Opinion ID: 765955
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Beeman Error

Text: 17 All parties agree that the aiding and abetting instruction given the trial jury was erroneous under People v. Beeman, 674 P.2d 1318, 35 Cal. 3d 547 (1984), as it failed to instruct the jury to find intent to encourage or facilitate the criminal offense. The Supreme Court ruled in California v. Roy, 519 U.S. 2 (1996), that federal courts reviewing such claims must determine only whether the error `had substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict,'  Brecht, 507 U.S. at 637 (quoting Kotteakos , 328 U.S. at 776). Tapia contends, however, that Roy does not control, as in his case -- unlike Roy -- no state court ever reviewed the Beeman error under the Chapman, 386 U.S. at 24, harmless beyond a reasonable doubt standard of harmless error review. Thus, Tapia argues the district court was required to conduct Chapman review of the error, which he believes would lead to a grant of relief. 18 We need not decide whether Brecht or Chapman review is appropriate to the determination of whether the Beeman error was harmless in this case, as the error was harmless under either standard. Cf. Hanna, 87 F.3d at 1038 n.2 (refusing to decide issue as error was not harmless under either standard). 2 The jury's separate determinationthat Tapia was guilty of special circumstances related to both murders shows that it necessarily determined that Tapia had or shared the specific intent to kill both of the victims, the equivalent of finding the omitted intent to encourage or facilitate the criminal offense element of aiding and abetting in these circumstances. Thus, if the jury did find Tapia guilty on an aiding and abetting theory, rather than as the actual perpetrator, the omission of the intent element from the aiding and abetting instruction could not have had an injurious effect or influence in determining [their] verdict, Brecht, 507 U.S. at 637, and was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Chapman, 386 U.S. at 24. 3