Opinion ID: 1095294
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Did the trial court err in granting Jury Instruction 13?

Text: ¶ 13. Morgan claims that granting Jury Instruction 13 was error because it arguably failed to require jurors to find that Morgan was a member of the conspiracy and also failed to require the jurors to be unanimous as to the identity of the person or persons with whom Morgan conspired. Morgan also argues that the instruction failed to conform to the indictment in that the indictment alleged that Morgan conspired with Taylor, Alston, Farris, Charles Morgan, and other unknown persons, while the instruction allowed the jury to find that Morgan conspired with any one of the alleged co-conspirators by using the word or. Jury Instruction 13 read as follows: A conspiracy is an agreement or understanding between two or more people to commit a crime. The crime of conspiracy is complete when the agreement is made. Therefore, the crime of conspiracy is separate and distinct from the crime contemplated by the conspiracy. Whether or not the conspirators accomplished the crime they conspired to commit is immaterial to the question of guilt or innocence. In establishing a conspiracy, the State is not required to prove an expressed or formal agreement between the conspirators to commit a crime. It is sufficient for the State to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, from all of the facts and circumstances of this case, together with the acts of the parties, that Judge William Robert Taylor, and/or Charles Morgan, and/or Gregory Alston, and/or Scott Morgan, and/or Ike Farris knowingly and voluntarily entered into a common plan with the understood purpose to commit a crime. Express language or specific words are not required to prove involvement in a conspiracy If a conspiracy has been shown to exist beyond a reasonable doubt and to the exclusion of every other reasonable hypothesis consistent with innocence, then any reasonably foreseeable act of a conspirator in furtherance of the conspiracy is considered by law to be the act of any other member of the conspiracy. Each conspirator is responsible for the reasonably foreseeable acts of any other member of the conspiracy done in furtherance of the conspiracy. Furthermore, one may become a member of a conspiracy without full knowledge of all of the details of the unlawful scheme or the names and identities of all of the other alleged conspirators. A person may be held as a conspirator regardless of the point in time in which he enters it, so long as he enters it with the intent to further its objects during the life of the conspiracy. ¶ 14. Morgan argues that the wording of the instruction allowed a conviction of Morgan if the jury believed that any other two of the alleged co-conspirators agreed to commit a crime. Alternatively, he claims that the instruction did not require unanimity in the jurors' verdict in that some could have believed that Morgan conspired with one other actor and other jurors could have believed that he conspired with someone else, but the verdict would be the same even though the jury potentially could be agreeing on a different conspiracy. Morgan also claims that the variance between the indictment and Instruction 13 is reversible error. ¶ 15. Defense counsel objected to Instruction 13 on the grounds that it was misleading and that it did not require jurors to find that Morgan was actually a part of the conspiracy in order to convict. Morgan did not object to the question of the unanimity of the jury's verdict or to the variance between the instruction and the indictment. In order to preserve a jury instruction issue on appeal, a party must make a specific objection to the proposed instruction in order to allow the lower court to consider the issue. Watson v. State, 483 So.2d 1326, 1329 (Miss.1986). Further, [a]n objection on one or more specific grounds constitutes a waiver of all other grounds. Stringer v. State, 279 So.2d 156, 158 (Miss.1973). See also McGarrh v. State, 249 Miss. 247, 276, 148 So.2d 494, 506 (1963) (objection cannot be enlarged in reviewing court to embrace omission not complained of at trial). Whether the instruction required a unanimous verdict and whether Instruction 13 fatally varied from the indictment are procedurally barred and will not be considered here. ¶ 16. We do consider whether Instruction 13 was confusing in that it arguably allowed the jury to find that Taylor and Alston conspired together and that Morgan was guilty without any finding that he joined in the conspiracy. Individual jury instructions are not to be reviewed in isolation. The instructions are read as a whole in order to determine if the jury was properly instructed. Willie v. State, 585 So.2d 660, 680 (Miss.1991). This Court must consider the other instructions given this jury. Jury Instruction 10 read as follows: You are instructed that to establish a conspiracy, the State is not required to prove that two or more persons entered into a solemn compact, orally or in writing, stating that they have formed a conspiracy to violate the law, setting forth the details of the plan, the means by which the unlawful plan is to be carried out, or the specific part to be played by each conspirator. It is sufficient to show the existence of a conspiracy if the State proves beyond a reasonable doubt and to the exclusion of every other reasonable hypothesis consistent with innocence from the evidence in this case that two or more persons, one of which was the defendant, Scott Morgan, in any manner or through any contrivance, express or inferred, voluntarily came to a common understanding to violate the law as set forth herein and express language or specific words are not required to prove involvement in a conspiracy. Thus, if you believe from the evidence in this case, beyond a reasonable doubt and to the exclusion of every other hypothesis consistent with innocence, that on August 9, 1993, through November 1996, an agreement, express or implied, existed between Scott Morgan and one or more persons to commit a crime, namely to cheat and defraud Jack Diamond out of property in excess of $250.00 by any means which are in themselves criminal, or which, if executed, would amount to a cheat, or to obtain money or any other property or thing by false pretense, then it is your sworn duty to find the defendant, Scott Morgan, guilty as charged. (Emphasis added.) Additionally, Instruction 4 required the jury to find ... that Scott Morgan is guilty of having taken part in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the Jack Diamond conservatorship. Finally, Instruction 11 stated that in order to return a guilty verdict, the jury must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Scott Morgan knew the unlawful purpose of the agreement and joined in it wilfully, that is, with the intent to further the purpose of the conspiracy. ¶ 16. Considered in totality, the instructions properly instructed the jury as to the law in this case. While Instruction 13 by itself arguably was misleading, when considered in conjunction with the rest of the instructions, there is no question that the jury was properly instructed. Morgan's contention that Instruction 13 was misleading in that the jury could have been misled that Morgan could be found guilty if two other parties conspired to defraud Diamond is without merit.