Opinion ID: 1120756
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Instructional Error Analysis

Text: (3a) Returning to the case before us, we now consider whether the trial court erred under the preceding analysis. The court instructed: The commission of the crime of robbery is not confined to a fixed place or a limited period of time. A robbery is still in progress after the original taking of physical possession of the stolen property while the perpetrator is in hot flight, that is, while in possession of the stolen property he is fleeing in an attempt to escape. Likewise, it is still in progress so long as he is still being immediately pursued in an attempt to capture him or regain the stolen property. A robbery is complete when the perpetrator has eluded his pursuers, if any; has reached a place of temporary safety and is in unchallenged possession of the stolen property after having effected an escape with such property. (CALJIC No. 9.44 (5th ed.) [former CALJIC No. 9.15 (4th ed.)], italics added.) This instruction was drafted to effectuate the escape rule, as developed in cases dealing with the ancillary consequences of robbery. (Comment to former CALJIC No. 9.15 (4th ed.).) As discussed above, we decline to adopt the escape rule for purposes of determining aider and abettor liability. Rather, the commission of a robbery continues so long as the loot is being carried away to a place of temporary safety. Although the carrying away, or asportation, may coincide with the perpetrator's escape, it need not. Thus the many references to the escape in the instruction defining the duration of robbery were improper for purposes of determining aider and abettor liability. This instruction was erroneous because it could have misled the jury into believing that commission of a robbery continues during the escape to a place of temporary safety even if the loot is not being carried away contemporaneously. In the future, courts should instruct that for purposes of determining liability as an aider and abettor to robbery, the commission of the crime of robbery is not confined to a fixed place or a limited period of time and continues so long as the stolen property is being carried away to a place of temporary safety. (4) Finally, CALJIC No. 9.44 (5th ed.) [former CALJIC No. 9.15] (4th ed.), drafted in response to our decisions in the context of the ancillary consequences of robbery, should not be given for the purposes of determining aider and abettor liability.