Opinion ID: 2159630
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Argument and Instruction

Text: The government told the jury in its opening statement that it would prove that Felder was the triggerman: Mr. Gantt tussles, turns, breaks away, and is running away from Mr. Felder, with his back to Mr. Felder. He made one step, he made two steps, and then the driving force behind this agreement [to commit a robbery] pulled out the .22 long barrel six shot western style revolver and fired one shot into the back of Ruben Gantt who was running away from him. The government also told the jury in its opening statement that the evidence would show that when the three men arrived at the Newton apartment, Felder was nervous and upset for a greater reason than Bellinger and Myles because he pulled the trigger. The prosecutor, in explaining the evidence it would present on the carrying a pistol without a license offense, told the jury that Bellinger's testimony would put that pistol right in the hand of Donnell Felder pulling the trigger. As it indicated it would in its opening statement, the government presented its case to the jury on the theory that Felder was the triggerman. It did so by presenting the testimony of Bellinger and Penn, both who identified Felder as the triggerman. In addition, it presented testimony by Newton who testified to admissions made by Felder, which, the government urged, tended to suggest he was the triggerman. The testimony of Newton was impeached by defense testimony that Newton was an habitual drug user who was freebasing cocaine when Felder and the others arrived at her apartment on the day in question. The testimony of the expert, Phillips, that the shot that had killed Gantt had been fired from a distance no greater than one inch from Gantt, i.e., it was likely a contact shot, presented a problem to the government's theory that Felder was the triggerman. Bellinger testified that Felder shot Gantt as Gantt was running away from Felder toward Bellinger. Indeed, Bellinger testified that he was surprised that Felder shot Gantt when Bellinger was in the line of fire. The other government eye-witness, Penn, puts Felder eighteen to twenty-one feet from Gantt when, Penn says, Felder shot Gantt. Both these versions (Bellinger's and Penn's) seem to be at odds with the expert testimony presented by the government's own expert about a contact shooting. On the other hand, a contact shooting by Bellinger was consistent with the testimony of Felder in his own defense that he heard a gunshot shortly after seeing Bellinger interlocked, struggling with Gantt. With the case in this posture, the court met with counsel to settle instructions. The government requested that the court instruct the jury on second-degree murder as a lesser included offense of felony murder. Felder objected. The court overruled the objection. [2] The government also asked for an aiding and abetting instruction since the prosecutor stated he intended to ask the jury to convict Felder on alternative theories  either as the triggerman or as an aider and abettor of the triggerman. Based on this position of the government, Felder requested a special unanimity instruction. The trial court denied this request. The court gave the standard instructions on all the offenses as well as aiding and abetting. In addition, the court said it would instruct on accomplice liability to the charge of felony murder. The instruction on the offense of carrying a pistol without a license said: The essential elements of the offense of carrying a pistol without a license, each of which the Government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt, are: 1. That the defendant carried openly or concealed on or about his person, a pistol; 2. That the pistol was operable; 3. That the defendant was not licensed to carry the pistol by the Chief of Police of the District of Columbia; and 4. That he had the intent to do the acts which constitute the carrying of a pistol without a license. Criminal Jury Instructions for the District of Columbia, No. 4.81 (3d ed. 1978). In closing argument, the government urged the jury to convict Felder on the theory that he was the triggerman. Alternatively, the prosecutor urged the jury to convict Felder of felony murder, even if it was not satisfied that he was the triggerman since the evidence indicated he at least aided and abetted the attempted armed robbery of Gantt, which resulted in Gantt's death.