Court Opinion

ID: 9758610
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 23:38:04.528632+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:53.414085
License: Public Domain

NIX, Justice,
dissenting.
The issue raised in this appeal is whether an individual charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter has a right to have the jury consider the charge of involuntary manslaughter as a possible verdict. The majority concludes that a defendant should be entitled to a requested instruction on involuntary manslaughter in all criminal homicide prosecutions. Not only do I believe that the result reached is most unwise and will ultimately do a great disservice to the law of this jurisdiction, I am equally convinced that the reasoning employed by the majority to reach its conclusion is unsound. Hence this dissent.
This appeal provided a unique opportunity to reconsider, in light of our new penal code,1 the troublesome problems of the permissible verdicts in a homicide prosecution. Rather than seizing upon this opportunity to consider the area afresh, the majority has persisted in attempting to incorporate a principle relied upon in the past which, in large measure, created the problems which we have been, up to this point, unsuccessfully struggling to resolve.
Specifically, I refer to the majority’s reliance upon the lesser included offenses analysis for the basis of its determination as to whether or not a jury instruction, requested by the defense, must be given in a given case. While I do not wish to deprecate the utility of the general concept of lesser included offenses in some areas of the criminal law,21 do not believe the jurisprudence of this jurisdiction is advanced by *472attempting to analyze the question presently before us in such a framework. The legitimacy of this analysis, particularly as it has been applied to homicide cases, is at least suspect and its applicability in the past has proven troublesome.3
The first articulation of this concept by this Court appears in our decision in Dinkey v. Commonwealth, 17 Pa. 126, 129 (1851). There the Court was confronted with the question of successive prosecutions. The Court reasoned that since the accused, under an indictment for seduction might have been convicted of, and punished for fornication, he could not be subsequently tried for fornication after an acquittal under the seduction indictment. Thus, the Court sustained the plea of autrefois acquit and dismissed the indictment for fornication. It is interesting to note that this Court has since realized that the common law pleas of autrefois acquit and autrefois convict, both of these pleas being but a corollary of the lesser or constituent offense concept, was inadequate to protect Pennsylvania residents against successive prosecutions and under its supervisory power opted instead to embrace the “criminal episode” concept to determine when future prosecutions would be barred. Commonwealth v. Campana, 452 Pa. 233, 304 A.2d 432, vacated and remanded, 414 U.S. 808, 94 S.Ct. 73, 38 L.Ed.2d 44, 455 Pa. 622, 314 A.2d 854, cert. denied, 417 U.S. 969, 94 S.Ct. 3172, 41 L.Ed.2d 1139 (1974).4 It is ironic that although we had no hesitancy when recognizing that the changing times had rendered the lesser included offense concept inadequate for a resolution *473of the problems presented by the question of successive prosecutions, even though the doctrine was first relied upon in this Commonwealth in that context, the majority inexplicably refuses to depart from that doctrine in the consideration of the instant question.
The problems with the use of a lesser included offense analysis has been further exacerbated because the concept was not confined to offenses necessarily included in the greater.5
“Both adultery and rape include the offence of fornication; it is necessarily involved in them: bastardy is not necessarily involved, but it may be.” Commonwealth v. Lewis, 140 Pa. 561, 564, 21 A. 501, 502 (1891) (Emphasis added).
This has been particularly true when applying the analysis to the law of homicides where the crimes have as a material element a particular result, i. e., the death of the victim. In approaching this area, our cases have treated the unlawful killing as the essence of all unlawful homicides and the manner of its commission merely as a circumstance.6 Superimposing the lesser included offense rationale upon this *474premise our cases mechanistically concluded that voluntary manslaughter was a lesser included offense of murder. Commonwealth v. Kellyon, 278 Pa. 59, 122 A. 166 (1923). This rationale which implicitly treats the distinction between a malicious killing and a non-malicious killing as being one of degree and not of kind is most difficult to reconcile with the many cases that have suggested the contrary:
