Opinion ID: 1058506
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Jarvis Shipp Accomplice Instruction

Text: The defendant asserts that the trial court erred by instructing the jury they were to determine as a question of fact whether or not Jarvis Shipp was an accomplice to the crime. The State asserts the defendant waived this issue by failing to object to the charge given the jury. Alternatively, the State argues that any error was harmless because Shipp's testimony was corroborated abundantly by James's testimony and other evidence, as the Court of Criminal Appeals found. When the facts concerning a witness's participation are clear and undisputed, the trial court determines as a matter of law whether the witness is an accomplice. Ripley v. State, 189 Tenn. 681, 687, 227 S.W.2d 26, 29 (1950); State v. Perkinson, 867 S.W.2d 1, 7 (Tenn.Crim.App. 1992). If the facts are disputed or susceptible to different inferences, the jury must decide as a question of fact whether the witness is an accomplice. Perkinson, 867 S.W.2d at 7. The test generally applied is whether the witness could be indicted for the same offense charged against the defendant. Monts v. State, 214 Tenn. 171, 191, 379 S.W.2d 34, 43 (1964). In this case, the facts were not disputed, and the trial court should have instructed the jury to consider Shipp an accomplice as a matter of law. However, the defendant failed to object to the trial court's instruction and thus waived the issue. Furthermore, even considering the merits of the issue, the error is harmless because James's testimony and Dr. Deering's testimony sufficiently corroborated Shipp's description of the events so that the evidence is sufficient to support the jury's verdict of first degree murder. This issue is without merit.