Court Opinion

ID: 9697604
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:22:56.023537+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:34:03.829606
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Justice
(concurring).
In my view, the trial court’s failure to instruct the jury on involuntary manslaughter, as requested by appellant, constitutes reversible error. Therefore, I concur in the judgment of the Court without reaching the question whether the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to consolidate the indictments for trial.
It is axiomatic that a trial court is required, at least when the defendant so requests, to illuminate all relevant legal issues for the jury and, in particular, to instruct *324the jury on every verdict which it would be permissible for it to return. The minor premise, developed in this concurring opinion, is that a conviction of involuntary manslaughter would have been a permissible verdict in this case.
I
It is well settled in Pennsylvania that a criminal defendant may, at least in certain circumstances, be convicted, upon an indictment charging a particular offense, of a lesser offense which is constituent within the offense charged (the “lesser included offense” doctrine).1 However, my research has uncovered no Pennsylvania statute,2 rule, or case3 which propounds' a standard for *325determining when an offense is included within a greater offense. The best articulation of such a standard, in my view, is found in section 1.07(4) of the American Law Institute’s Model Penal Code:
“A defendant may be convicted of an offense included in an offense charged in the indictment or the information. An offense is so included when:
(a) it is established by proof of the same or less than all the facts required to establish the commission of the offense charged; or
(b) it consists of an attempt or solicitation to commit the offense charged or to commit an offense otherwise included therein; or
(c) it differs from the offense charged only in the respect that a less serious injury or risk of injury to the same person, property or public interest or a lesser kind of culpability suffices to establish its commission.”
A “basic premise” of this section, that “it is desirable, where possible, to adjudicate the entire criminal liability of the defendant in a single trial,” 4 has been found persuasive by the Court in the past,5 and I find it persuasive again today. Therefore, I would adopt section 1.07(4) as the law of Pennsylvania.6
It has been suggested that a conviction of a constituent offense is a permissible verdict only if there is a rational *326basis for the fact-finder to find the defendant guilty of the lesser offense and acquit him of the greater offense.7
*328Keeble v. United States, 412 U.S. 205, 208, 93 S.Ct. 1993, 1995, 36 L.Ed.2d 844 (1973); Model Penal Code, supra § 1.07(5).8 However, I need not decide whether rationality should be a requirement for a permissible verdict, for in this case, a verdict of involuntary manslaughter would have been rational.9
Whatever else may render an included-offense verdict rational, and therefore permissible, that requirement is surely satisfied if there is evidence in the record which, if believed, would justify a conclusion that the defendant is guilty of the lesser offense and innocent of the greater offense. For example, if a defendant takes the witness stand and, while admitting his guilt of the lesser offense, contradicts the Commonwealth’s evidence tending to show his guilt of the greater offense, a verdict of guilty of the lesser offense would surely be a rational one. Furthermore, we have long held that the fact-finder is free to believe all, part, or none of the evidence. E. g., Commonwealth v. Murray, 460 Pa. 605, 608, 334 A.2d 255, 257 (1975). Where the evidence is such that, if the *329fact-finder disbelieves a portion, the remainder would justify a conclusion of guilt of the lesser offense, a verdict of guilty of the lesser offense is rational.10 Finally, when the greater and lesser offenses are different degrees of the same basic offense differing only in the requisite state of mind, the susceptibility of the evidence to different inferences of what the defendant’s state of mind was would render a verdict of guilty of the lesser offense a rational one.
II
The differences between the several degrees of criminal homicide are differences in the state of mind of the defendant at the time of the killing.11 The various states of mind which establish that a criminal homicide is murder are grouped under the rubric of “malice,” while it is hornbook law that the states of mind which render a killing manslaughter are not “malice.” Analysis demonstrates, however, that the two classifications of states of mind are not neat pigeonholes.
In particular, one of the states of mind included within “malice” differs from the state of mind required for a conviction of involuntary manslaughter only as a matter of degree, a different gradation along the spectrum of culpable states of mind. One is guilty of murder if, in killing another, he “consciously disregarded an unjustified and extremely high risk that his actions might cause death or serious bodily harm to another . . . .” Commonwealth v. Taylor, 461 Pa. 557, 565-566, 337 A.2d 545, 549 (1975) (opinion of Roberts, J., expressing the view of four Justices); see also W. LaFave & A. Scott, Handbook on Criminal Law § 70 (1972). One is guilty of involuntary manslaughter if, in killing another, he eith*330er consciously disregarded or, grossly deviating from a standard of reasonable care, failed to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk that his actions might cause death or serious bodily harm to another. Crimes Code, 18 Pa.C.S. § 2504(a),12 302(b)(3),13 302(b)(4).14,15
*331There are at least two distinct ways in which the offense of involuntary manslaughter is included within the offense of murder. First, the evidence may persuade the jury that the defendant is guilty of murder in all respects except that the unjustified risk disregarded was merely substantial and not extremely high. Second, the evidence may persuade the jury that the defendant is guilty of murder in all respects except that the defendant did not, but should have, perceived the risk to others. Therefore, I conclude that involuntary manslaughter “differs from [murder] only in the respect that a less serious . . . risk of injury to the same person . or a lesser kind of culpability suffices to establish its commission.” 16 Accordingly, involuntary manslaughter is a constituent offense of murder.
Ill
