Opinion ID: 2321578
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Bonilla

Text: The evidence established that Bonilla was the driver of the car that chased Helm, that he participated in assaulting Helm, and that he drove the getaway car after the murder. Bonilla admitted that he drove the car to the scene of Helm's assault and eventual murder, and told the police in a taped interview that he knew his passengers in the back seat carried knives. He also admitted that he came out of the car when the others got out to attack Helm, but denied participating in the assault. He explained that he drove the getaway car only to appease Velásquez, whom he had just seen knifing-supposedly knifing the black man. Alemán contradicted Bonilla, however, and testified that Bonilla punched Helm before he went back to his car. In convicting appellant Bonilla of first-degree murder and conspiracy to assault or to commit murder, the jury clearly rejected Bonilla's story that he was an innocent third party who simply thought he was giving his friends a ride. Bonilla, however, did not himself have a weapon and he is not reported to have expressed a purpose to kill Helm. He had no apparent individual motive to do so, and appears to have been swept up in the frenzy of the mob. See Frendak, 408 A.2d at 371 (contrasting premeditation of first-degree murder with impetuosity of second-degree murder in orgy of frenzied activity). Thus, while we agree with appellant (and the government concedes) that the erroneous aiding and abetting instruction may have led the jury to find him guilty of first-degree murder without finding that he had the requisite specific intent to kill with premeditation and deliberation, we disagree with appellant that the evidence is insufficient to enter instead a conviction for second-degree murder. Appellant is correct to point out that the erroneous aiding and abetting instruction would have been error and no less plain in the context of second-degree murder. But appellant fails to persuade us that the error affected his substantial rights if he were to stand convicted of second-degree murder. Here, the evidence was such that appellant would have been convicted of second-degree murder independent of the error. See Kidd, 940 A.2d at 127 (Given the government's proof, ... there was no reasonable probability that the incorrect aiding and abetting instruction had a prejudicial effect on the outcome of [appellant's] trial.). While Bonilla did not deny that he drove the assailants, he tried to distance himself as much as he could from the crime. Bonilla testified on direct examination that although he agreed to take appellant Robes-Benevides, Velásquez and Ventura in his car, he did so unwittingly and remained unaware of his passengers' motive until Velásquez ordered him to stop the car and saw Velásquez knife Helm. Bonilla testified that he stepped out of the car to close the doors that his passengers left open, and tried to flee the scene. But, according to Bonilla, Velásquez caught up with him when he was stopped at a red light, and Bonilla was too afraid to ask Velásquez to leave. Salamanca corroborated parts of Bonilla's testimony. He said that although he was blacked out when everyone got in the car, he woke up in time to see Velásquez reenter the car and order Bonilla to drive him to a gambling hall. If the jury had accepted Bonilla's story, not only would they have acquitted him of first-degree murder while armed, but also of conspiracy to assault or to commit murder. Although the conviction for first-degree murder is tainted by the erroneous aiding and abetting instruction, however, the conspiracy conviction is not. Thus, the jury clearly believed that Bonilla (1) shared a common understanding with his coconspirators that they were going after Helm to assault or kill him; (2) undertook to deliver the assailants to Helm; and (3) one of the coconspirators committed an overt act-which may have included Bonilla's driving them. See Pearsall v. United States, 812 A.2d 953, 960 (D.C.2002) (The elements of the crime of conspiracy to commit [a crime] are that: (1) two or more persons formed an agreement to commit a [crime]; (2) the defendant knowingly participated in the conspiracy with the intent to commit the offense; and (3) at least one person involved in the conspiracy committed one of the charged overt acts.). There was sufficient evidence for the jury to find that Bonilla conspired to assault and murder Helm. Contrary to Bonilla's testimony, both Rosa García and Benítez saw Bonilla waiting in the car with the doors open while his friends beat and killed Helm. Alemán saw him actually punch Helm before he reentered the car. Even if we take into account the weakness of each witness's testimony as discussed supra, Bonilla's own videotaped statement provided the strongest evidence that he knowingly involved himself in Helm's assault and murder: [Interpreter for Bonilla]: Theythey brought them with them to the car. When they got in the car they alreadythey already had them with them. [Police]: Okay, and [you] saw that? [Interpreter]: They already brought the knives. [Police]: Okay, but I'm saying [you] did see the knives? [Interpreter]: Yes. Bonilla, who had given this statement almost three weeks after the incident, tried to explain it away more than seven months later at trial. Bonilla explained that although he told the police that he had seen the knives when his passengers entered the car, I said that because presumably they were the ones who had the knives. They got out with the knives. But not that I had seen the knives. This explanation would have made little sense to the jury in light of Bonilla's testimony that he saw only Velásquez knifing Helm [71] although he reiterated that more than one person (they) had knives. The jury clearly discredited Bonilla's attempt to portray himself as a forced recruit by convicting him not only of first-degree murder while armed, but also of conspiracy to assault or to commit murder. See, e.g., Sparks v. United States, 755 A.2d 394, 399 (D.C.2000) ([I]t is the jury's province to resolve questions of credibility and to make reasonable inferences from the evidence.). Although Bonilla participated in the assault and may have known that the actual reason for driving his friends was to catch Helm, the evidence at most established that Bonilla participated with malice enough for conviction of second-degree murderbut not that he acted with premeditation and deliberation. See Kitt, 904 A.2d at 354 (reversing first-degree murder conviction for insufficient evidence where there was no proof that [defendant, who carried out a preconceived plan to rob and abduct] was carrying a handgun or that he was the shooter). In participating in the assault on Helm with the knowledge that one of his cohorts carried a knife, Bonilla acted with a wanton and willful disregard of an unreasonable risk to human life. There was no evidence that Bonilla was provoked or his actions justified, so as to mitigate a finding of malice. See Comber, 584 A.2d at 41. Therefore, since appellant had the requisite intent for second-degree murder, the erroneous aiding and abetting instruction would not affect appellant's substantial rights had he been convicted of second-degree murder. We therefore reverse Bonilla's conviction of first-degree murder while armed and remand the case to the trial court with instructions to vacate that conviction and enter judgment and resentence him for murder in the second degree while armed.