.T.(Jury), 2/1/88, at 28, 31-32 [30] (italics added to highlight language omitted by Appellant). Appellant, however, cites only the non-italicized portion of the instruction in his brief to this Court, and ignores the final sentence relating to the question of whether defendant had the specific intent to kill at the time of the killing. The trial court further instructed on what constitutes a specific intent to kill, including the relevance of the use of a deadly weapon upon a vital part of the body and the elements of the other degrees of murder, which do not include the demonstration of defendant's specific intent to kill. N.T.(Jury), 2/1/88, at 33-39. Additionally, the court instructed on accomplice liability: Under the law of Pennsylvania, you may find the defendant guilty of a crime without finding that he personally engaged in the conduct required for the commission of the crime. A defendant is guilty of a crime if he is an accomplice of another person who commits that crime. A defendant does not become an accomplice merely by being present at the scene or knowing about a crime. He is an accomplice if, with the intent of promoting or facilitating the commission of the crime, he solicits, commands, encourages or requests the other person to commit it, or aids, agrees to aid, or attempts to aid the other person in planning or committing it. N.T.(Jury), 2/1/88, at 18-19. After the jury had deliberated for approximately one hour, it presented the trial court with a question: Definition of murder one and murder two. N.T.(Jury), 2/1/88, at 47. The court responded by providing a very similar definition as that provided above. N.T.(Jury), 2/1/88, at 48. The court then reiterated the requirements of an intentional killing and restated that You must ask yourselves the question did the defendant have the willful, deliberate and premeditated specific intent to kill at the time of the killing. N.T.(Jury), 2/1/88, at 48. Considering the entirety of the relevant jury instructions, we conclude that the trial court properly stated the law and instructed on the requirement that the jury find that Appellant, as the defendant, had the specific intent to kill, regardless of whether the jury concluded he fired the fatal shot or whether he was an accomplice of the person who fired the fatal shot. We considered nearly identical instructions in Commonwealth v. Cox, 581 Pa. 107, 863 A.2d 536, 550 (2004)(The aforementioned instructions, when reviewed in totality, clearly and accurately indicated to the jury that, to find Appellant guilty of murder in the first degree, it was necessary that they find he possessed the requisite specific intent to kill.). [31] Over the thoughtful dissent of Justice Saylor and Former Justice Nigro, this Court found the instructions sufficient to inform the jury of the necessity of finding that the defendant had the specific intent to kill even under a theory of accomplice liability. Accordingly, we find no error in the jury instructions in this case and thus conclude that trial and appellate counsel were not ineffective for failing to raise a non-meritorious claim.