This Court has never considered whether involuntary manslaughter is a lesser included offense of murder. There is, however, a line of cases which, without considering whether involuntary manslaughter is a constituent offense, hold that involuntary manslaughter is never a permissible verdict upon a murder indictment.
In Commonwealth v. Gable, 7 S. & R. 423 (Pa.1821), the defendant was indicted for murder. The jury returned a verdict of “not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.” The defendant argued that the verdict *332was void for uncertainty because it did not specify of which variety of manslaughter the jury found him guilty. This Court held that the verdict was not uncertain. After pointing out that murder is a felony and involuntary manslaughter a misdemeanor, the Court reasoned:
“[0]ne who is indicted for murder, cannot be convicted of involuntary manslaughter, because it is well settled, that there cannot be a conviction of a misdemean- or, on an indictment for felony. Therefore, when on an indictment for murder, the jury find that the defendant is guilty of manslaughter, it must be understood, such manslaughter as is felonious, which can be no other than voluntary manslaughter.”
7 S. & R. at 424. Gable was followed in Walters v. Commonwealth, 44 Pa. 135 (1863).
All support for the Gable holding was removed by Hunter v. Commonwealth, 79 Pa. 503 (1875). In Hunter the defendant was indicted for assault with intent to kill, a felony; the jury returned a verdict of guilty of simple assault, a misdemeanor. The defendant argued that he could not be convicted of a misdemeanor upon a felony indictment. This Court disagreed.
The Court reasoned that the common law rule relied upon in Gable resulted from different procedures employed at common law in felony and misdemeanor trials. But any such difference had long since disappeared in Pennsylvania, leading the Court to observe that “It is clear that the reason of the rule has no application in this state.” 79 Pa. at 505. The Court concluded:
“[W]e have no hesitation in declaring that the old common-law rule, that upon an indictment for a felony there can be no conviction for a misdemeanor, no longer exists in Pennsylvania.”
79 Pa. at 509.
Inexplicably the Court reverted to the Gable position, without rejecting or distinguishing Hunter, in Hilands v. *333Commonwealth, 114 Pa. 372, 6 A. 267 (1886). After having been indicted for and acquitted of murder, the defendant was indicted for involuntary manslaughter. Upon the overruling of the defendant's plea of autrefois acquit, an appeal was taken to this Court, which affirmed, stating:
“It is very evident the [appellant] can never be tried again upon any charge of which he might have been convicted upon the first indictment. .
“But the protection extends no further than the offence charged in the first indictment, or of which he might have been convicted under it. He was not in jeopardy for any other offence. The first indictment charged murder. Under it he might have been convicted of murder of the first or second degree, or of voluntary manslaughter, but not of involuntary manslaughter. The latter offence is a misdemeanor; it must be charged as such, and cannot be included in an indictment charging felonious homicide . . . . It follows that when the [appellant] was put upon this trial for murder, he was placed in no jeopardy of a conviction for involuntary manslaughter.”
114 Pa. at 380-81, 6 A. at 268.
Since Hilands the Court has regularly,17 but not consistently,18 held that involuntary manslaughter is not *334a permissible verdict upon a murder indictment. Never did the Court seek to justify this holding by analyzing whether involuntary manslaughter was a constituent offense of murder. Several cases sought to support their holdings by exhuming the corpse of the common law rule which had been buried by the Court in Hunter. In most cases, no reason but blind adherence to precedent was given.
The only reason ever offered in support of the rule was that the additional instruction on involuntary manslaughter might tend to confuse the jury. See Commonwealth v. Nace, 222 Pa.Super. 329, 331, 295 A.2d 87, 88 (1972) (dictum); cf. Commonwealth v. Comber, 374 Pa. 570, 578, 97 A.2d 343, 346-47 (1953) (whether assault and battery is a permissible verdict upon a murder indictment). The Court, however, has not found the risk of jury confusion a persuasive reason for prohibiting conviction of a lesser included offense upon indictment for any crime other than murder. Moreover, jury confusion is surely no reason for prohibiting a conviction of involuntary manslaughter upon a murder indictment when a defendant is tried by the court without a jury. The possibility of jury confusion is too weak a reed upon which to rely to support a rule that is productive of great unfairness. See Commonwealth v. Thomas, 403 Pa. 553, 170 A.2d 112 (1961).
I conclude that the cases holding that involuntary manslaughter is not a permissible verdict upon a murder indictment ought not to be followed.
IV
The final step in the analysis is to inquire whether, if the law were to hold that rationality is a requirement for *335a permissible verdict, a verdict of involuntary manslaughter would have been a rational verdict in this case. I conclude that it would.
Appellant was tried upon indictments for murder and voluntary manslaughter. At trial she took the witness stand. The opinion announcing the judgment correctly concludes that
“appellant’s [testimony], if believed by the jury, would have supported a verdict of involuntary manslaughter. Although her placing of the gun into her pocketbook for protection would not be an ‘unlawful act’ within the definition of involuntary manslaughter, the jury may well have considered the subsequent struggle over a loaded weapon as needlessly creating a danger to human life, thus constituting criminally negligent conduct.”
Ante, at 853 (footnote & citation omitted).
The jury could rationally have concluded from all of the evidence that appellant consciously disregarded a substantial, but not extremely high, risk of harm to her husband. The jury could also have rationally concluded from the evidence that in the heat of a struggle appellant did not, but should have, perceived the risk that her conduct created. In either event, a verdict of involuntary manslaughter could rationally have been returned.
V
Appellant requested the trial court to instruct the jury on involuntary manslaughter. Upon the court’s refusal, appellant took a specific exception to the charge and assigned this ground in support of her motion for a new trial. Because involuntary manslaughter would have been a permissible verdict, the instruction should have been given. Therefore, appellant is entitled to a new trial without regard to the fortuity of a pending indictment for involuntary manslaughter.

