Opinion ID: 1945963
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Court's Instruction Concerning Own-Conduct Verdict

Text: Defendant argues that the trial court's jury instruction on knowing or purposeful murder did not inform the jurors that they could return a non-capital murder verdict, even if they disagreed individually in respect of whether defendant fired the fatal shot. Accordingly, defendant contends that the court's charge to the jury deprived him of a legitimate opportunity to receive a non-unanimous own-conduct verdict under State v. Brown, 138 N.J. 481, 651 A. 2d 19 (1994). As noted below, such a verdict would have made defendant ineligible to receive the death penalty. In response, the State asserts that the trial court correctly instructed the jury on knowing and purposeful murder and accomplice liability, and that the court's instruction did not violate the own-conduct requirement established by Brown. Following the presentation of evidence and closing remarks, the trial court instructed the jury on knowing or purposeful murder, explaining the meaning of those terms. Defendant concedes that that aspect of the charge was proper. Defendant also acknowledges that the court stressed to the jurors that, although they had to agree unanimously on whether defendant was guilty or not guilty, they did not have to agree on the underlying theory of guilt. For example, the court instructed the jury that they would ... have to agree unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant had acted either purposely or knowingly, but the jury would not necessarily have to be in unanimous agreement on which particular mental state the defendant had. After explaining the concepts of purposeful and knowing states of mind, the court instructed the jury on the defense of intoxication, the charge of aggravated manslaughter, and the felony-murder charge. The trial court then instructed the jury about accomplice liability, informing the jurors that the defendant Thomas Koskovich could be responsible for the purposeful or knowing murder of the victim, or for the aggravated manslaughter of the victim or for the felony murder of the victim even though he did not personally fire the bullet or bullets that directly caused the death of the victim if his accomplice Jayson Vreeland fired the fatal bullet or bullets. There are some limitations on the criminal responsibility of an accomplice which I want to mention to you. As indicated by what I said earlier, a person is basically responsible for the actions of an accomplice in crime just as though he himself had performed those actions. There are however, two exceptions to the rule which are important in this case. The first is, that in order to be subject to the death penalty for a purposeful or knowing murder, the defendant must have caused the death of the victim by his own conduct. And in the context of this case, that exception or limitation means that if the jury finds the defendant Thomas Koskovich is guilty of the knowing or purposeful murder of Jeremy Giordano and that's a finding that [has] to be made by the unanimous vote of the jurors, then the jury would have to make a further decision as to whether the defendant Thomas Koskovich personally fired the bullet or bullets that directly caused the death of Jeremy Giordano. If the jury unanimously finds beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant Thomas Koskovich fired the bullet or bullets that caused the death of Jeremy Giordano, then the defendant would be-would be subject to the possibility of having the death penalty imposed upon him and we would move to a penalty proceeding during which the jury would hear further evidence and would decide whether the death penalty should actually be imposed. Later in its charge, the court summarized the possible outcomes that the jury could reach: [I]f the jury unanimously finds beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant Thomas Koskovich is guilty of purposeful or knowing murder but the jury does not unanimously find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant personally fired the bullet or bullets that directly caused the death of Jeremy Giordano, then I will sentence the defendant to a term of imprisonment which may go up to life imprisonment and there will be a mandatory minimum sentence of at least 30 years imprisonment without possibility of parole. ... If the jury unanimously finds beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant Thomas Koskovich is guilty of purposeful and knowing murder and the jury also finds unanimously beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant personally fired the bullet or bullets that directly caused the death of Jeremy Giordano then the defendant would be subject to the possibility of having the death penalty imposed upon him and we would move to a penalty proceeding during which the jury would hear further evidence and would decide whether the death penalty should actually be imposed.