Opinion ID: 1058965
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Capital Murder Conviction Based Upon Murder of More Than One Person in Three Years

Text: The Commonwealth introduced the testimony of Sergeant Major Mark Spicer (Spicer) of the British Armed Forces as an expert in sniper methodology. His testimony and the direct and circumstantial evidence presented to the jury are more than sufficient to support, beyond a reasonable doubt, Muhammad's conviction for the capital murder of Dean Meyers and others within three years. Spicer testified that sniping is the ability of two men to go out and inflict injuries or kill people and more importantly spread terror across a much larger force. While acknowledging that a sniper can act alone or in a team of three, he stated, the basic unit for a sniper team . . . is . . . a two-man unit. Spicer testified at length about the distinct responsibilities of each member of a two-man sniper unit. Essentially, one member of the team is the long-range shooter occupying an obscured position with the opportunity to shoot a particular victim. Because of the intensity and discipline required to take advantage of the narrow window of opportunity to take the long-range shot, the other member of the team, the spotter, informs the long-range shooter by radio that the victim is coming within the zone of potential fire and that other circumstances are ripe for the shot. The spotter may ultimately give the order to shoot. Spicer connected the evidence found by police investigators in this case to the tools and methods ordinarily used by a sniper team. The .223 caliber Bushmaster rifle used in at least ten of the shootings, including Dean Meyers, is equivalent to the M4 rifle used by military snipers. Additionally, sniper teams use tools such as those found in the Caprice: a bipod support system for support of the rifle; holographic and telescopic scopes to aid sighting; GPS equipment to locate and relocate a vantage point for the long-range shot; walkie-talkie handheld radio sets for communication; pocket recording equipment for recording data in the dark, bungee cords for easy break down of the rifle for transportation; maps; silencers. Spicer also testified about the methodology of a sniper team which was supported by the evidence in this case. Spicer emphasized the constant training with the rifle to maintain skills, the creation of a camouflaged location for firing, the use of existing traffic to facilitate escape, and the team approach with a spotter who is armed with a handgun and may additionally participate in the assault by firing from close range. With regard to the Caprice, Spicer testified about the alterations made to it to facilitate the methodology of the sniper team. The rear firewall had been removed from the Caprice to provide entry into the trunk from the passenger compartment. The trunk compartment had been spray-painted a dark color to minimize contrast and shadow to avoid detection in the event the trunk was opened. Finally, Spicer gave particular significance to the peculiar hole placed in the back of the trunk lid that enlarged the field of vision while minimizing the ability to see the person in the trunk. He referred to this special process as implementing the castle principle making reference to ancient methods of protecting the castle while minimizing danger to the shooter and maximizing the range of fire. The Commonwealth presented compelling evidence that such a sniper team methodology was used by Muhammad and Malvo in multiple shootings prior to and after the murder of Dean Myers. Perhaps no one or two incidents could reasonably confirm the use of this methodology by the two perpetrators of this unique criminal enterprise. But in its entirety, the weight of the direct and circumstantial evidence in the case is sufficient to prove that Muhammad and Malvo acted together as a sniper team.
