Court Opinion

ID: 9551043
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:46:56.923828+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:22:56.405349
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING OPINION OF
MIZUHA, J.
I agree with the majority that “the determination of the question of what degree of robbery the appellant was guilty of for participating in the commission of the offense charged was definitely conditioned and circumscribed by the evidence and the defense presented by his own testimony.” However, the degree of the offense was a matter for the jury to determine.
Our statute provides that “Robbery by one armed with a dangerous weapon with intent, if resisted, to kill, maim, wound or inflict other severe corporal injury upon the person robbed * * * is robbery in the first degree, and all other robbery is robbery in the second degreé.” R.L.H. 1955, § 306-8. (Emphasis added.)
*181Unlike statutes in other jurisdictions, where robbery committed by a person armed with a dangerous or deadly weapon is robbery in the first degree, our statute specifically provides that the person must have the intent, if resisted, to kill, maim, wound or inflict other severe corporal injury upon the person robbed before it is robbery in the first degree.
“* * * Generally speaking, to find one guilty as a principal, on the ground that he was an aider and abetter, it must be proven that he shared in the criminal intent of the principal and there must be a community of unlawful purpose at the time the act is committed. As the term ‘aiding and abetting’ implies, it assumes some participation in the criminal act in furtherance of the common design, either before or at the time the criminal act is committed. It implies some conduct of an affirmative nature and mere negative acquiescence is not sufficient. * * * Johnson v. United States, 195 F.2d 673, 675 (8th Cir. 1952). See also State v. Ham, 238 N.C. 94, 76 S.E.2d 346; Gibbs v. State, 223 Miss. 1, 77 So. 2d 705; State v. Johnson, 57 N.M. 716, 263 P.2d 282.
An aider and abettor may have a different criminal intent from the principal actor and may be found guilty in accordance with his own intent in participating in the criminal act. State v. Absence, 4 Port. 397 (Ala.); Red v. The State, 39 Tex. Crim. 667, 47 S.W. 1003. An aider and abettor may be found guilty of a higher or lower degree of crime than that of which the principal is convicted. State v. Martino, 27 N.M. 1, 192 Pac. 507; Red v. The State, supra; State v. Absence, supra; Speer v. The State, 52 Ga. App. 209, 182 S.E. 824. The degree of guilt of an aider and abettor depends entirely upon his own actions, intent, and state of mind rather, than on that of the principal actor. State v. Lord, 42 N.M. 638, 84 P.2d 80.
In Leslie v. State, 42 Tex. Crim. 65, 57 S.W. 659, the *182defendant was convicted as a principal of murder in the first degree on the theory that he knew of the unlawful intent of the principal actor, and was present at the actual scene, of the crime and aided and urged him in the killing. The court in reversing said:
“* * * It may be true that appellant in this case engaged in the homicide with the same intent which actuated [the principal actor] * * *; but the intent with which he participated was a question exclusively for the jury, and they should have been permitted to pass upon it under an appropriate charge by the court. * * *” (Emphasis added.)
See also Faulkner v. The State, 43 Tex. Crim. 311, 65 S.W. 1098; Oates v. The State, 51 Tex. Crim. 449, 103 S.W. 859.
White v. State, 154 Tex. Crim. 489, 228 S.W.2d 165 and State v. Jones, 45 Haw. 247, 365 P.2d 460, cited in the court’s opinion, can be distinguished, inasmuch as in each case, the defendant who was an aider and abettor, was tried separately and not in a joint trial with the principal actor or actors.
People v. Silva, 143 Cal. App. 2d 162, 300 P.2d 25, is also inapplicable because in California, robbery perpetrated by torture or by a person being armed, with a dangerous or deadly weapon, is robbery in the first degree. Cal. Penal Code § 211(a). Under our statute, robbery by one armed with a dangerous weapon, can be held to be first degree robbery, only when there is the intént, if resisted, to kill, maim, wound or inflict other severe corporal injury upon the person robbed. R.L.H. 1955, § 306-8.
