Opinion ID: 2015832
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Giving of the Instruction on Joint Criminal Conduct.

Text: The trial court instructed the jury as follows: When two or more persons act together and knowingly commit a crime, each is responsible for the other's acts during the commission of the crime or escape from the scene. The defendant's guilt is the same as the other person's unless the act could not reasonably be expected to be done in aiding the commission of the crime. This instruction mirrors Iowa Criminal Jury Instruction No. 207 (1988). The court did not give the jury an instruction on aiding and abetting. Jackson urges that the instruction given relates to the concept of joint criminal conduct as defined in Iowa Code section 703.2. Although he concedes that it would have been proper to give a standard aiding-and-abetting instruction pursuant to section 700.1, he argues that joint criminal conduct is a totally separate concept that had no application to the facts in the present case. In order to warrant a reversal, Jackson must show not only that the instruction in question exists for application in a different factual situation but also that using it in the present factual situation misstated his culpability in some material way. We do not believe that the instruction did that. This court has held in both State v. Thompson, 397 N.W.2d 679 (Iowa 1986), and State v. Kern, 307 N.W.2d 22 (Iowa 1981), that the giving of a joint criminal conduct instruction in instances in which the alleged multiple participants are either principals or aiders and abettors in the same crime does not require reversal if there is no opportunity for the defendant to have been found guilty based on anything other than his own conduct as a principal or an aider and abettor of the crime with which he is charged. Thompson, 397 N.W.2d at 685-86; Kern, 307 N.W.2d at 28. We are satisfied that this was the situation with regard to the court's instruction in the present case. We have considered all issues presented and conclude that the decision of the court of appeals and the judgment of the district court should be affirmed. DECISION OF THE COURT OF APPEALS AND JUDGMENT OF THE DISTRICT COURT AFFIRMED.