Court Opinion

ID: 9730404
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:11:35.34644+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:06.265764
License: Public Domain

POMEROY, Justice,
dissenting.
The majority concludes that the trial court erred in refusing appellant’s request for an accomplice charge with respect to the testimony of two prosecution witnesses, Carlton Smith and Malcolm McLaughlin. As I read the record, however, it fails to support the inference that these two witnesses were accomplices in the crime perpetrated by Curtis Thomas. Accordingly, I would affirm the ruling of the court below.
An accomplice charge serves to caution the jury that certain testimonial evidence is of a corrupt source and subject to close scrutiny, Commonwealth v. Mouzon, 456 Pa. 230, 318 A.2d 703 (1974), and must be given with respect to a prosecution witness where the evidence presents a jury question as to whether that witness was an accomplice1 in committing the crime with which the defendant stands charged. Commonwealth v. Mouzon, supra; Commonwealth v. Sisak, 436 Pa. 262, 259 A.2d 428 (1969).
*40The theory of the majority is that Smith and McLaughlin aided and abetted the murder-robbery as participants in a “conspiracy to commit robberies and other illegal acts in order to financially support BBI (Black Brothers, Inc.).” Opinion of the Court, ante at 822. This is based upon statements given to the police by McLaughlin following his own arrest to the effect that BBI was engaged in nefarious activities of one sort or another, that the murder weapon belonged to the organization, and that the proceeds of the robbery were donated to the organization’s treasury. Even if these statements be accepted as true they are insufficient to give rise to an inference that Smith and McLaughlin were in fact accomplices.
In order to establish that one has aided or abetted in the commission of a crime, it must be shown that one was an active partner in the planning or commission of the crime; the evidence must lead to more than mere speculation or conjecture. Commonwealth v. Fields, 460 Pa. 316, 333 A.2d 745 (1975); Commonwealth v. McFadden, 448 Pa. 146, 292 A.2d 358 (1972); Commonwealth v. Strantz, 328 Pa. 33, 195 A. 75 (1937). There is in the case at bar a patent absence of any such evidence. Indeed, the majority makes a quantum leap by assuming that mere knowledge of a crime may give rise to an inference of complicity in that crime. Such a notion has long been rejected in this Commonwealth: “mere knowledge of the perpetration of a crime does not involve responsibility for its commission.” Commonwealth v. Giacobbe, 341 Pa. 187, 195, 19 A.2d 71, 75 (1941). While the fact that the proceeds of the robbery in question were donated to the treasury and the murder weapon belonged to the organization could be enough to implicate other members of BBI, including Smith and McLaughlin, their involvement would be only as accessories after the fact.2 Commonwealth v. McFadden, supra.
*41Because the evidence was insufficient to convict either witness on an accomplice theory, it was not error for the trial court to refuse to give an accomplice charge. Commonwealth v. Tervalon, 463 Pa. 581, 345 A.2d 671 (1975); Commonwealth v. Mouzon, supra. Hence this dissent.
O’BRIEN, J., joins in this opinion.

. Section 306 of the Crimes Code defines “accomplice” as follows:
“(c) Accomplice defined. — A person is an accomplice of another person in the commission of an offense if:
(1) with the intent of promoting or facilitating the commission of the offense, he:
(1) solicits such other person to commit it; or
(ii) aids or agrees or attempts to aid such other person in planning or committing it; or
(2) his conduct is expressly declared by law to establish his complicity.”
See the Act of December 6, 1972, P.L. 1482, No. 334, § 1, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 306(c).

. Liability as an accessory after the fact is governed by Section 5105 of the Crimes Code. That section provides:
“(a) Offense defined. — A person commits an offense if, with intent to hinder the apprehension, prosecution, conviction or punishment of another for crime, he:
*41(1) harbors or conceals the other;
(2) provides or aids in providing a weapon, transportation, disguise or other means of avoiding apprehension or effecting escape;
(3) conceals or destroys evidence of the crime, or tampers with a witness, informant, document or other source of information, regardless of its admissibility in evidence;
(4) warns the other of impending discovery or apprehension, except that this clause does not apply to a warning given in connection with an effort to bring another into compliance with law; or
(5) volunteers false information to a law enforcement officer. The Act of December 6, 1972, P.L. 1482, No. 334, § 1, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5105.”
The trial judge did in fact charge the jury concerning the significance of being an accessory after the fact as to McLaughlin:
“Now, I am going to speak of one witness, and once again please, when I speak of what I have as a witness, please remember it is your recollection; nothing that I say with respect to any witness in any way can control or even slightly determine your views. But you may recall there was a witness, Malcolm McLaughlin, and he was charged with a matter related to this case, mainly that he was in possession of a gun which he knew was used in the perpetration of a crime and he failed to turn it in or report it to the police. “Now, because of this possibility some special rules must apply to your consideration of that testimony as you recall it, not as I may have just stated it.
“As I recall, and it is my recollection only I’m speaking of, Malcolm McLaughlin stated that in return for his testimony in the case, the District Attorney would not prosecute him for the possession of the gun and his failure to go to the police. I suggest to you that you should examine his testimony carefully, closely, and accept it only with caution and care. You should consider whether his testimony is supported in whole or in part by evidence other than McLaughlin’s testimony, for it is so supported by independent evidence, it is then, quite obviously, more dependable.”
It does not appear that any such request was ever made with respect to Smith, and accordingly the issue is waived.