Opinion ID: 1203626
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: felony-murder jury instruction

Text: The defendant's first assignment of error involves the instructions given to the jury regarding felony-murder. [3] The State's case was based on the theory that Stacy and Mayle, working together, first attempted an armed robbery of the McDonald's in Ohio on the morning of December 14, 1981. The two men then stole a car belonging to one of the McDonald's employees and travelled to the nine hundred block of Fifth Avenue West in Huntington. A tape deck and several eight-track tapes were removed from the stolen car and were later discovered in Stacy's vehicle. While walking from the abandoned stolen car to Stacy's car, which had earlier been parked in the nineteen hundred block of Jefferson Avenue, Mayle and Stacy encountered Officer Harmon who was involved in a police stake-out of a possible breaking and entering at a gasoline station nearby. In order to escape, either Mayle or Stacy beat Office Harmon with his own flashlight, and then Stacy shot him five times with his service revolver. Based on this theory presented by the State, the following jury instructions were given: State's Instruction No. 5: The Court instructs the jury that murder by poison, lying in wait, imprisonment, starving, or any wilful, deliberate and premediated [sic] killing, or in the commission of or attempt to commit robbery is murder of the first degree. State's Instruction No. 8: The Court instructs the jury that the crime of felony-murder in this State does not require proof of the elements of malice, premeditation or specific intent to kill. It is deemed sufficient if the homicide occurs, even accidentally, during the commission of or the attempt to commit robbery. The Court further instructs the jury that the felony-murder rule applies where the initial robbery or attempt to commit robbery and the homicide were parts of one continuous transaction, and were closely related in point of time, place and causual [sic] connection, as where the killing was done in flight from the scene of the robbery to prevent detection or promote escape. Therefore, if you find the defendant, Bobby Dean Stacy, robbed or attempted to rob the McDonald's in Ohio, and that during his flight from McDonalds [sic], Paul J. Harmon was killed by Bobby Dean Stacy in order to prevent detection or promote escape, then you may find Bobby Dean Stacy guilty of first degree murder as applied by the felony murder [sic] rule. The defendant contends it was reversible error for the trial court to instruct the jury on felony-murder without also instructing on each essential element of the underlying felony of robbery and on the State's burden of proving the underlying felony beyond a reasonable doubt. The State argues that even though the trial court failed to properly instruct the jury on the State's burden of proving its case beyond a reasonable doubt with these two instructions, the trial court did repeatedly instruct the jury that the State must prove its case against Stacy beyond a reasonable doubt. [4] Furthermore, the State contends that the two instructions concerning the felony-murder rule are proper statements of law. The general rule in West Virginia is that [a]n instruction to the jury is proper if it is a correct statement of the law and if sufficient evidence has been offered at trial to support it. State v. Hall, ___ W.Va.___, 298 S.E.2d 246, 255 (1982); See also State v. Shaffer, 138 W.Va. 197, 75 S.E.2d 217 (1953); State v. Painter, 135 W.Va. 106, 63 S.E.2d 86, 96 (1950). The instructions given to the jury in this case cannot be considered to be proper statements of the law. Even though the defendant at trial failed to object to the instructions which are now at issue, [i]n this jurisdiction it has been established that the giving of an erroneous instruction raises a presumption of prejudice. State v. Romine, 166 W.Va. 135, 272 S.E.2d 680, 682 (1980); See State v. Mason, 162 W.Va. 297, 249 S.E.2d 793 (1978). As stated in Romine, [i]t clearly follows that if the court's instructions are erroneous as to the law the jury's ultimate finding will likely be erroneous. Therefore, it is imperative that the court's instructions properly inform the jury of the applicable law. 272 S.E.2d at 682. Rule 52(b) of the West Virginia Rules of Criminal Procedure provides that [p]lain errors or defects affecting substantial rights may be noticed although they were not brought to the attention of the court. [5] The plain error doctrine enables this Court to take notice of error, including instructional error occurring during the proceedings, even though such error was not brought to the attention of the trial court. State v. England, ___ W.Va. ___, 376 S.E.2d 548, 554 (1988). Even though this Court will not ordinarily recognize plain error ... even of constitutional magnitude, where the giving of the erroneous instruction did not substantially impair the truth-finding function of the trial, in this case it is clear that the lower court's failure to properly instruct the jury as to the state's constitutional duty in proving the elements of the underlying felony in felony-murder substantially impaired the truth-finding function at trial and constitutes reversible error. State v. Armstrong, ___ W.Va. ___, 369 S.E.2d 870, 880-81 (1988) (citing Syl.Pt. 2, State v. Hutchinson, ___ W.Va. ___, 342 S.E.2d 138, 139 (1986)); See also Syl.Pt. 18, State v. Thomas, 157 W.Va. 640, 203 S.E.2d 445, 449 (1974). The reason we find the instructions given in this case to be erroneous is that the instructions failed to inform the jury that the State had the burden of proving all the elements of the underlying felony involved in felony-murder. W.Va.Code § 61-2-1 [1987] defines felony-murder as [m]urder ... in the commission of, or attempt to commit, arson, sexual assault, robbery or burglary.... Further, in Syl.Pt. 7, State v. Sims, 162 W.Va. 212, 248 S.E.2d 834, 836 (1978) this Court held that: The crime of felony-murder in this State does not require proof of the elements of malice, premeditation or specific intent to kill. It is deemed sufficient if the homicide occurs accidentally during the