Muhammad was convicted under Code ง 18.2-31(8), of the willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing of Dean Meyers and others within a three-year period. He maintains, Only the immediate perpetrator of a homicide, the one who fired the fatal shot, and not an accessory before the fact or a principal in the second degree, may be convicted of capital murder. He claims that under the Commonwealth's theory of the case, Muhammad could never be the triggerman as defined in our cases. It is well-established that in felony cases: A principal in the first degree is the actual perpetrator of the crime. A principal in the second degree, or an aider or abettor as he is sometimes termed, is one who is present, actually or constructively, assisting the perpetrator in the commission of the crime. In order to make a person a principal in the second degree actual participation in the commission of the crime is not necessary. The test is whether or not he was encouraging, inciting, or in some manner offering aid in the commission of the crime. If he was present lending countenance, or otherwise aiding while another did the act, he is an aider and abettor or principal in the second degree. Jones v. Commonwealth, 208 Va. 370, 372-73, 157 S.E.2d 907, 909 (1967). A principal in the second degree must share the criminal intent of the actual perpetrator or be guilty of some overt act. Hall v. Commonwealth, 225 Va. 533, 536, 303 S.E.2d 903, 904 (1983). That there may be more than one principal in the first degree for a particular offense is beyond dispute: Where two people engage in criminal conduct together, as where they participate in striking and killing another, each participant is a principal in the first degree in the homicide. Likewise, where part of a crime is committed in one place and another part is committed in a different place, the author of each part is a principal in the first degree. 1 Wharton's Criminal Law ง 30 (15th ed.1993). Generally in Virginia, a principal in the second degree is subject to the same punishment as the principal in the first degree. Taylor v. Commonwealth, 260 Va. 683, 687-88, 537 S.E.2d 592, 594 (2000). However, with the exception of capital murder prosecutions for a killing for hire, or a killing pursuant to the direction or order of one who is engaged in a continuing criminal enterprise, or a killing pursuant to the direction or order of one who is engaged in the commission of or attempted commission of an act of terrorism, an accessory before the fact or principal in the second degree to a capital murder shall be indicted, tried, convicted and punished as though the offense were murder in the first degree. Code ง 18.2-18. Accordingly, pursuant to the charge of capital murder based upon killing of two or more persons within a three-year period, the Commonwealth must prove that Muhammad was a principal in the first degree. The euphemism, triggerman, is inadequate to describe the breadth of criminal responsibility subject to the death penalty in Virginia. Immediately and obviously, capital murder cases are not confined to murders completed by the instrumentality of a firearm. Recognizing this inadequacy, our capital murder cases routinely use the term immediate perpetrator as the appropriate descriptive term. The term is not new, having been used as early as 1880 in our case law. Mitchell v. Commonwealth, 74 Va. (33 Gratt.) 845, 868 (1880). Muhammad argues in assignments of error 66 and 69 that the trial court erred in giving instructions 4 (capital murder finding instruction) and 9 (defining principals in the first and second degree), and further argues in assignments of error 71 and 73 that the trial court erred in refusing to give his proffered instruction J (concerning multiple killings) and L (concerning the definition of a principal in the first and principal in the second degree). Muhammad's quarrel with the instructions is a function of his disagreement over the scope of the concept of immediate perpetrator for the purposes of the capital murder statutes. He further argues that the instructions at issue confuse the concept of principal in the first degree with the requirements of principal in the second degree and undermine the concept of aiding and abetting. Instruction 4 required Muhammad to be a princip[al] in the first degree, as defined in Instruction No. 9 for the jury to convict for capital murder. The pertinent part of Instruction 9 states: A principal in the first degree is the immediate perpetrator of the offense. Where two or more persons take a direct part in inflicting fatal injuries, each joint participant is an immediate perpetrator for the purpose of proving capital murder. The principal in the second degree is a person who is present, aiding and abetting, by helping in some way in the commission of the crime. Presence and consent alone are not sufficient to constitute aiding and abetting. It must be shown the Defendant, John Allen Muhammad, intended his word, gestures, signals or actions to in some way, encourage, advise or