“Murder is an unlawful killing of another person with malice aforethought, express or implied: Commonwealth v. Gooslin, 410 Pa. [285, 189 A.2d 157], supra; Commonwealth v. Carroll, 412 Pa. [525, 194 A.2d 911], supra, and numerous cases cited therein; Commonwealth v. Buzard, 365 Pa. 511, 76 A.2d 394. Malice express or implied is the hallmark, the criterion and the absolutely essential ingredient of murder.” (emphasis added). Commonwealth v. Kirkland, 413 Pa. 48, 63-4, 195 A.2d 338, 345 (1963).
See also Commonwealth v. Finnie, 415 Pa. 166, 202 A.2d 85 (1964); Commonwealth v. Carroll, 412 Pa. 525, 194 A.2d 911 (1963); Commonwealth v. Bolish, 381 Pa. 500, 113 A.2d 464 (1955); Commonwealth v. Kelly, 333 Pa. 280, 4 A.2d 805 (1939); Commonwealth v. Gibson, 275 Pa. 338, 119 A. 403 (1923); Commonwealth v. Drum, 58 Pa. 9 (1868) (“The distinguishing criterion of murder is malice aforethought.”).
Ignoring this inconsistency a more serious problem resulted because there are many instances where the facts of a case would justify a finding of murder but are at the same time devoid of the elements of provocation and passion sufficient to provide a “rational basis” for a voluntary manslaughter finding. While this would not have been an insoluble dilemma if we had been willing to confine the lesser included offense concept to those instances where the evidence did provide some basis for a finding of voluntary manslaughter, we failed to so restrict its application. To the contrary, the cases are legion which we have held that a conviction of manslaughter may be returned under a murder indictment even in the absence of provocation and passion if *475the record supports a finding of murder.7 See Commonwealth v. Hill, 444 Pa. 323, 281 A.2d 859 (1971); Commonwealth v. Hoffman, 439 Pa. 348, 266 A.2d 726 (1970); Commonwealth v. Harry, 437 Pa. 532, 264 A.2d 402 (1970); Commonwealth v. Dennis, 433 Pa. 525, 252 A.2d 671 (1969); Commonwealth v. Cooney, 431 Pa. 153, 244 A.2d 651 (1968); Commonwealth v. Pavillard, 421 Pa. 571, 220 A.2d 807 (1966); Commonwealth v. Frazier, 420 Pa. 209, 216 A.2d 337 (1966); Commonwealth v. Frazier, 411 Pa. 195, 191 A.2d 369 (1963); Commonwealth v. Moore, 398 Pa. 198, 157 A.2d 65 (1959); Commonwealth v. Nelson, 396 Pa. 359, 152 A.2d 913 (1959); Commonwealth v. Steele, 362 Pa. 427, 66 A.2d 825 (1949); Commonwealth v. Arcuroso, 283 Pa. 84, 128 A. 668 (1925); Commonwealth v. Kellyon, supra. An irreconcilable conflict was created when paralleled to the foregoing principle a rule emerged which provided that a trial court could refuse to instruct the jury of its power to return a verdict of voluntary manslaughter in cases where there was no rational basis for such a finding.8 Commonwealth v. Pavillard, supra; Commonwealth v. Dews, 429 Pa. 555, 239 A.2d 382 (1968); Commonwealth v. LaRue, 381 Pa. 113, 112 A.2d 362 (1955); Commonwealth v. Flax, 331 Pa. 145, 200 A. 632 (1938); Commonwealth v. Gelfi, 282 Pa. 434, 128 A. 77 (1925); Commonwealth v. Morrison, 266 Pa. 223, 109 A. 878 (1920); Commonwealth v. Russogulo, 263 Pa. 93, 106 A. 180 (1919); Commonwealth v. Sutton, 205 Pa. 605, 55 A. 781 *476(1903); Clark v. Commonwealth, 123 Pa. 555, 16 A. 795 (1889).
Even though we are faced today with the question as to when a requested charge as to involuntary manslaughter must be given, I have dealt at great length with the historical development of this problem as it related to voluntary manslaughter because I believe that it is instructive of the pitfalls that lie ahead if we insist upon viewing this question as one that must be resolved in the framework of the lesser included offense rationale. In the past, as the majority has noted, our courts declined to use the lesser included offense analysis in determining an accused’s right to an instruction for involuntary manslaughter. While I agree with the majority that the rule relied upon for rejection of the lesser included offense analysis has very little legitimacy in our law today, I nevertheless believe that the majority is in error when it recognizes the inappropriateness of one doctrine but is willing to accept another rationale equally as inappropriate. It is my basic thesis that the question presented is fundamentally one of practice and that we are not at this juncture bound by any constitutional or statutory restrictions in determining the approach that would most enhance the law of this Commonwealth.9 Having been freed from the strictures of the past by virtue of the enactment of the 1972 Code, it is my view that our responsibility should be to fashion the most desirable rule consistent with our concept of the respective roles of the court, prosecutor and jury, keeping in mind our judgment as to what is fair from the standpoint of the accused.
