Opinion ID: 2390272
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: failure to object to portions of the charge to the jury during the guilt phase and penalty phase

Text: Here, Appellant first argues that trial counsel was ineffective in failing to object so that the trial court could charge the jury that if the jury found that the murder took place during the commission of a felony it could find that the killing was murder of the second degree. This argument is totally without merit. There is no duty on a trial judge to charge a jury upon law which has no applicability to the facts as presented to the jury. There must be some relationship between the law upon which an instruction is required and the evidence presented at trial. Commonwealth v. Zettlemoyer, 500 Pa. 16, 72-73, 454 A.2d 937, 967 (1982); Commonwealth v. Frey, 504 Pa. 428, 450 n. 10, 475 A.2d 700, 711 n. 10 (1984). ( See also, Commonwealth v. Toledo, 365 Pa.Superior Ct. 224, 529 A.2d 480 (1987), for a discussion concerning the inappropriateness of charging on law without regard to the evidence adduced at trial.) The lower court correctly noted that no evidence was presented to show that the murder took place during the commission of a felony. An objection to the charge would have had no merit and there can be no finding of ineffectiveness. Similarly, Appellant charges trial counsel with ineffectiveness for failing to object to the trial court's charge on murder of the third degree because it did not indicate that voluntary intoxication or drugged condition could reduce the degree of murder to murder of the third degree, since there was some evidence to indicate that Appellant had consumed alcohol and marijuana prior to the victim's death. For a charge to have been given on intoxication, the evidence would have to show that the Appellant was overwhelmed or overpowered by alcohol to the point of losing his faculties so as to be incapable of forming a specific intent to kill. Commonwealth v. Breakiron, 524 Pa. 282, 571 A.2d 1035 (1990); Commonwealth v. Reiff, 489 Pa. 12, 413 A.2d 672 (1980); Commonwealth v. Kichline, 468 Pa. 265, 361 A.2d 282 (1975). No such evidence exists in this record and, in fact, Appellant himself testified on more than one occasion that he was not drunk and that he was aware of everything that took place. Since the evidence does not support a finding of intoxication, the trial court was not required to charge on this issue and trial counsel was not ineffective for failing to request such a charge. Appellant, relying on his misreading of the record as supportive of a finding of intoxication on his part, also argues that counsel was ineffective for failing to ask the trial court to charge the jury at the penalty phase to consider his intoxication or drug use as a mitigating factor. Again we must conclude that the evidence was not sufficient to warrant such a charge since Appellant himself testified that he was not drunk and that he was aware of everything that took place on the night of the murder. A request for a charge on this point would have been meritless and counsel cannot be found ineffective for failing to pursue a meritless claim. Finally, Appellant argues that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the trial court's instruction to the jury concerning the requirements which must be present for the jury to find as a mitigating circumstance that the defendant acted under extreme duress. Appellant argues that the trial court deviated from the statutory language in that it failed to explain that the duress need not be such duress as to constitute a defense to a duress prosecution under 18 Pa.C.S. § 309. Appellant claims that our decision in Commonwealth v. Frey, 504 Pa. 428, 475 A.2d 700 (1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 963, 105 S.Ct. 360, 83 L.Ed.2d 296 (1984), supports his argument, but a closer examination of that decision refutes his claim. Frey, like Appellant, did not use duress as a defense and then attempted to take advantage of the trial court's charge that did not exactly mirror the Sentencing Code by arguing that the charge was defective and required that the sentence of death be vacated. We rejected this claim and noted that since duress was not a defense proposed by the defendant, it was irrelevant that the trial court did not charge pursuant to the exact language of the statute. Commonwealth v. Frey , 504 at 441-442, 475 A.2d at 707. Only where the defective charge can be shown to inject passion, prejudice or some other arbitrary factor into the deliberative process will grounds exist for us to vacate a sentence of death. Frey, at 437, 475 A.2d at 704. Appellant did not argue that extreme duress caused him to murder the victim, rather he argued his innocence and pointed a finger at Ms. Emmil as the killer. Thus, while the charge may have been less than perfect, it was irrelevant and Appellant cannot show how the charge so infected the deliberative process as to render the verdict of death constitutionally impermissible. That being the case, a request to correct the charge would have been superfluous and counsel was not ineffective for failing to pursue this issue.