Opinion ID: 2350716
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Charge on Felony-Murder

Text: In the course of his charge to the jury the trial judge, after instructing on the elements of premeditated murder, gave a careful and lengthy charge on the doctrine of felony-murder and its application to this case. Towards the end of this passage of his charge, the court summarized in the following terms: If you accept the Commonwealth's case in those terms, if you believe that the defendant Martin went in there with a gun and participated in the shooting of these people in their beds, and he did this for hire and for wicked gain, then you have classical first degree murder. If you accept the second theory, the felony murder theory, and you can do that believing either the Commonwealth theory or the defense facts as testified to by Martin, then you could find Martin guilty of murder in the first degree on the felony murder doctrine. The defendant's facts substantially as I explained to you fit the felony murder doctrine. (Emphasis supplied.) At trial the defendant took the position that no charge whatever was warranted on felony-murder, [24] and now argues vigorously that the inclusion of a charge on this subject was prejudicially erroneous and requires a new trial. The thrust of appellant's argument is that neither on the Commonwealth's version of the case, as related in the Vealey testimony, nor on the defense account of what occurred, as testified to by Martin, does the felony-murder doctrine have any place in resolving Martin's guilt or innocence. Under the prosecution version, Aubran Martin was in on the planning stage of the Yablonski slayings, including the burglary of their home; was an active participant not only in both of those crimes, but was himself the thief who took Jock Yablonski's money clip; and that Martin also received in due course his share of the fee for the murders. If the prosecution's theory of what happened is accepted, so appellant's argument does, the sole purpose of the conspiracy among Gilly, Vealey and Martin was to kill the Yablonskis, and the fact that execution of the purpose was preceded by a breaking and entering and followed by a robbery was purely incidental. Under Martin's version of what transpired he was never a party to any plan to kill; he was merely a participant in a scheme to burglarize and rob the Yablonski home, and aided and abetted that scheme by serving as a lookout and driver of the getaway car; he joined with his two confederates in testing firearms before the group set out from Cleveland; he himself carried a rifle to their automobile, and knew that it and a pistol were carried by Gilly and Vealey to the house to be robbed. If this testimony is to be believed, then, appellant's theory continues, the fact that the sole purpose of Gilly and Vealey was to kill the Yablonskis and not to commit burglary or robbery renders the felony-murder rule inapplicable as far as implicating Martin goes. That is to say, under either account of what happened there was then no meeting of the minds  no agreement  as to the purpose for going to the Yablonski home, and Martin cannot be held liable for what his companions did without his knowledge or consent. Whichever version the jury might believe as to the sordid events at Clarksville, Pa. on the morning of December 31, 1969, three stark facts stand out with indisputable clarity: first, the home of Jock Yablonski was burglarized  that is, it was forcibly broken into and entered with the intent to commit a felony; [25] second, after the breaking and entering three persons asleep in the house  Jock Yablonski, his wife and his daughter  were slain in cold blood; third, immediately after the killings, a sum of money ($270) was stolen from the home  that is, a robbery was committed. When these facts are considered in light of the well established principles governing the felony-murder rule in Pennsylvania we must find appellant's arguments to be without merit. See generally Commonwealth v. Yuknavich, 448 Pa. 502, 506-07, 295 A.2d 290 (1972); Commonwealth v. Redline, 391 Pa. 486, 495, 137 A.2d 472, 476 (1958); Act of June 24, 1939, P.L. 872, § 701, 18 P.S. § 4701 (repealed, June 6, 1973, replaced by 18 Pa.C.S. § 2502(a)). The proposition that the felony-murder rule is not applicable where the accompanying felony is after the fact of murder and but incidental to it, is quickly answered by our decision in Commonwealth v. Waters, 445 Pa. 534, 538, 285 A.2d 192, 194 (1971) among others. In Waters we stated: We considered and expressly rejected this same contention in Commonwealth v. Slavik, 437 Pa. 354, 261 A.2d 583 (1970). There