Opinion ID: 853209
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Instruction on Accomplice Liability

Text: The State tendered and received an accomplice liability instruction that [a] person who knowingly or intentionally aids, induces or causes another person to commit an offense, commits that offense even if the other person has not been prosecuted for the offense, has not been convicted for the offense or has been acquitted of the offense. Smith contends that because the State accepted Lampley's guilty plea under Indiana Code section 35-44-3-2, which has been interpreted to apply to people who did not actively participate in the crime itself, but who assisted a criminal after he or she committed a crime, [1] the doctrine of judicial estoppel precluded an instruction in Smith's trial that was based on Smith's aiding Lampley in the killing. Smith correctly points out that judicial estoppel has been held to prevent a party from asserting a position in a legal proceeding inconsistent with one previously asserted. Wabash Grain, Inc. v. Smith, 700 N.E.2d 234, 237 (Ind.Ct.App.1998), trans. denied. However, judicial estoppel in this state has been applied only in civil cases, and neither this Court nor the Court of Appeals has applied the doctrine against the State in a criminal case. A few criminal cases have noted the claim that judicial estoppel precluded the State from asserting a particular contention, but in each case the elements of estoppel were found wanting. As a result, none of these decisions considered whether the doctrine may be invoked against the State in a criminal case. [2] Indeed, although a handful of jurisdictions outside Indiana theoretically allow judicial estoppel against the government in criminal cases, we are aware of no case in which the doctrine has been successfully invoked against the government. In State v. Towery, 186 Ariz. 168, 920 P.2d 290, 304 (.1996), cited by many courts as the leading case allowing judicial estoppel against the State in a criminal proceeding, the court conditioned application of judicial estoppel on (1) identity of parties; (2) identity of question involved; and (3) success in the prior judicial proceeding by the party asserting the inconsistent position. [3] Ultimately, the court found no judicial estoppel because the third condition was not met. Id. at 306. As described by the Arizona Supreme Court, the doctrine would not help Smith because of the lack of identity of parties in both this case and Lampley's prosecution. See also Hoover v. State, 552 So.2d 834, 839 (Miss.1989) (judicial estoppel not applicable against the state in criminal cases where the parties are not identical). In People v. Gayfield, 261 Ill.App.3d 379, 199 Ill.Dec. 123, 633 N.E.2d 919, 925 (1994), the court, without discussion of whether judicial estoppel should apply in a criminal proceeding, rejected the doctrine on the facts of the case, concluding that there was no certain position taken at one proceeding that was contrary to another proceeding. Accord Commonwealth v. Lam, 453 Pa.Super. 497, 684 A.2d 153, 164 (1996). Federal courts have been even less receptive to the application of judicial estoppel against the government in criminal proceedings. See United States v. Kattar, 840 F.2d 118, 129-30 n. 7 (1st Cir.1988) (Judicial estoppel is an obscure doctrine that has never been applied against the government in a criminal proceeding.); Nichols v. Scott, 69 F.3d 1255, 1272 (5th Cir.1995) (judicial estoppel not constitutionally mandated and has never been applied against the government in a criminal proceeding); United States v. Garcia, No. 99-10262, 2000 WL 286285, at , 2000 U.S.App. LEXIS 4178, at  (9th Cir. Mar. 16, 2000) (Given the unique status of the government as a litigant, and the great degree of latitude that the government enjoys in prosecuting the law and striking plea bargains, we are simply not persuaded that this is a case in which to [apply judicial estoppel].) (citations omitted). We think the purpose of judicial estoppel is not well served by applying it against the government in criminal cases. As the Garcia court noted, the government possesses unique status as a litigant and enjoys a great degree of latitude in prosecuting the law and striking plea bargains. The purpose of judicial estoppel is to protect the integrity of the judicial process rather than to protect litigants from allegedly improper conduct by their adversaries. Wabash Grain, 700 N.E.2d at 238. It does so by preventing a party and its counsel from playing fast and loose with the courts. GEICO Ins. Co. v. Rowell, 705 N.E.2d 476, 481 (Ind.Ct.App.1999). We do not believe the acceptance of a plea bargain from Lampley on one theory of the case and the prosecution of Smith in a separate action on an alternate theory can be construed as playing fast and loose with the courts. Perhaps more importantly, if, after one defendant is convicted, additional evidence becomes available suggesting the guilt of a second, but on an inconsistent theory, some type of relief may or may not be afforded the first defendant under existing doctrines of law. Immunization of the second defendant due to a mistake in the prosecution of the first, however, is not the appropriate remedy. Accordingly, we hold that where the parties to the criminal proceedings in question are not identical, judicial estoppel does not apply against the State. Here the alleged inconsistency is between the State's position in this case and its prevailing by obtaining a guilty plea on an inconsistent theory in Lampley's. We leave for another day the issue of whether judicial estoppel can be applied against the State in a criminal case if the parties in the prior suit are the same, i.e., in a subsequent prosecution of the same defendant. Smith next contends that even if the instruction was not precluded by judicial estoppel, it was fatally incomplete and misleading. Smith argues that the instruction given, which tracks Indiana Code section 35-41-2-4, should have been supplemented by the Indiana pattern jury instruction for accomplice liability, which adds the following: To convict the defendant, the State must have proved each of the following elements: 1. [name other person] committed the crime of [name crime aided, induced or caused] in that [name other person] [insert elements of the crime alleged to have been aided, induced or caused] and the defendant 2. knowingly or intentionally 3. aided [name other person] in committing the [name crime] [or] induced [name other person] to commit the [name crime] [or] caused [name other person] to commit the [name crime]. If the State failed to prove each of these elements beyond a reasonable doubt, you should find the defendant not guilty. If the State did prove each of these elements beyond a reasonable doubt, you should find the defendant guilty of [name crime], a Class [insert class of crime] [misdemeanor] [felony]. 1 Ind. Pattern Jury Instructions (Criminal) 2.11 (2d ed.1991). However, Smith did not tender this instruction at trial. Furthermore, although Smith objected at trial to the relevance of the State's tendered instruction, he did not object that the instruction was incomplete or misleading. Accordingly, the claim of error is waived. Luna v. State, 758 N.E.2d 515, 518 (Ind. 2001). Although Smith contends this alleged error was fundamental, and thus not susceptible to waiver, we believe that under these facts the failure to add the pattern jury instruction does not begin to rise to the level of fundamental error, if indeed it was error at all. Finally, at trial Smith's objection to the accomplice liability instruction was that it was irrelevant because the evidence, if credited, established Smith, not someone else, to be the killer. As noted earlier, Byrd testified that Lampley had admitted to being the killer. The trial judge raised the issue of whether this testimony was admissible as substantive evidence, given that it appears to be hearsay. [4] After an extended discussion over logistical and scheduling issues raised by recalling Lampley, the parties agreed to permit Byrd to testify and stipulated that Lampley would deny having made the confession. There appears to be no direct evidence of Smith's aiding Lampley. Nevertheless, jury instructions are within the sound discretion of the trial court and will only be reversed on a showing of abuse of that discretion. Young v. State, 696 N.E.2d 386, 389 (Ind.1998). Given the admission of Byrd's testimony, we cannot say the instruction was an abuse of the trial court's discretion to find it at least marginally supported by the evidence.