Court Opinion

ID: 9734139
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:26:17.121651+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:45.937926
License: Public Domain

O’Connor, J.
(dissenting). The judge instructed the jury that, “when a Defendant, by some act done in the commission or attempted commission of some crime of the degree of a felony, causes the death of a human being, the killing is considered to be with malice aforethought and is murder and not merely manslaughter. The theory is that the intent to commit some other felony supplies, as a matter of law, the malice aforethought necessary to make a killing murder.” The court acknowledges that “[i]f the Matchett rule were applied to this case, there would be error in the charge, because the judge gave no instruction that the jury must find conscious disregard of risk to human life in order to apply the felony-murder rule.” Supra at 504-505. The court then assumes that Commonwealth v. Matchett, 386 Mass. 492 (1982), does apply. Supra at 505. Given that assumption, there was error in the jury instruction with *510regard to felony-murder. However, applying a miscarriage of justice standard of review, the court declines to reverse the conviction of murder in the second degree.
For the purpose of this opinion, I accept the “miscarriage of justice” standard of review. However, measuring by that standard, I believe that the murder conviction should be reversed.
The court reasons that affirming the defendant’s conviction does not risk a miscarriage of justice because, in its view, “even without application of the felony-murder doctrine, the proof of malice was overwhelming.” Supra at 506. This statement is susceptible to several different interpretations. The court’s rationale could be that, since the evidence of malice, unrelated to the felony-murder doctrine, was overwhelming:- (1) the jury must have based its verdict on a finding of that type of malice (hereinafter “traditional malice”), so there is little risk that the verdict was influenced by the erroneous felony-murder instruction; (2) if the jury had addressed the question of traditional malice, they would have found it; (3) the court itself is satisfied that there was traditional malice; (4) if the correct instruction had been given, the jury would have found that the defendant consciously disregarded the risk to the victim’s life, or (5) the court itself is satisfied that the defendant consciously disregarded the risk to the victim’s life. None of these rationales support the court’s decision to affirm the conviction.
The defendant’s murder conviction should be affirmed only if the jury, applying correct principles of law, determined that the Commonwealth had proved every element of murder beyond a reasonable doubt. The court should not speculate as to whether the jury would have found traditional malice; or as to whether the jury would have found conscious disregard of risk to human life, if they had addressed those issues. Nor should the court substitute its judgment for that of the jury on questions of fact, and uphold the conviction because the court thinks the defendant is guilty. The only appropriate question for this court is *511whether there is a substantial risk that the verdict was based on the erroneous felony-murder instruction. I believe that there is such a risk and that the conviction should not be affirmed.
It is just as likely that the verdict was based on an application of the felony-murder doctrine, as it is that the verdict was based on a finding of traditional malice. Even if the evidence of traditional malice was “overwhelming,” as the court asserts, it was no more overwhelming than was the evidence that the defendant caused the victim’s death in the commission of larceny of a motor vehicle or kidnapping. That the verdict was based on the felony-murder rule is suggested, at least, by the fact that the jury found the defendant guilty of murder in the second degree, not in the first degree. We cannot be sure how the jury arrived at their verdict, and this is the basis of my dissent, but, if the jury based their verdict on traditional malice, it is difficult to understand why they did not also find deliberate premeditation and return a verdict of murder in the first degree.
The Commonwealth’s evidence of traditional malice was not overwhelming, when considered in conjunction with the defendant’s testimony. The court correctly characterizes the defendant’s testimony as basically a restatement of the information he had given to Officer Br uglier a. Supra at 500. The defendant stated at trial that he became scared, began driving, panicked and, consequently, did not stop the vehicle. He further stated that the victim became unconscious, and he examined her pulse and did not believe that she was still breathing. He told the jury that he thought she was dead when he put her in the trunk. There is no indication that the jury rejected the defendant’s testimony. If believed, the testimony would preclude a finding of traditional malice. Since the jury were not required to measure the defendant’s credibility in order to find him guilty of murder under the judge’s felony-murder instruction, since the jury found the defendant guilty of larceny of a motor vehicle and kidnapping, and since the jury concluded that the defendant caused the victim’s death, it is more likely that the con*512viction was based on the erroneous felony-murder instruction than on the correct malice instruction. Because there is a substantial risk that the jury’s verdict was based on the erroneous felony-murder instruction, the defendant’s conviction of murder in the second degree should be reversed.