commission, or the attempt to commit, one of the enumerated felonies. To obtain a conviction under the felonymurder portion of Code, 61-2-1, the State is required to prove (1) the commission of, or attempt to commit, one or more of the enumerated felonies; (2) the defendant's participation in such commission or attempt; and (3) the death of the victim as a result of injuries received during the course of such commission or attempt. State v. Williams, ___ W.Va. ___, 305 S.E.2d 251, 267 (1983). While we have never addressed the issue of whether the jury must be specifically instructed as to the elements of the underlying felony in felony-murder cases, we have previously held [i]n a criminal prosecution, the State is required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt every material element of the crime with which the defendant is charged, and it is error for the court to instruct the jury in such a manner as to require it to accept a presumption as proof beyond a reasonable doubt of any material element of the crime with which the defendant is charged.... Syl.Pt. 4, State v. Pendry, 159 W.Va. 738, 227 S.E.2d 210, 213 (1976), overruled in part on other grounds, Jones v. Warden, West Virginia Penitentiary, 161 W.Va. 168, 241 S.E.2d 914 (1978), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 830, 99 S.Ct. 107, 58 L.Ed.2d 125 (1978). See State v. Sanders 161 W.Va. 399, 242 S.E.2d 554, 555-56 (1978), overruled in part on other grounds, State ex rel. White v. Mohn, 168 W.Va. 211, 283 S.E.2d 914 (1981). Further, in two cases which were previously before this Court involving felony-murder, the trial court did instruct the jury regarding the underlying felony involved. See State v. Humphrey, ___ W.Va.___, 351 S.E.2d 613, 620 (1986); State v. Young, ___ W.Va. ___, 311 S.E.2d 118, 133 (1983). [6] Similar cases before courts in other jurisdictions involving felony-murder have alluded to the fact that the jury was instructed as to the underlying felony. See Mancuso v. Harris, 677 F.2d 206, 210-11 (2d Cir.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1019, 103 S.Ct. 382, 74 L.Ed.2d 514 (1982); Duffy v. State, 146 Ga.App. 400, 246 S.E.2d 420 (1978); People v. Thomas, 49 Ill.App.3d 961, 7 Ill.Dec. 480, 488-89, 364 N.E.2d 641, 649-50 (1977); Pruett v. State, 250 Ind. 359, 234 N.E.2d 501, 504 (1968); People v. Heard, 103 Mich.App. 571, 303 N.W.2d 240, 242 (1981); State v. Bowman, 165 N.J.Super. 531, 398 A.2d 908, 911 (1979); People v. Jordan, 143 A.D.2d 367, 532 N.Y.S.2d 409, 410 (1988); Irvin v. State, 617 P.2d 588, 597 (Okla.Crim.1980). Other courts have specifically held that failure to instruct the jury as to the underlying felony constitutes reversible error. See United States v. Williams, 463 F.2d 958, 962 (D.C.Cir.1972); Robles v. State, 188 So.2d 789, 793 (Fla.1966); People v. Mosley, 72 Mich.App. 289, 249 N.W.2d 393, 395 (1976), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 861, 98 S.Ct. 189, 54 L.Ed.2d 135 (1977); Commonwealth v. Shadron, 471 Pa. 461, 370 A.2d 697 (1977); Johnson v. Commonwealth, 221 Va. 736, 273 S.E.2d 784, 787 (1981), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 920, 102 S.Ct. 422, 70 L.Ed.2d 231 (1981). For instance, in the Williams case, the government utilized a felony-murder theory where the underlying felony was attempted robbery while armed. The defendant contended that the lower court erred in failing to instruct as to the elements of attempted armed robbery. Williams, 463 F.2d at 960. The court found that nowhere in the instructions given were the essential elements of attempted robbery, the underlying felony upon which the defendant's felony-murder conviction was based. Id. at 962. Consequently, the court held that it `placed great importance upon the manner in which a jury is instructed as to the elements of a crime. We have held that any omission of an element of a crime in the instructions to the jury is plain error....' Id. (citations omitted) Further, the Michigan Court of Appeals in Mosley addressing the same issue held that [e]ven absent any objection, if commission of the underlying felony is substantially in issue, it is incumbent upon the court to instruct on its elements. Failure to so instruct may constitute manifest injustice. 249 N.W.2d 395. (citations omitted). It is unquestionable that the commission of the underlying felony was substantially at issue in this case. Although there was circumstantial evidence presented at trial which connected the defendant to the robbery at the McDonald's in Ohio, there was no witness that could identify the defendant as the person who committed that robbery. Further, the State centered its case around the felony-murder rule, thereby placing the underlying felony substantially at issue. Thus, under the court's rationale in Mosley, the lower court in the present case should have instructed the jury regarding the underlying felony. Finally, we have held that robbery is a lesser included offense of felony-murder and that `[i]t has always been the law that a person cannot be punished for both a lesser included offense and the greater crime when the elements of the first are necessarily included in the elements of the second. (citations omitted).' State ex rel. Hall v. Strickler, 168 W.Va. 496, 285 S.E.2d 143, 144 (1981); (citing State ex rel. Johnson v. Hamilton, 164 W.Va. 682, 266 S.E.2d 125, 128-29 (1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1036, 101 S.Ct. 613, 66 L.Ed.2d 498 (1980), overruled in part on other grounds, State ex rel. Watson v. Ferguson, 166 W.Va. 337, 274 S.E.2d 440 (1980). See also Williams, 305 S.E.2d at 251, 266-68. It necessarily follows that since the underlying felony is an essential element of felony-murder, the jury, in order to convict a person of felony-murder, must be informed of what constitutes the underlying felony. The only logical way to accomplish this is to instruct the jury as to the elements of the underlying felony. This simply was not done in this case. We reverse based on the defendant's primary assignment of error regarding the insufficiency of jury instructions given at trial. We address the next assignment of error in order to give guidance to the trial court upon retrial.