. Commonwealth v. Soudani, 398 Pa. 546, 547 n. 1, 159 A.2d 687, 688 n. 1 (per curiam), cert. denied, 364 U.S. 886, 81 S.Ct. 177, 5 L.Ed.2d 107 (1960); Commonwealth v. Parker, 146 Pa. 343, 344, 23 A. 323 (1892) (per curiam); Hunter v. Commonwealth, 79 Pa. 503, 506 (1875) (“The general rule is well settled that upon an indictment charging a particular crime, the defendant may be convicted of a lesser offense included within it.”); Dinkey v. Commonwealth, 17 Pa. 126, 129 (1851); Republica v. Roberts, 1 Yeates 6, 7, 1 L.Ed. 316 (Pa.1791); Commonwealth v. Nace, 222 Pa.Super. 329, 330, 295 A.2d 87, 88 (1972).

. But see Act of June 24, 1939, P.L. 872, § 1107 (formerly codified as 18 P.S. § 5107 (1963)) (repealed by Act of December 6, 1972, P.L. 1641, § 5):
“If, on the trial of any person charged with felony or misdemeanor, it shall appear to the jury upon the evidence, that the defendant did not complete the offense charged, but was guilty only of an attempt to commit the crime, he shall not by reason thereof be entitled to be acquitted, but the jury may return, as their verdict, that the defendant is not guilty of the felony or misdemeanor charged, but is guilty of an attempt to commit the same.
“Thereupon such person shall be liable to be punished in the same manner as if he had been convicted upon an indictment for attempting to commit the particular felony or misdemeanor charged in the indictment.
“No person so convicted shall be liable to be thereafter prosecuted of an attempt to commit the felony or misdemeanor for which he was so convicted.”
See also Commonwealth v. White, 232 Pa.Super. 176, 180-182, 335 A.2d 436, 438 (1975).

. But cf. Commonwealth ex rel. Moszczynski v. Ashe, 343 Pa. 102, 106, 21 A.2d 920, 922 (1941) (quoting a legal encyclopedia, apparently with approval).

. Model Penal Code § 1.08(4), commentary at 42 (Tent.Draft. No. 5, 1956).

. See 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 (1973), on remand, 455 Pa. 622, 314 A.2d 854 cert. denied, 417 U. S. 969, 94 S.Ct. 3172, 41 L.Ed.2d 1114 (1974). See also Crimes Code, 18 Pa.C.S. § 110 (1973).

. This Court has not hesitated in the past to look for answers to questions not resolved by our law to the codifications prepared by the American Law Institute. See e. g., Gilbert v. Korvette, Inc., 457 Pa. 602, 611-12 & n. 25, 327 A.2d 94, 100 & n. 25 (1974), and cases cited therein; see also Commonwealth v. Dobrolenski, 460 Pa. 630, 636-637, 334 A.2d 268, 271-72 (1975) (adopting a section of the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice).