In spite of the specific proviso in instruction 49 which said in part: “* * * Provided that any verdicts of guilty must be in the same degree,” the jury after deliberating approximately three hours, returned with the question: “ ‘Some of the jurors are in doubt whether the 4 defendants have- to have the same degree of guilt. Can one be *1831st degree? Another be 2nd degree "* * ” The reply was “ ‘No’ ” in instruction 50.
On the basis of the testimony of the defendant and the confusion among the jurors with regard to instruction 49, I cannot agree with the majority that “the jury logically, and with adherence to the record, could have returned, as far as the appellant is concerned, only a verdict finding him not guilty or a verdict of guilty of robbery in the degree corresponding to that which it returned for Antonio [the principal actor] * * In this same trial, the jury acquitted defendant Texeira who sat on a bench with appellant at the bus stop. Without the mandatory instruction as to the degree of guilt of all defendants, the jury might have found appellant guilty of second degree robbery.
Defendant is not precluded from claiming that it was error for the trial court to give instruction 50. Instruction 49 was a court instruction, and it contained the provision “* * * that any verdicts of guilty must be in the same degree.” Defendant did not object to this instruction. However, when the jury returned with the question as to the guilt of defendants, “ ‘Can one be guilty of first degree, another second degree,’ ” defendant objected to the court’s reply “ ‘No ” in instruction 50 on two grounds as follows:
“THE COUNT: * * * Do you object, Mr. Miyasaki?
“MN. MIYASAKI: Let me give you my mental processes why I am saying what I am, because to me it seems as though when they ask the question that they have, somebody, they feel, is guilty of a first degree and there is doubt that others are guilty of second and obviously they must be not guilty then, didn’t quite meet the requirements of first degree robbery.
“THE COUNT: Any other objection?
“MN. MIYASAKI: And to merely say ‘no’ and to *184force that second degree to first by a misinterpretation here, it would be highly prejudicial, because this question, to answer ‘no’ will tend to make them do that. * *
I cannot agree with the concurring opinion that “defendant did not seek to make it possible for the jury to bring in a verdict of second degree in his case * * Counsel’s second objection quoted above clearly indicated to the court that a simple “No” answer to the question would prevent the jury from returning separate guilty verdicts as to the degree of robbery, for each of the defendants, which would be. prejudicial to his client who, although an aider and abettor, was being tried as a principal with the principal actor.
The trial court’s understanding of the grounds of defendant’s objection is evident from the statement made to counsel for the principal actor after the same objection was made by counsel for the two other defendants, who were aiders and abettors.
“THE COURT: Robert St. Sure, you have no objection? Your client is in a different situation.
“MR. ROBERT ST. SURE: I have no objection, your Honor.” (Emphasis added.)
Naturally, counsel for the principal actor had no objection to instruction 50, since this direction by the court to the jury trebled his client’s chances for a second degree robbery conviction, for there were three other defendants, who were aiders and abettors, in this joint trial. The trial court then stated: “* * * The record will note that this instruction is given over objection * *
“The court has the power, and it is its right and duty, either with or without request, and at any time during the trial, to withdraw or to correct its instructions to the jury, if, on reflection, it is considered that they have been erroneously or unnecessarily given; and even though *185the jury have retired they may be recalled for such purpose * * 23A C.J.S., Criminal Lorn, § 1322. See State v. O’Keefe, 45 Haw. 368, 367 P.2d 91; State v. Benton, 38 Del. 1, 187 Atl. 609.
Appellant’s testimony with reference to the robbery was sufficient to raise a doubt in the minds of the jury as to his criminal intent. The court, on the basis of evidence adduced at the trial, should have correctly instructed the jury in instruction 50, that any of the three verdicts of guilty of robbery in the first degree, guilty of robbery in the second degree, or not guilty, could be returned as to each defendant. The trial court erred in giving instruction 50, for it took away from the jury, the determination of whether the defendant Shon, an aider and abettor, had the same criminal intent as the principal actor, Antonio.