Opinion ID: 1978964
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Appellant's other convictions

Text: As discussed, Appellant was also found guilty of theft and abuse of a corpse. See supra note 14. However, she does not presently raise any specific challenge to these convictions. For example, she does not claim that she was coerced into committing these crimes or that the Bruton error infected these convictions. Rather, her arguments concerning both duress and Bruton are directed solely to the events leading up to the killing of Leslie White. The abuse of White's corpse and the stealing of her vehicle and camera were committed during a distinct time frame after the kidnapping and killing were complete. This is significant for both the duress and Bruton issues because Appellant never claimed to be under duress during this latter interval, and in any event, Appellant had several clear opportunities to escape Housman's alleged domination after the killing, including when she left the trailer alone to retrieve the tent, when she followed Housman to Virginia in a separate vehicle, and when she sat in Officer Vaughn's patrol car after Housman had gone back into his father's house. See Trial Court op. at 82-83. The only general claim raised by Appellant which, if successful, would undermine the validity of these convictions, is that the trial court's jury-unanimity instruction was ambiguous. In the guilt phase, the court charged the jury as follows: All votes are equal on the jury, ladies and gentlemen. I remind you to put something on the slip, your verdict must be unanimous. And obviously that means each one of you must agree to it before you put it down on a slip. N.T. 1231. Trial counsel later unsuccessfully requested that the judge inform the jurors in more detail concerning the requirement of unanimity by including a portion of Appellant's suggested charge. See id. at 1233. Appellant argues that the above instruction constituted error, as it failed to clarify that each juror must individually agree that the verdict reached is an appropriate one. She states that her suggested instruction tracked Pennsylvania's standard instruction which, in addition to the above, includes the following admonition: Each of you must decide the case for him- or herself, but only after there has been impartial consideration with your fellow jurors. In the course of deliberations, each juror should not hesitate to re-examine his or her own views and change his or her opinion if convinced it is erroneous. However, no juror should surrender an honest conviction as to the weight or effect of the evidence solely because of the opinion of his or her fellow jurors, or for the mere purpose of returning a verdict. Pennsylvania Standard Jury Instruction 7.05 (Crim). Appellant maintains that, without the above clarification, the charge left open the possibility that a juror might agree to a verdict simply because the court had directed that any verdict must be unanimous  as opposed to the juror agreeing to the verdict as a result of his or her honest opinion. A trial court has broad discretion in phrasing its charge, and will only be found to have erred where there is an abuse of discretion or an inaccurate statement of the law. See Commonwealth v. Hall, 549 Pa. 269, 303, 701 A.2d 190, 207 (1997). Where an instruction is alleged to be ambiguous, the standard for review is whether there is a reasonable likelihood that the jury applied it in a manner that violates the Constitution. See Estelle v. McGuire, 502 U.S. 62, 72, 112 S.Ct. 475, 482, 116 L.Ed.2d 385 (1991). Here, the trial court plainly stated that each juror must agree to the verdict before it can become a verdict. Thus, Appellant's argument that the jury might have misunderstood the meaning of unanimity is highly speculative and, as well, contrary to the judge's express statement that all votes carry equal weight. In short, Appellant's claim is insufficient to raise a reasonable probability that the jury misapplied the instruction. Accordingly, the trial court's unanimity charge did not constitute reversible error.