Court Opinion

ID: 9765001
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 03:47:36.635609+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:03.156149
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Justice,
dissenting.
I have filed a dissenting opinion in Commonwealth v. Williams, 490 Pa. 187, 415 A.2d 403 (1980), joined by Mr. Justice O’Brien, which sets forth our disagreement with the majority’s attempt to “clarify” when a requested instruction on involuntary manslaughter is to be given. This attempted “clarification,” supported by nothing more than the majority’s assertion, wholly disregards the clear language of the Crimes Code, 18 Pa.C.S. § 2501(a). Section 2501(a) defines “criminal homicide” as follows:
“Offense defined. — A person is guilty of criminal homicide if he intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or negligently causes the death of another human being.”
As the Reporter’s Comment to Section 2501 points out, “[section 2501] defines the unified offense of ‘criminal homicide,’ which includes murder, voluntary manslaughter or *187involuntary manslaughter.” Toll, Pennsylvania Crimes Code Annotated 307 (1974). Thus the Crimes Code requires that “in every murder prosecution a defendant is entitled, upon request, to a jury instruction on involuntary manslaughter.” Commonwealth v. Garcia, 474 Pa. 449, 469, 378 A.2d 1199, 1210 (1977) (Roberts, J., joined by O’Brien & Manderino, JJ.). Because appellant’s timely request for an involuntary manslaughter instruction was improperly denied, judgment of sentence should be reversed and a new trial awarded.
O’BRIEN, J., joins in this dissenting opinion.