we said: `This contention was recently considered and rejected by this Court in Commonwealth v. Wilson, 431 Pa. 21, 244 A.2d 734. In that case, a conviction of first-degree murder was sustained upon evidence that the defendant first stabbed the victim and then took the victim's wallet and emptied it. The Court, quoting from Commonwealth v. Hart, 403 Pa. 652, 170 A.2d 850, said (431 Pa. page 28, 244 A.2d page 738): Defendant's highly technical argument amounts to this: Unless the Commonwealth proves that the intention to commit a robbery was formed before the beginning of the fatal assault, the evidence cannot amount to a murder which was committed in the perpetration of a robbery. In other words, defendant would require a televised stopwatch in every robbery or felony-killing to prove that the felonious intent existed before the attack. . .' 437 Pa. at 357, 358. See also Commonwealth v. Slavik, 437 Pa. 354, 358, 261 A.2d 583 (1970). (This Court has held that if a homicide occurs in the perpetration or attempt to perpetrate a robbery, a conviction of murder in the first degree will be sustained regardless of when the design to rob was conceived. Commonwealth v. Stelma, 327 Pa. 317, 192 A. 906); Commonwealth v. Hart, 403 Pa. 652, 170 A.2d 850 (1961); Commonwealth v. Dickerson, 406 Pa. 102, 107, 176 A.2d 421, 424 (1962); (if a homicide occurs while the defendant is participating in . . . a robbery, it is immaterial when the design to rob was conceived. A felony murder is effected). Martin's second argument, addressed to his own fact version, that there was no meeting of the minds of the conspirators, is novel. But we are not here dealing with the niceties attendant upon the formation of a contract; we are dealing with the ramifications of a criminal conspiracy to commit a felony. That Martin did not know ahead of time that his companions, Gilly and Vealey, were intent on killing and not on robbery is immaterial; he knew that violence might be involved, whether or not planned ahead of time. In Commonwealth v. Yuknavich, 448 Pa. 502, 295 A.2d 290 (1972), the defendant was the driver of a getaway car for a service station robbery. In the course of the robbery the co-felon killed the attendant. Speaking through Justice Nix, we said: This Court has consistently held that the killing need not be by the defendant in a felony-murder case. It has been established `that in order to convict for felony-murder, the killing must have been done by the defendant or by an accomplice or confederate or by one acting in furtherance of the felonious undertaking.' Commonwealth v. Redline, 391 Pa. 486, 496, 137 A.2d 472, 476 (1958); accord, Commonwealth v. Sampson, 445 Pa. 558, 563, 285 A.2d 480, 483 (1971); Commonwealth v. Moore, 443 Pa. 364, 374, 279 A.2d 179, 185 (1971); Commonwealth v. Williams, 443 Pa. 85, 88, 277 A.2d 781, 783 (1971); Commonwealth ex rel. Smith v. Myers, 438 Pa. 218, 228, 261 A.2d 550, 555 (1970); Commonwealth v. Batley, 436 Pa. 377, 390, 260 A.2d 793, 800 (1970). Clearly, where a killing occurs in the commission of a felony, all who participate therein are equally guilty of murder. 448 Pa. at 507, 295 A.2d at 293. The rationale which the Court then gave of the rule reiterated in the above quoted portion of the Yuknavich opinion is equally applicable to the case at bar: The nature of the felony in this case is such that it should be obvious to anyone about to embark on such a venture that the lives of the victims may be sacrificed in accomplishing the end. A reasonable man can be properly charged with the knowledge that the natural and probable consequences of such an act may well result in death or grievous bodily harm to those involved. It is not unrealistic to ascribe to one who willfully engages in a plan to commit armed robbery, a wickedness of disposition, hardness of heart, cruelty, recklessness of consequences, or a mind regardless of social duty. Thus, when dealing with the felony of armed robbery we are merely saying that it is the same malice that is required for common law murder. Id., 448 Pa. at 508, 295 A.2d at 293. See also Commonwealth v. Eiland, 450 Pa. 566, 570-71, 301 A.2d 651, 652-53 (1973). It may be accepted that in some situations the felony-murder rule operates harshly and that the policy of this Court is to restrain the rule within its traditional limits. See Commonwealth ex rel. Smith v. Myers, 438 Pa. 218, 261 A.2d 550 (1970). The case before us is totally within those limits, and under any version of the facts cannot be said to impose the consequences of murder upon a death wholly unintended. Ibid. at 225, 261 A.2d at 553. The trial court committed no error in charging as it did.