Opinion ID: 1116120
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: common scheme and plan

Text: [2] Defendants next argue that the trial court erred by not defining the phrase common scheme or plan. If an element of a crime is not a matter of common understanding, then the trial court must define it for the jury. State v. Davis, 27 Wn. App. 498, 618 P.2d 1034 (1980). Commonly understood words require no definition. Seattle v. Richard Bockman Land Corp., 8 Wn. App. 214, 505 P.2d 168 (1973). Whether words used in an instruction require definition is a matter of judgment to be exercised by the trial judge. State v. Schimmelpfennig, 92 Wn.2d 95, 594 P.2d 442 (1979). While the trial court did not explicitly define the phrase, one of the instructions given by the court made it clear that the common scheme or plan requirement applied to the victims. In instruction 11, the court informed the jury that in order to find a defendant guilty, the jury must find that  both Gene Allen Viernes and Silme Domingo died ... as a result of a common scheme or plan; ... (Italics ours.) Clerk's Papers, at 28. Even had the trial court not given such instruction, it would not have abused its discretion as the phrase common scheme or plan are words of common understanding. These words are found in daily use and are not technical nor were they used in any special legal sense. [3] Defendants further contend that the evidence was insufficient to show a common scheme or plan. They argue that there was no original plan to kill Domingo, but that he was killed to protect the identity of the defendants. The standard for determining whether the evidence was sufficient is whether, after viewing the evidence most favorable to the State, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Green, 94 Wn.2d 216, 616 P.2d 628 (1980). There was evidence presented from which the jury could conclude that the murders of Viernes and Domingo were part of a common scheme or plan. They were both part of the reform movement in the union that was hindering the gambling conspiracy. They were also members of the executive board of the union that determined the union dispatch procedures which prevented Tulisan from sending members to Alaska. There was testimony that both Domingo and Viernes reviewed the dispatch procedures with the union's attorney. Domingo was a cofounder of the Rank and File Committee in the union, whose purpose was to reform certain old practices in the union and organize opposition to eroding union management. Finally, Ramil had called shortly before the murders took place and talked to Domingo. Thus, Ramil had good reason to suspect that Domingo would be present when Viernes would be killed. We hold that there was substantial evidence for any rational trier of fact to find that a common scheme or plan existed to kill both Viernes and Domingo. Defendants' final argument regarding the aggravated murder statute deals with the alternative method, under RCW 10.95.020(8), of finding an aggravating circumstance. RCW 10.95.020(8) provides that an aggravating circumstance can be proved by showing that the murders were part of a common scheme or plan or the result of a single act of the person. Defendants assert that the trial court's instruction on what constitutes a single act was incorrect. The trial court instructed the jury as follows: A single act means that the crimes alleged in Counts I and II are alleged to be part of a continuous transaction, and set in motion by a single unintermittent force. Clerk's Papers, at 26. Defendants argue that this definition is too broad  that a single act is just that, a single act, and not a continuous transaction. They allege that multiple murders caused by a bomb or arson would come within the definition of a single act but not multiple murders committed by a person using a gun unless one bullet killed more than one person. [4] We have already read the term single act broadly enough to encompass multiple murders committed by a lone gunman. In State v. Kincaid, 103 Wn.2d 304, 692 P.2d 823 (1985), the defendant first killed his estranged wife's sister with a shotgun and then moments later killed his estranged wife. We held that both murders were the result of a single act. A reading of the aggravated murder statute supports our interpretation. Subsection (8) of RCW 10.95.020 is the only section that takes into account the murder of more than one victim. Multiple murders are apt to occur in one of two ways. First, the murderer can have a plan to kill more than one person. Thus, multiple murders can be an aggravating circumstance even though not linked by time. Second, even though there is no plan involved, a murderer can kill more than one person in the course of a very short period of time involving one continuous act, i.e., the present case. We hold that the trial court's instruction on what constitutes a single act was correct. There is no valid reason for characterizing multiple murders that occur by bombing differently than those caused by consecutive gunshots.