. If rationality is a requisite for a permissible verdict, it is clear that there are at least two exceptions. We have long held that, upon an indictment for murder, a jury may: 1) return a verdict of guilty of murder in the second degree, notwithstanding that it is irrational to return any verdict other than either acquittal or guilty of murder in the first degree, if the evidence would have been sufficient to support a conviction of murder in the first degree; or 2) return a verdict of guilty of voluntary manslaughter, notwithstanding that it is irrational to return any verdict other than either acquittal or guilty of some degree of murder, if the evidence would have been sufficient to support a conviction of some degree of murder.
Murder in the second degree: Commonwealth v. Joseph, 451 Pa. 440, 449-50, 304 A.2d 163, 168 (1973); Commonwealth v. Schwartz, 445 Pa. 515, 520, 285 A.2d 154, 157 (1971); Commonwealth v. Collins, 436 Pa. 114, 119-20, 259 A.2d 160, 162-63 (1969) (opinion announcing the judgment); Commonwealth v. Schmidt, 423 Pa. 432, 441, 224 A.2d 625, 629-30 (1966) (dictum); Commonwealth v. Meas, 415 Pa. 41, 44-46, 202 A.2d 74, 75-76 (1964) (alternate holding); Commonwealth v. Turner, 367 Pa. 403, 407-09, 80 A.2d 708, 711 (1951) (alternate holding); Commonwealth v. Gibbs, 366 Pa. 182, 189-92, 76 A.2d 608, 611 (1951); Commonwealth v. Ferko, 269 Pa. 39, 112 A. 38 (1920); Commonwealth v. Fellows, 212 Pa. 297, 61 A. 922 (1905); Lane v. Commonwealth, 59 Pa. 371 (1869); Rhodes v. Commonwealth, 48 Pa. 396 (1864). These cases base their holdings, in part, on language appearing in the Penal Code, Act of June 24, 1939, P.L. 872, § 701, as amended (formerly codified as 18 P.S. § 4701 (1963)) (repealed by Act of December 6, 1972, P.L. 1641, § 5) and its predecessors. This language does not appear in the new Crimes Code, Act of December 6, 1972. I need not decide the effect of repeal of the relevant language on this exception from the rationality requirement, if any.
Voluntary manslaughter: Commonwealth v. Hill, 444 Pa. 323, 326, 281 A.2d 859, 860 (1971); Commonwealth v. Hoffman, 439 Pa. 348, 356-357, 266 A.2d 726. 730-731 (1970); Commonwealth v. Harry, 437 Pa. 532, 535, 264 A.2d 402, 404 (1970) (per curiam); Commonwealth v. Dennis, 433 Pa. 525, 528-529, 252 A.2d 671, 672-73 (1969); Commonwealth v. Cooney, 431 Pa. 153, 244 A.2d 651, 653 (1968); Commonwealth v. Pavillard, 421 Pa. 571, 576-577, 220 A.2d 807, 810 (1966); Commonwealth v. Frazier, 420 Pa. 209, 211-213, 216 A.2d 337, 338 (1966); Commonwealth v. Frazier, 411 Pa. 195, 202, 191 A.2d 369, 373 (1963); Commonwealth v. Moore, 398 Pa. 198, 157 A.2d 65 (1959); Commonwealth v. Nelson, 396 Pa. 359, 363, 152 A.2d 913, 915 (1959); Commonwealth v. Steele, 362 Pa. 427, 430, 66 A.2d 825, 827 (1949); Commonwealth v. Arcuroso, 283 Pa. 84, 87, 128 A. 668, 670 (1925); Common wealth v. Kellyon, 278 Pa. 59, 61-62, 122 A. 166, 167 (1923); Commonwealth v. McMurray, 198 Pa. 51, 60, 47 A. 952, 953 (1901).
