Opinion ID: 2510525
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Multiple Acts Unanimity Jury Instruction

Text: In the interest of judicial economy, we elect to address the defendant's remaining argument concerning the district court's failure to give a multiple acts unanimity jury instruction as this issue is likely to arise again on remand. The defendant was charged with attempted first-degree murder of Donnell. During closing argument, the prosecutor described the acts it was relying upon for this charge: But Mr. Donnell says when he fires that first shot he's still over in that area and it fires that way. But that first shot is ais at Dai-Mondd Jones and that's what the evidence shows. Whether it was a good shot by the defendant or not that's where it was intended. And it was also intended at Mr. Donnell who he's summoning to come from the liquor store side. And that's what the first shot is from. That's why there's two Counts, one on Dai-Mondd, and one on Emzley Donnell. And the State would submit to you that the evidence shows that obviously he didn't complete the crime. Why didn't he complete the crime? Because Mr. Donnell had a revolver and the State would submit to you after he fired the first shot he ran around to the back counter and you'll see it. He pumped it out to get the next round in. He now has heard Mr. Donnell shoot at him is what the State would submit to you. And whether he's nervous, excited or whatever, the State would submit to you he shoots himself in the leg and the foot, what Officer Ladish testified that he saw at the hospital. . . . . . . . And he shot himself there because he didn't know Mr. Donnell was going to have a gun. He got excited and nervous and boom, shot himself in the leg. Then he realizes that he's hurt and he has to get out of there. And you know he pumped out the empty shell and the shotgun wad is gone there and that goes to show the attempt. It was just more than mere preparation or mere thoughts. The defendant argues for the first time on appeal that the district court should have given a unanimity instruction because multiple acts could have constituted the basis for finding him guilty of the attempted murder of Donnell. Specifically, he contends that the jury could have found him guilty based upon either the defendant's first shot in the direction of the liquor store or the (overt) act of pumping out the shell from the shotgun right before the second shot, an accidental discharge, was fired. `In multiple acts cases, several acts are alleged and any one of them could constitute the crime charged. In these cases, the jury must be unanimous as to which act or incident constitutes the crime. To ensure jury unanimity in multiple acts cases, we require that either the State elect the particular criminal act upon which it will rely for conviction, or that the trial court instruct the jury that all of them must agree that the same underlying criminal act has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. [Citations omitted.]' State v. Stevens, 278 Kan. 441, 452, 101 P.3d 1190 (2004). In State v. Hill, 271 Kan. 929, 26 P.3d 1267 (2001), the defendant was charged with a single count of rape but evidence was presented that the defendant digitally penetrated the victim in the bathroom, pursued her into the kitchen, and digitally penetrated her again. The Kansas Supreme Court adopted a two-step harmless error analysis to be applied when it is contended that a unanimity instruction should have been given: In applying a two-step harmless error analysis, the first step is to decide whether there is a possibility of jury confusion from the record or if evidence showed either legally or factually separate incidents. Incidents are legally separate when the defendant presents different defenses to separate sets of facts or when the court's instructions are ambiguous but tend to shift the legal theory from a single incident to two separate incidents. Incidents are factually separate when independent criminal acts have occurred at different times or when a later criminal act is motivated by `a fresh impulse.' When jury confusion is not shown under the first step, the second step is to determine if the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt with respect to all acts. 271 Kan. 929, Syl. ¶ 3. Under the facts of Hill, the court concluded that the two acts of penetration were separate incidents of rape. However, the court found there was no possibility of jury confusion where no extrinsic evidence to support the charges existed and the sole issue was the credibility of the victim's account of the penetrations. As the defendant presented only a general denial of participation in any wrongful conduct, which was rejected by the jury, the court found there was no rational basis by which the jury could have convicted the defendant of one rape and not the other. 271 Kan. at 940. However, more recently in State v. Kesselring, 279 Kan. 671, 112 P.3d 175 (2005), this court identified a threshold analysis to a multiple acts analysis which incorporates part of the Hill test. In Kesselring, the defendant argued that any one of multiple acts could have constituted the charge of aggravated kidnapping. Citing State v. Staggs, 27 Kan. App. 2d 865, 867, 9 P.3d 601, rev. denied 270 Kan. 903 (2000), we found that [t]he threshold question in a multiple acts analysis is whether the defendant's conduct is part of one act or represents multiple acts which are separate and distinct from each other. 