Opinion ID: 2274894
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: A Theft Instruction Was Required Because Appellant's Conduct Was Ambiguous With Regard to the Element of Threatening the Use of Force

Text: Because I see it as the more egregious oversight, I will address the second point first. It is undisputed that no weapon or dangerous instrument was involved in any of three incidents. No physical force was used upon anyone. The perpetrators did not flourish or brandish a weapon or a dangerous object of any kind. They did not by words or gestures express or imply the presence of a weapon so as to threaten any person present. There were no words spoken or written, nor gestures made, to communicate the notion that physical force of any kind would be employed against any person if the theft was resisted. There was an aggressive demand for money under frightful circumstances. A reasonable jury could reasonably believe from the evidence introduced at trial and from the second-degree robbery instruction given, that neither Appellant nor any accomplice had threaten[ed] the immediate use of physical force upon another person as required by KRS 515.030(1). Even under the Majority's interpretation of what constitutes a threat to use immediate physical force, the facts here do not compel the finding that such a threat was made. In effect, by affirming the denial of a theft instruction, the majority opinion grants the Commonwealth a summary judgment on the essential element of robbery in question here: did Appellant, in the course of stealing money from the banks, threaten the immediate use of physical force upon another person? Reasonable jurors could very well disagree on the answer to that question. Yet the Majority has decreed it to be so. A reasonable juror could conclude that Appellant did not so threaten, in which case he should have been exposed to criminal culpability for theft. By denying that option, the trial court forced the jury to choose between acquitting a thief and convicting him of robbery despite the lack of a threat to use immediate physical force against another person. Fidelity to the principles set by this Court in Swain v. Commonwealth, 887 S.W.2d 346 (Ky.1994) compels the giving of a theft instruction. There, on three separate incidents to steal money from convenience stores, appellant did not reveal or refer to any weapon. He merely demanded money while keeping his hands in his pockets. Id. at 347. We agreed that such evidence would not support a first-degree robbery charge (requiring the possession of a weapon). However, because the menacing gesture of keeping a hand in the pocket might imply the possession of a weapon and the intent to use physical force if necessary to complete the theft, we held that an instruction on second-degree robbery and theft were required. As to the count in which appellant merely stated that he had a gun but did not flourish it, the trial court should have instructed on second degree robbery. It would not have been unreasonable for the jury to believe that appellant had no gun and if it so believed, a conviction for second degree robbery would have been authorized. Upon retrial of this count, the jury should be so instructed and authorized to find appellant guilty of first degree robbery or second degree robbery, depending upon what it believes from the evidence. As to the three counts in which no weapon was seen or mentioned but in which appellant demanded money while having at least one hand inside his clothing, the jury should have been instructed on robbery in the second degree and theft by unlawful taking. As to robbery in the second degree, the facts presented here are sufficient to constitute a threat of immediate physical force if the jury believes from the evidence there was such, or theft by unlawful taking if it believes there was no threat of physical force. Id. at 348. (Emphasis added.) Swain is compelling and squarely on point, but the Majority opinion relegates it to a footnote and declares it to be an anomaly and limited to its own facts. Inconveniently, Swain's own facts differ in no material way from the facts present here. Swain is an anomaly that, according to Westlaw, has been favorably cited in subsequent appellate opinions at least 30 times, 10 of which are related to the very paragraph quoted above. We do no service to the dignity of this Court, much less to the litigants before us, by sweeping our binding precedent under the rug in such a cavalier fashion. Instead of relying upon Swain, the majority rests its case upon Lawless v. Commonwealth, 323 S.W.3d 676 (Ky.2010). However, in Lawless we voiced no disagreement with Swain and cited it favorably. We differentiated Swain, where the simple hand-in-the-pocket did not accompany any other gesture implying possession of a weapon and its inherent threat of force, from Lawless, where not only did Lawless keep her hand in her pocket but that she made gestures as though she had a gun. Id. at 678. Those additional distinguishing gestures, we concluded, were clearly intended to further the theft by creating the impression that she was armed. Id. at 681. Lacking the ambiguity present in Swain concerning the expression of a threat, Lawless properly concluded that the unambiguous gestures were calculated by Lawless to express the threat of bodily harm implicit in the possession of a weapon, leaving no room for a theft instruction. Here, we have not even a hand in the pocket, nor any other gesture, to constitute the expression of a threat to use physical force. The conduct of Appellant and his accomplices at the three banks was, at most, ambiguous with respect to the expression of a threat to use force upon a person. The giving of a theft instruction is compelled by Swain and it is consistent with Lawless. I would therefore reverse the three second-degree robbery convictions cited above and remand for a retrial with instructions incorporating the lesser offense of theft, provided the evidence upon re-trial so warrants.