*327With respect to the second-degree murder exception, the cases cited above uniformly hold that the trial court is obligated, at least upon the request of the defendant, to instruct the jury that a conviction of second-degree murder is a permissible verdict and to define the elements of that offense. However, the court is not required to inform the jury that it may return that verdict irrationally. Commonwealth v. Joseph, supra; Commonwealth v. Schwartz, supra.
With respect to voluntary manslaughter, an anomolous situation prevailed for many years. While holding that voluntary manslaughter was a permissible verdict even if irrational, the Court also long held that the trial court was not obligated to instruct the jury on that offense unless it would have been rational for it to return that verdict. E. g., Commonwealth v. Cannon, 453 Pa. 389, 396-97, 309 A.2d 384, 389 (1973); Commonwealth v. Davis, 449 Pa. 468, 297 A.2d 817 (1972), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 836, 94 S.Ct. 183, 38 L.Ed.2d 72 (1973) (affirmance by equally divided court); Commonwealth v. Kenney, 449 Pa. 562, 568-69, 297 A.2d 794, 797 (1972); Commonwealth v. Banks, 447 Pa. 356, 363, 285 A.2d 506, 509 (1972); Commonwealth v. Matthews, 446 Pa. 65, 74, 285 A.2d 510, 514 (1971); Commonwealth v. Dews, 429 Pa. 555, 558-59, 239 A.2d 382, 384-85 (1968); Commonwealth v. La-Rue, 381 Pa. 113, 121-22, 112 A.2d 362, 366-367 (1955); Commonwealth v. Yeager, 329 Pa. 81, 85-87, 91, 196 A. 827, 830-31, 833 (1938); Commonwealth v. Gibson, 211 Pa. 546, 548, 60 A. 1086 (1908) (per curiam); Commonwealth v. Sutton, 205 Pa. 605, 608-09, 55 A. 781, 782 (1903); Commonwealth v. Eckerd, 174 Pa. 137, 148-49, 34 A. 305, 305-06 (1896); Commonwealth v. Buccieri, 153 Pa. 535, 553, 26 A. 228, 235 (1893).
This anomoly, so far as'my research has revealed, was the only instance of a divergence of permissible verdict and obligatory instruction, i. e., a permissible verdict of which the trial court was not required to inform the jury. This unfortunate situation was terminated in Commonwealth v. Jones, 457 Pa. 563, 319 A.2d 142 (1974) (per curiam; equally divided court); see id. at 564, 319 A.2d at 143 (opinion in support of affirmance); id. at 577, 319 A.2d at 150 (opinion in support of reversal). In Jones, six members of the Court agreed on at least this much: after the decision in Jones, a trial court is obligated, upon the request of the defendant, to instruct the jury that voluntary manslaughter is a permissible verdict whether or not there is a rational basis for that verdict. (The opinion in support of reversal opined that the instruction is constitutionally required, and thus disagreed with the restriction to purely prospective application.) See also United States ex rel. Matthews v. Johnson, 503 F.2d 339 (3d Cir. 1974) (en banc), cert. denied, 420 U.S. 952, 95 S.Ct. 1336, 43 L.Ed.2d 430 (1975).
(Note: the discussion of the degrees of murder in this footnote reflects prior law where murder was divided into two degrees. See Act of June 24, 1939, P.L. 872, § 701 (formerly codified as 18 P.S. § 4701 (1963)) (repealed by Act of December 6, 1972, P.L. *3281482, § 5); Act of December 6, 1972, P.L. 1482, § 1 (formerly codified as 18 Pa.C.S. § 2502 (1973)) (amended by Act of March 26, 1974, P.L. -, § 4). Murder is presently divided into three degrees. 18 Pa.C.S. § 2502 (Supp.1975).)

