Commonwealth v. Melton
| Decision Date | 06 November 2001 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH v. LAJUAN MELTON. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
Present: MARSHALL, C.J., GREANEY, IRELAND, SPINA, COWIN, SOSMAN, & CORDY, JJ.
Patricia A. O'Neill, Committee for Public Counsel Services, for the defendant.
Patrick C. Lee, Special Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth.
The defendant was convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, malicious damage to a motor vehicle, and four counts of assault by means of a dangerous weapon. On appeal, he contends that the evidence was insufficient to convict him of all four assaults because the perpetrator, by firing only a single shot into a vehicle occupied by four persons, could not have intended to commit more than a single battery by means of that shot. He also contends that there was insufficient evidence to convict him either as a joint venturer or as a principal for the assaults and the malicious damage to a motor vehicle.1 The Appeals Court affirmed the convictions. Commonwealth v. Melton, 50 Mass. App. Ct. 637 (2001). We granted the defendant's application for further appellate review. For the following reasons, we affirm the convictions.
1. Facts. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, see Commonwealth v. Latimore, 378 Mass. 671, 677-678 (1979), the jury could have found as follows. On the evening of April 1, 1998, David Benedict, the defendant and two other companions were standing outside a bar on Main Street in Brockton. Another group of young men drove by in a Honda Accord. Among that group was Daniel Marcellus, who had had previous disputes with both the defendant and Benedict. The defendant's group gestured at the passing vehicle in a manner that suggested a desire to fight. The vehicle turned around; Marcellus and his companions got out; and ultimately it was decided that Marcellus and the defendant would fight "one on one." The defendant then removed a gun from his pants. Marcellus recognized the gun as one that he had seen Benedict use during a confrontation a few weeks earlier. The defendant wrapped the gun in his sweatshirt, went into the bar or an adjacent alley momentarily, and then returned without the bundled clothing (and presumably without the gun). No one saw Benedict with a gun.
The defendant and Marcellus proceeded with their fight while the others watched. After some period, the two combatants separated. The defendant was "winded" and "tired," but his friends were encouraging him to resume the fight. He appeared reluctant to do so. At that point, the police arrived. The participants were questioned, but no one was arrested. After the police advised the young men to go their separate ways, Marcellus and his group left in their car, with Marcellus seated in the back seat, behind the driver. Marcellus and his companions dropped off one member of their group at his home. At that point, Marcellus took over driving. One passenger was seated in the front seat, and the other two were in the back seat. The driver's side rear passenger seat, which Marcellus had occupied when they left the scene of the fight, was now occupied by his brother.
Driving along, approximately twenty minutes after the conclusion of the fight, Marcellus noticed another vehicle, an older model blue Chrysler, approaching rapidly. (The same vehicle had been seen at the site of the earlier fight.) The Chrysler pulled alongside, and a hand reached out the rear passenger side window pointing a gun at the Honda. Marcellus described the hand as "light-skinned." He recognized the weapon as the one that the defendant had possessed at the start of their fight.
A single shot was fired, shattering the rear driver's side window of the Honda. None of the occupants of the vehicle was hit by the bullet. They were hit by fragments of broken glass. Marcellus looked over at the Chrysler and saw Benedict in the rear driver's side seat and the defendant in the rear passenger side seat. The driver and the front seat passenger were the other two young men who had been with the defendant at the time of the earlier fight. After the one gunshot, the Chrysler sped away. Marcellus attempted pursuit, but was convinced by his companions to go to the police instead. They proceeded to the police station, where Marcellus told the police that he thought the defendant was the shooter.
At school the next day, Marcellus spoke with the defendant's girl friend. She told him that Benedict was the shooter, not the defendant. Marcellus heard similar rumors from other classmates. Marcellus then began to doubt his identification of the defendant as the shooter because the hand he had seen holding the gun out the window was "light-skinned," whereas the defendant was more "dark-skinned." By the time of his grand jury testimony, Marcellus told the investigating officers that he was not sure of the identity of the shooter, but that it probably was Benedict, not the defendant. At trial, Marcellus testified that what he heard from others concerning Benedict's identity as the shooter made "more sense" to him, and he opined that it "probably really wasn't" the defendant who shot at the car. He did, however, confirm that he had initially identified the defendant as the shooter.