*477The majority suggests that the fact that the crimes code has set forth the generic crime of criminal homicide, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2501 (Supp. 1977-78), should be interpreted as an indication of a legislative intent to make involuntary manslaughter a permissible verdict in a murder prosecution. This fact, at best, is a neutral one since the new code also defines the various types of homicide, 18 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 2502, 2503, 2504 (Supp. 1977-78). To the contrary, there are factors which would suggest that the legislature did not intend to require a jury in a murder prosecution to consider all of the types of unlawful killings as a possible verdict.
First, under the 1939 Penal Code10 § 4701 expressly provided that the jury should decide the degree of murder.11 Conspicuously absent in the present code is any comparable language with regard either to murder, voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter. It is a fundamental rule of statutory construction that a change in language of a subsequent statute on the same subject may suggest a change in legislative intent. Haughey v. Dillon, 379 Pa. 1, 108 A.2d 69 (1954); Sekel v. Iagenemma, 170 Pa.Super. 621, 90 A.2d 587 (1952); Masland v. Bachman, 25 Pa.Cmwlth. 435, 361 A.2d 473 (1976); Nemitz v. Air Services International, 7 Pa.Cmwlth. 373, 298 A.2d 654 (1972). The omission of language similar to that used in § 4701 is a strong indication that the legislature, in enacting the new code, did not intend to require that a defendant should be permitted to have the jury consider all of the types of homicide in every murder prosecution.
*478Secondly, whereas the new crimes code does not provide a statute of limitation in murder prosecutions it does require that a prosecution for involuntary manslaughter must be commenced within two years after it is committed, 18 Pa.C. S.A. § 108 (Supp.1977-78). This is further indicative of the legislature’s recognition that there would be instances where a murder prosecution could be initiated yet the accused would be immune from prosecution for involuntary manslaughter. It is therefore clear, at least in those instances, that the legislature did not intend to confer upon the accused the substantive right to provide the jury with the option of returning an involuntary manslaughter verdict.
I am satisfied that there is no legislative mandate requiring the result reached by the majority. We therefore must now consider the wisdom of imposing such a procedural rule under our supervisory powers. Pa.Const., art. Y, § 10. I do not share the belief that the encouragement of compromise verdicts provides a salutary effect upon our jurisprudence.12 Further, I believe the fear that jurors will be reluctant to discharge their responsibilities with fidelity to be exaggerated. I reject the majority’s view that failure to instruct the jury as to the elements of involuntary manslaughter might contribute to the possibility of an erroneous conviction of the higher grade of the offense. As I stated in my dissent in Commonwealth v. Moore, 463 Pa. 317, 340, 344 A.2d 850, 862 (1975):
“I have a serious question as to the validity of the majority’s implicit assumption that the additional instructions to the jury as to the elements of involuntary manslaughter, while they are laboring under the onerous task of attempting to absorb the difficult distinctions between the other grades of homicide, will provide the jurors with an *479understanding of ‘the full significance of the law of homicide in Pennsylvania.’ It is more likely to make comprehension impossible.” (footnote omitted).
The charging decision is properly a prosecutorial function. See Commonwealth ex rel. Davis v. Reid, 338 Pa. 351, 12 A.2d 909 (1940); A.B.A. Standards on The Prosecution Function, §§ 3.5, 3.9 and Commentaries (approved draft 1971). See generally, Commonwealth ex rel. Specter v. Martin, 426 Pa. 102, 232 A.2d 729 (1967); Commonwealth ex rel. Specter v. Bauer, 437 Pa. 37, 261 A.2d 573 (1970). The prosecutor’s awareness of the strengths and the weaknesses of his case places him in the best possible position to assess whether a jury would be likely to reject a verdict of the higher grade of homicide under a given set of facts. I, therefore, suggest that the appropriate rule would be to give the option to the district attorney of charging all of the grades of criminal homicide or to permit him to select the specific charge or charges he deems appropriate under the evidence he intends to present.13 In the event that he chooses the latter course and the jury sees fit to acquit the accused, then under this Court’s decision in Commonwealth v. Campana, supra, subsequent prosecution for the offenses not initially charged, would be barred.14 Additionally, this approach would encourage responsible charging by the prosecutor and deter the “boiler-plate” charging of accused.
*480Accordingly, in the instant case, it is my view that the trial court did not err in denying the requested instruction for involuntary manslaughter and I would therefore affirm the judgment of sentence.

