Opinion ID: 1192049
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Felony-murder Special Circumstances

Text: (27) It is now settled that the jury may sustain a felony-murder special-circumstance allegation against the actual killer without finding he acted with the intent to kill. ( People v. Anderson (1987) 43 Cal.3d 1104, 1145-1147 [240 Cal. Rptr. 585, 742 P.2d 1306].) (28) In order to sustain a felony-murder special-circumstance allegation against an aider and abettor, however, the jury must still find he acted with the intent to kill. ( Ibid. ) (29) Defendant contends the two felony-based special-circumstance findings must be reversed because the jury was not instructed to determine whether he intended to kill Allen. He argues that the facts of this case do not show whether he or Cebreros was the actual killer. Thus, the jury may have sustained the robbery-murder and the burglary-murder special-circumstance allegations based on his possible role as an aider and abettor. If so, he argues, the failure to instruct on intent to kill requires reversal. We disagree. Defendant's jury was given two instructions explaining the theory of aiding and abetting. First, in connection with the general principles of the case, the jury was instructed that A person aids and abets the commission of a crime if with knowledge of the unlawful purpose of the perpetrator of the crime he intentionally aids, promotes, encourages, or instigates by act or advice the commission of such crime. (Italics added.) Later, in being instructed on the special circumstances, the jury was told: If either defendant ... was not the actual killer, it must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he intentionally aided, abetted, counselled, commanded, induced, solicited, requested or assisted the actual killer in the commission of the murder in the first degree before you are permitted to find the alleged special circumstance of that first degree murder to be true as to that defendant. (Italics added.) This latter instruction is indistinguishable from one this court approved in People v. Warren (1988) 45 Cal.3d 471 [247 Cal. Rptr. 172, 754 P.2d 218]. In that case, the defendant claimed that the instructions did not adequately require the jury to find he, an aider and abettor, acted with the intent to kill. After stating the rule that intent to kill must be shown before a felony-based special-circumstance allegation can be sustained against an aider and abettor, we concluded that a reasonable juror would understand the language of the instructions to declare that very rule: `the defendant was ... a person who intentionally aided, abetted, counseled, commanded, induced, solicited, requested or assisted the actual killer in the commission of murder in the first degree.' Therefore, the instructions, so understood, state the law correctly. ( Id. at p. 487.) Because essentially the same instruction was given in the present case, we conclude that defendant's jury necessarily found defendant, if he was an aider and not the actual killer, acted with the intent to kill. Defendant focuses on the felony-murder instructions to argue for a contrary conclusion. He notes the jury was also told that, for purposes of the felony-murder rule, the killing can be unintentional or even accidental so long as it occurs while the killer is engaged in an enumerated felony. Thus, defendant claims the jury may only have found he intentionally aided in the burglary and robbery with Allen's killing being merely accidental. If so, no intent to kill would be present. We rejected this precise argument in Warren, supra, 45 Cal.3d at pages 487-488, finding no reasonable juror would interpret the jury instructions in such a hypertechnical manner. Moreover, two other reasons support rejection of this contention. First, the special circumstance instruction on aiding and abetting mirrors the language in section 190.2, subdivision (b), and thus unambiguously sets forth the rule that the aider and abetter must intentionally aid in a killing.  ( Anderson, supra, 43 Cal.3d at p. 1145, italics in original.) Thus, the instructions cannot reasonably be interpreted to require only aiding in a felony which forms the basis of a felony murder. Second, as explained post, the jury's verdict on the witness-killing special circumstance precludes a finding that the killing was unintentional. Thus, defendant could not have been convicted of intentionally aiding an accidental killing. (30) Although not raised by defendant, the burglary-murder special circumstance must be set aside for the same merger problems discussed ante, at page 509, i.e., the jury instructions improperly permitted the jury to find a burglary based on defendant's intent to commit an assault. ( Wilson, supra, 1 Cal.3d at p. 441; see generally People v. Garrison (1989) 47 Cal.3d 746, 788-789 [254 Cal. Rptr. 257, 765 P.2d 419] [striking two burglary-murder special circumstances for the same reasons despite the issue not being raised by defendant].)