279 Kan. at 682. In Staggs, the defendant argued he was entitled to a unanimity instruction on his aggravated battery charge where the evidence showed that he both punched and kicked the victim during a fight. The Staggs court held: [T]he evidence here supports only a brief time frame in which the aggravated battery occurred. Once defendant initiated the altercation, no break in the action of any length occurred, and the confrontation continued until defendant broke the victim's cheekbone. Simply put, the evidence established a continuous incident that simply cannot be factually separated. No `multiple acts' instruction was necessary. 27 Kan. App. 2d at 868. In applying the Staggs analysis, the Kesselring court quoted from the first step of the Hill analysis regarding factually separate incidents, stating `[i]ncidents are factually separate when independent criminal acts have occurred at different times or when a late criminal act is motivated by a fresh impulse,' reasoning that [a]lthough we have previously used this test as part of the harmless error analysis in Hill, it is also an appropriate test for determining the threshold question of whether multiple acts are involved. 279 Kan. at 683. The court concluded that the kidnapping was a continuous incident that could not be factually separated despite the fact that the event transpired over several hours, the victim was moved from one location to another, and he was momentarily free during an attempted escape. 279 Kan. at 683. In this case, while not mentioning Staggs or Kesselring, the Court of Appeals panel essentially performed this threshold analysis by applying only the first step of Hill in concluding the failure to give a multiple acts instruction was not erroneous: Vann's argument is predicated upon there being two factually and legally separate incidents. There were not. First, the incidents are not legally separate. The court's instructions did not shift the legal theory from a single incident to two separate incidents. Vann did not present one defense to the first shot and another to the reloading in anticipation of the second shot. His argument to the jury relating to this count was directed at the issue of intent and applied equally to the first shot and the reloading: `Count 1 charges my client, Durayl Vann, of the attempted murder in the first degree of Emzley Donnell. But I ask you, who was trying to kill whom? . . . `Mr. Donnell decides to take matters in his own hands. He runs home and he gets a gun. And he comes back. He sees the defendant walking down the street across the street and what does he do? He shoots. He fires. My client takes off running. . . . `And with regard to this issue of intent upon Mr. Donnell, let's take a look a closer look at that. The testimony is that the individual who came into the store with the shotgun fired, then Dai-Mondd Jones, the clerk, runs in back. Mr. Donnell who is already there comes out, basically loaded for bear. He says, your ass is mine. Who is trying to kill whom? I think that after you carefully consider that evidence that you'll find that there surely is a reasonable doubt as to whether my client, Mr. Vann, intended to do anything to Mr. Donnell.' Nor were the two shots factually separate. It appears from the descriptions of the witnesses that the entire incident took no more than a matter of minutes. Vann announced when he arrived that evening that everyone was going to die. The first shot and the reloading were part of the single transaction to carry out that expressed design. The reloading after the initial shot was not instigated by a `fresh impulse,' but by the initial impulse that brought him to the party shop that night. Under these circumstances, there were no legally or factually separate incidents. The failure to give a unanimity instruction was neither erroneous nor, under the more stringent standard at play here, clear error. Vann, slip op. at 11-12. Thus, in this case, our first inquiry is whether this is truly a multiple acts case which requires a unanimity instruction, i.e., whether the defendant's conduct is part of one act or represents multiple acts which are separate and distinct from each other. Kesselring, 279 Kan. App. 2d 671, Syl. ¶ 5. Kesselring counsels that we look to a portion of the first step of the Hill analysis to make a determination whether the incidents are factually separate. As in Staggs and Kesselring, the defendant's actions in shooting the first shot and pumping the shotgun to reload are part of a continuous incident that occurred within only a couple of minutes. They were both performed with the express design announced by the defendant to kill everyone in the party shop. The fact that the defendant encountered return gunfire in resistance did not spark a fresh impulse for him to reload the shotgun; rather, the reloading was necessary to carry out his plan to kill everyone. This case is thus distinguishable from Hill, where the court found two separate incidents of rape occurring within a short period of time, as the defendant in this case could not be charged with two counts of attempted murder of Donnell based on his actions in firing the first shot and reloading the shotgun. Compare State v. Perry, 266 Kan. 224, 229, 968 P.2d 674 (1998) (convictions of attempted murder and aggravated battery were multiplicitous where the victim was beaten and shot because the underlying acts of violence occurred simultaneously or at approximately the same time and place), with State v. Fulton, 28 Kan. App. 2d 815, 23 P.3d 167, rev. denied 271 Kan. 1039 (2001) (one continuous incident rather than multiple acts where the defendant cut the victim on the face and then cut him on his chest because it would have been multiplicitous to charge each cutting separately). We conclude that this case does not involve separate factual incidents; it is not a multiple acts case. Thus, a unanimity instruction was not required. The Court of Appeals' decision on this issue is affirmed. Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for further proceedings.