. Keeble, it seems to me, fails to distinguish the questions of what are permissible verdicts and when a trial court is obligated to instruct the jury on a permissible verdict. Confusion is avoided and analysis more sure-footed when the two questions are treated as separate steps in the inquiry.
The Model Penal Code, §§ 1.07(4) & (5), while treating the two questions separately, misplaces the element of rationality. It seems to state that a conviction for an included offense is always a permissible verdict, but the trial court is obligated to instruct the jury on that verdict only if there is a rational basis for it. This formulation leaves open the possibility of permissible verdicts that the court need not charge on because they would be irrational, a situation which, in my view, must certainly be avoided. Therefore, if rationality is to be a requirement at all, it must be a requisite for a permissible verdict rather than an obligatory charge.

. See part IV infra.

. But see Model Penal Code, supra note 4, commentary at 43.

. See Commonwealth v. Stewart, 461 Pa. 274, 336 A.2d 282 (1975).

. “A person is guilty of involuntary manslaughter when as a direct result of the doing of an unlawful act in a reckless or grossly negligent manner, or the doing of a lawful act in a reckless or grossly negligent manner, he causes the death of another person.”

. “A person acts recklessly with respect to a material element of an offense when he consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the material element exists or will result from his conduct. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that, considering the nature and intent of the actor’s conduct and the circumstances known to him, its disregard involves a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the actor’s situation.”

. “A person acts negligently with respect to a material element of an offense when he should be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the material element exists or will result from his conduct. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that the actor’s failure to perceive it, considering the nature and intent of his conduct and the circumstances known to him, involves a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the actor’s situation.”