urge, or in some way help the person committing the crime commit it . . . . In Strickler v. Commonwealth, 241 Va. 482, 404 S.E.2d 227, cert. denied, 502 U.S. 944, 112 S.Ct. 386, 116 L.Ed.2d 337 (1991), we reviewed a capital murder conviction wherein the Commonwealth's theory of the case was that Strickler and Henderson had acted jointly to accomplish the actual killing of the victim by crushing her skull with a 69-pound rock. Id. at 494, 404 S.E.2d at 235. The evidence was consistent with the Commonwealth's argument that one of the two men held the victim immobile while the other dropped or threw the rock on her head. Citing Coppola v. Commonwealth, 220 Va. 243, 256-57, 257 S.E.2d 797, 806 (1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1103, 100 S.Ct. 1069, 62 L.Ed.2d 788 (1980), where we held that a defendant who jointly participated in [a] fatal beating was subject to conviction and punishment for capital murder, we restated the rule of culpability for capital murder as follows: We adhere to the view that where two or more persons take a direct part in inflicting fatal injuries, each joint participant is an immediate perpetrator for the purposes of the capital murder statutes. Strickler, 241 Va. at 495, 404 S.E.2d at 235. This rule has been reaffirmed in several cases since Strickler. See Lenz v. Warden, 265 Va. 373, 381, 579 S.E.2d 194, 199 (2003); Remington v. Commonwealth, 262 Va. 333, 349-50, 551 S.E.2d 620, 630 (2001), cert. denied, 535 U.S. 1062, 122 S.Ct. 1928, 152 L.Ed.2d 834 (2002); Williams, 248 Va. at 545, 450 S.E.2d at 376; Hancock v. Commonwealth, 12 Va.App. 774, 779-81, 407 S.E.2d 301, 304-05 (1991). In Lenz and Remington, two criminal actors were immediate perpetrators because they jointly participated in the fatal stabbing. Remington, 262 Va. at 350, 551 S.E.2d at 630. Another category of multiple actors who may be immediate perpetrators was established in Strickler. The Court held that the evidence supported the Commonwealth's theory that one actor held the victim while the other actor dropped a large rock on her head. We observed that it would have been necessary that she be held down by one assailant while the other lifted the rock and dropped it on her head. Strickler, 241 Va. at 494, 404 S.E.2d at 235. As established in Strickler, conduct of two criminal actors may be such that they jointly complete the criminal act. It is not a matter of encouraging, advising, urging, or facilitating another in the commission of the crime. It is the actual participation together in a unified act that permits two or more persons to be immediate perpetrators. In Strickler, the Commonwealth advanced its theory concerning how the murder was accomplished. Our review on appeal considered whether the evidence supported the theory. Similarly, we must consider the evidence in support of the Commonwealth's theory of how Muhammad and Malvo acted together in the murder of Dean Meyers. Spicer's expert testimony, the evidence recovered from the Caprice, the evidence from the 16 shootings, and the additional evidence concerning Malvo and Muhammad's relationship and activities support the Commonwealth's theory of the case. Muhammad and Malvo and the Caprice were identified in the immediate vicinity of Dean Meyers' murder approximately one hour before it occurred. Immediately after the murder, Muhammad was identified in the parking lot across the street from where Meyers was shot. Muhammad was driving the Caprice in which he and Malvo were later arrested. Ballistics tests determined that the bullet that killed Meyers was shot from the .223 caliber Bushmaster rifle found in the Caprice with Muhammad and Malvo when they were arrested. The Caprice was located in a position providing a direct line of fire to accomplish the murder. Significantly, the shot from the parking lot had to cross nine lanes of traffic on a heavily traveled highway at approximately 8:15 p.m. on a weekday evening. With the relatively small portal offered by the hole in the trunk of the Caprice and the obstacle presented by nine traffic lanes, the evidence supports the Commonwealth's theory of a shooter and a spotter and the direction by the spotter to shoot at the opportune time. As in Strickler, we review the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth to determine if it is sufficient to support the Commonwealth's theory. 241 Va. at 485, 404 S.E.2d at 230. Upon review of that evidence, we cannot say that the trial court was plainly wrong or without evidence to support its judgment. The jury instructions given by the trial court accurately conveyed applicable law without confusion to the jury. Furthermore, Instructions J and L offered by Muhammad did not embrace a correct definition of immediate perpetrator and were properly refused by the trial court. The theory of the Commonwealth concerning multiple immediate perpetrators acting as principals in the first degree accurately encompasses Virginia law. The jury instructions in question properly instructed the jury on the law and the facts of the case.