Opinion ID: 2314693
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: premeditated murder while armed

Text: To establish first-degree premeditated murder while armed, the government must prove, among other things, that the accused committed the crime intentionally with premeditation and deliberation while armed. E.g., Frendak v. United States, D.C.App., 408 A.2d 364, 371 (1979); see D.C.Code 1973, §§ 22-2401, -3202. Although the evidence is primarily circumstantial, it is sufficient for a jury to find that appellant did the acts alleged. There was testimony that he returned to the poker game on the evening of December 4, 1977, sometime between 8:30 and 10 p.m. with a .38 caliber pistol and two empty shells. Williams, whose body was discovered at 10:30 that night, was killed with a .38 caliber weapon. Appellant unsuccessfully sought to obtain more ammunition from Alston and then left the poker game, taking his pistol with him. A .38 caliber bullet with a flattened head was recovered from a hat found next to Rowe's body. A few hours before the body was found, a woman, who had heard a loud shot, observed a man carrying a shotgun or a rifle and another man walking away from the direction of Kelly Miller playground and enter a car similar to Williams' and drive away without turning on the lights. The driver, who had been carrying the shotgun or rifle, was wearing a tan jacket, which was the color of appellant's jacket. Williams' car was located the next morning one block from the residence of appellant's former girlfriend and a few blocks from the barbershop where he worked. Introduced to show common scheme or plan, motive, and identity was evidence of appellant's alleged abduction of Morton in the early morning of December 5, 1977. Driving Williams' car, which had not been at the gas station since before 9:50 p.m. the previous evening, appellant drew Morton out of his house on the pretext of talking to Williams, who had already been killed. Establishing premeditation requires a showing that the defendant gave `thought, before acting, to the idea of taking a human life and [reached] a definite decision to kill.' Frendak v. United States, supra at 371 (quoting United States v. Sutton, 138 U.S.App.D.C. 208, 216-17, 426 F.2d 1202, 1210-11 (1969) (footnote omitted)). Proof of deliberation requires evidence that the defendant acted with `consideration and reflection upon the preconceived design to kill; turning it over in the mind, giving it second thought.' Id. A jury may infer premeditation and deliberation from sufficiently probative facts and circumstances. Harris v. United States, D.C.App., 375 A.2d 505, 508 (1977). However, evidence must show the accused reached a decision to kill calmly and in cold blood, not on impulse or in the heat of passion. Id. In this case there is sufficient evidence upon which a reasonable juror could find appellant acted with premeditation and deliberation. According to the government's evidence, appellant arrived at the poker game around 8 or 9 p.m. on December 4, 1977, asked whose game it was, left shortly thereafter and subsequently returned twice. He played poker for about 45 minutes to an hour before leaving the final time early in the morning of December 5, 1977. From this evidence the jury could reasonably infer that Head was establishing an alibi by arriving before both the murders and then strengthened the alibi by returning to the poker game in between the two killings. The evidence concerning the location and condition of the bodies of both Rowe and Williams similarly supports an inference of premeditation and deliberation. The fact that both were shot in the head, probably at close range as they lay face down on the ground gives rise to an inference of a calculated plan rather than an impulsive act. Appellant's possession of a .38 caliber pistol with spent shells at the poker game, and his request for additional ammunition similarly give rise to the same inference. Evidence of Head's attempted abduction of Morton in Williams' car after Williams' body was found and before Rowe's body was found is evidence of a calculated plan from which the jury could infer premeditation and deliberation for the murder of Rowe.