. The killing in this case preceded the effective date of the Crimes Code, and thus the provisions quoted in notes 14-16, supra, are not strictly applicable. See Act of December 6, 1972, P. L. 1482, §§ 2, 6.
However, in my view, the sections quoted are (with one possible exception) an accurate and precise formulation of the law of involuntary manslaughter as developed in our cases. See Commonwealth v. Jones, 452 Pa. 569, 578-79, 308 A.2d 598, 604 (1973); Commonwealth v. Busler, 445 Pa. 359, 284 A.2d 783 (1971); Commonwealth v. Feinberg, 433 Pa. 558, 566, 253 A.2d 636, 640-41 (1969); id. at 574, 253 A.2d at 644 (concurring opinion of Roberts, J.); Commonwealth v. Comber, 374 Pa. 570, 581, 97 A.2d 343, 348 (1953); Commonwealth v. Aurick, 342 Pa. 282, 285-90, 19 A.2d 920, 922-24 (1941); Commonwealth v. Flax, 331 Pa. 145, 156, 200 A. 632, 637 (1938) (dictum); Commonwealth v. Mayberry, 290 Pa. 195, 198, 138 A. 686, 687-88 (1927); Commonwealth v. LaPorta, 218 Pa.Super. 1, 5-6, 272 A.2d 516, 519 (1970).
The one possible exception is that some of our cases may be read to say that one is guilty of involuntary manslaughter if death results from the “doing [of] some unlawful act not amounting to a felony nor naturally tending to cause death or serious bodily harm” without regard to the manner in which the act was performed. Commonwealth v. Mayberry, supra; but cf. Com *331monwealth v. Busler, supra, 445 Pa. at 361, 284 A.2d at 784. Section 2504(a), however, requires that, for an unlawful act causing death to form the basis of a conviction of involuntary manslaughter, the act must have been performed “in a reckless or grossly negligent manner. ’ . . . ” Note 14 supra.
If section 2504(a) changed the law of involuntary manslaughter to that extent, it does not affect my reliance on the Crime Code’s formulation in this case because, if appellant is guilty of involuntary manslaughter, it is, as the opinion announcing the judgment recognizes, because of the “doing of a lawful act in a reckless or grossly negligent manner.” See ante, at 857.

. Model Penal Code § 1.07(4)(c).

. See Commonwealth v. Jackson, 450 Pa. 417, 419 n. 2, 299 A.2d 209, 210 n. 2 (1973); Commonwealth v. Crosby, 444 Pa. 17, 23, 279 A.2d 73, 77 (1971) (opinion announcing the judgment); Commonwealth v. Edwards, 431 Pa. 44, 52, 244 A.2d 683, 687 (1968); Commonwealth v. Soudani, 398 Pa. 546, 547 n. 1, 159 A.2d 687, 688 n. 1 (per curiam) (dictum), cert. denied, 364 U.S. 886, 81 S.Ct. 177, 5 L.Ed.2d 107 (1960); Commonwealth v. Comber, 374 Pa. 570, 573-74, 97 A.2d 343, 344 (1953) (dictum); Commonwealth v. Hardy, 347 Pa. 551, 554, 32 A.2d 767, 768 (1943); Commonwealth v. Mayberry, 290 Pa. 195, 199, 138 A. 686, 688 (1927); Commonwealth v. Weinberg, 276 Pa. 255, 257-58, 120 A. 406, 407 (1923); Commonwealth v. Micuso, 273 Pa. 474, 477, 117 A. 211, 212 (1922) (alternate ground); Commonwealth v. Nace, 222 Pa.Super. 329, 331, 295 A.2d 87, 88 (1972) (dictum).

. See Commonwealth v. Jones, 452 Pa. 569, 578, 308 A.2d 598, 604 (1973) (implying that involuntary manslaughter is a permissi*334ble verdict on a murder indictment if rational); Commonwealth v. Robinson, 452 Pa. 316, 326, 305 A.2d 354, 359 (1973) (same); Commonwealth v. Flax, 331 Pa. 145, 156-57, 200 A. 632, 638 (1938) (same) (semble; dictum); Commonwealth v. Micuso, 273 Pa. 474, 477, 117 A. 211, 212 (1922) (same) (alternate ground).