. Act of December 6, 1972, P.L. 1482, No. 334, § 1 et seq. as amended, 18 Pa.C.S. § 2501 et seq.

. The concurring opinion of Mr. Justice Pomeroy properly notes that the majority by applying the lesser included offenses concept has thereby given new life to the “some reasonable basis” controversy. The analysis suggested in this dissenting opinion would eliminate this vexing problem completely.

. Nevertheless, defendants in this Commonwealth have been afforded a measure of protection against successive prosecutions by common law pleas of autrefois acquit and autrefois convict. These pleas prevent a prosecutor, after a conviction or acquittal of a “constituent” or lesser included offense in the first trial, for initiating a second prosecution for a greater offense.
Id. 452 Pa. at 243, 244, 304 A.2d at 436 (Footnote omitted).

. For a discussion of the problems in defining constituent offenses, see generally, D. Koenig, The Many-Headed Hydra of Lesser Included Offenses: A Herculean Task for the Michigan Courts, Vol. 1975 Detroit College of Law Review 41 (1975); B. George, Lesser Included Offenses in Michigan, Vol. 1975 Detroit College of Law Review 35 (1975); J. Barnett, The Lesser-Included Offense Doctrine: A Present Day Analysis for Practitioners, 5 Conn.L.Rev. 255 (1972); Note, The Doctrine of Lesser Included Offenses in Kansas, 15 Washburn L. Journal 40 (1976); Note, Lesser Included Offenses: Application of Equal Standards to the Prosecution and Defense in Lesser Included Offense Situations, 4 Toledo Law Review 273 (1973).

. “It was reasoned that the offenses did not differ in kind or nature but only in degree — not in substance of the fact from murder, but only in the ensuing circumstances, a variance as to which did not hurt the verdict. Salisbury’s Case, 1 Plow. 101 (1554); MacKalley’s Case, 9 Co.Rep. 65, 67b (1611). The law has to the same effect been stated by Sir Mathew Hale and by Serjeant Hawkins in their respective Pleas of the Crown. 1 Hale’s P.C. 449, 466; 2 Hawk. P.C. c. 47, § 4.” Commonwealth v. Jones, 457 Pa. 563, 567, 319 A.2d 142, 145 (1974) (Opinion in Support of Affirmance). (Emphasis in original) (Footnotes omitted).

. This position was inspired by the reluctance of courts to surrender the opportunity to punish the accused for the lesser charge in the event that the jury failed to return a verdict of guilty for the greater offense. See e. g., Commonwealth v. Frazier, 420 Pa. 209, 213-14, 216 A.2d 337, 338-339 (1966).

. In Commonwealth v. Jones, supra, recognizing the maze of inconsistencies and contradictions that had developed over the years and attempting to avoid a departure from precedent that would have created an intolerable disruption in our system, I expressed willingness to accept prospectively the position that an instruction for voluntary manslaughter be given whenever requested by the defense regardless of the existence of a rational basis to support such a verdict. I reached this decision not because this approach, in my judgment, was best for our system of jurisprudence but rather because it provided the most effective method of harmonizing those decisions that were then controlling.

. The United States Supreme Court has never expressly held that the Constitution guarantees the accused the right to have his jury instructed on a possible lesser included offense. Keeble v. United States, 412 U.S. 205 (1973). Absent a rule which was vulnerable to discriminatory or arbitrary application, see, e. g., Keeble v. United States, supra; United States ex rel. Matthews v. Johnson, 503 F.2d 339 (3rd Cir. 1974), I fail to perceive any basis for premising such a constitutional right. In fact the United States Supreme Court has recognized that the lesser included offense doctrine developed at common law as an aid to the prosecution in instances where their evidence failed and not as a safeguard to protect the accused. Keeble v. United States, supra, 412 U.S. at 208, 93 S.Ct. 1993.

. 1939, June 24, P.L. 872, § 101 et seq., 18 P.S. § 4101 et seq.

. § 4701 provided in pertinent part:
“The jury before whom any person indicted for murder shall be tried, shall, if they find such person guilty thereof, ascertain in their verdict whether the person is guilty of murder of the first or second degree.”
Thus, under the 1939 Code, supra, there was no question that the legislature conferred upon the accused the absolute right to have a finder of fact determine the degree of murder. Subsequent case law extended this right to voluntary manslaughter. See Commonwealth v. Jones, supra.

. The adoption of the position that the jury no longer has mercy-dispensing powers would bring the law of homicide into conformity with the axiomatic principle of criminal law that mitigating factors should be of concern only at sentencing. A contrary view, in my judgment, erases the legislatively created distinctions between the grades of homicide and substitutes the visceral reaction of the jury. Without a clear legislative direction such a substitution is an unwarranted perversion by this Court of legislative power.

. Consistent with my view that the 1972 Code has disavowed the former concept of the jury’s mercy-dispensing power, it follows that we should no longer sustain a challenge of the sufficiency of the evidence to support a verdict of one grade of homicide, where there was no basis in the evidence to support a finding of that grade of homicide, solely upon the grounds that the evidence, if believed, would justify a finding of a higher grade of that offense. By such an approach, whatever questionable benefit the prosecution may derive from an election to charge all of the grades of criminal homicide is negated. Thus, a verdict of voluntary manslaughter on the record that is devoid of evidence of provocation and passion should not be sustained simply because there was testimony which might have supported a verdict of murder.

. I would confine the holding in Commonwealth v. Moore, 463 Pa. 317, 344 A.2d 850 (1975), and Commonwealth v. Stock, 463 Pa. 547, 345 A.2d 654 (1975) to those prosecutions arising under the 1939 Penal Code.