2. Intent to batter four victims. The defendant was charged with a separate count of assault by means of a dangerous weapon committed on each of the four occupants of the Honda. The defendant argues that he cannot be found guilty of four counts of assault by means of a dangerous weapon because there was not sufficient evidence of any intent to batter all four alleged victims. Because it would have been physically impossible to hit all four victims with a single shot, he contends that the perpetrator could not have had the intent to batter four people.2 The defendant's argument misapprehends our jurisprudence on the element of intent.
Under the common law, an assault may be perpetrated in either of two ways.3 The crime may consist of "an attempted battery" or "an immediately threatened battery." Commonwealth v. Gorassi, 432 Mass. 244, 247 (2000), and cases cited. Commonwealth v. Musgrave, 38 Mass. App. Ct. 519, 521 (1995),S.C., 421 Mass. 610 (1996). The crime of assault by means of a dangerous weapon adds one additional element, namely, that the assault was perpetrated by means of a dangerous weapon. G. L. c. 265, § 15B (b). The judge instructed the jury on both types of assault, and, if the defendant were found guilty, the judge's instructions required the jury to specify on the verdict slip which type of assault had been proved. See Commonwealth v. Accetta, 422 Mass. 642, 646-647 (1996). On each of the four indictments for assault by means of a dangerous weapon, the jury returned a verdict that the defendant was guilty, specifying that they had based each verdict on the "attempted battery" form of assault.4
Under the attempted battery theory, the Commonwealth must prove that the defendant intended to commit a battery, took some overt step toward accomplishing that intended battery, and came reasonably close to doing so. See Commonwealth v. Musgrave, supra at 520 n.2, quoting Model Jury Instructions for Criminal Offenses Tried in the District Court Department § 5.402 (1988). The defendant concedes, as he must, that a single act can result in multiple convictions if there are multiple victims. "[T]he appropriate `unit of prosecution' for such crimes [of violence] is the person assaulted or killed, not the underlying criminal act." Commonwealth v. Crawford, 430 Mass. 683, 686-687 (2000), quoting Commonwealth v. Donovan, 395 Mass. 20, 31 (1985). See Commonwealth v. Gordon, 41 Mass. App. Ct. 459, 465 (1996); Commonwealth v. Dello Iacono, 20 Mass. App. Ct. 83, 89-90 (1985).
Rather, the defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence only with respect to the element of intent. He contends that the single shot could not hit all the occupants of the car, and asks us to hold that his intent cannot have exceeded what the laws of physics would permit that single shot to accomplish.5 Of course, while the laws of physics may determine the extent of injury or physical damage accomplished by a person's act, the perpetrator's intent is not necessarily so constrained. A person can intend things that are hopelessly unrealistic or even absurd. In that sense, we reject the fundamental premise of the defendant's argument. The impossibility of particular consequences may be argued as a basis for concluding that a defendant did not harbor the requisite intent, but it does not compel the jury to reach that conclusion.6
More fundamentally, however, the defendant's argument erroneously assumes that the intent element requires the Commonwealth to prove an intent to batter each and every one of the victims in order for there to be multiple assaults. That assumption is inconsistent with our treatment of intent in other contexts. We have never required that a defendant's intent be directed at the precise victim of the crime. Rather, we have long recognized the concept of "transferred intent" in situations where the defendant's conduct harms a person other than the intended victim. See Commonwealth v. Fisher, 433 Mass. 340, 345-346 (2001), and cases cited.
In most other jurisdictions, the same principle of transferred intent applies to satisfy the element of intent when a defendant harms both the intended victim and one or more additional but unintended victims. See, e.g., United States v. Sampol, 636 F.2d 621, 674 (D.C. Cir. 1980) (); State v....
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Commonwealth v. Perez
...As in other contexts, a single criminal act can result in multiple convictions if there are multiple victims. See Commonwealth v. Melton, 436 Mass. 291, 294-300 (2002); Commonwealth v. Gordon, 41 Mass. App. Ct. 459, 465 (1996); Commonwealth v. Dello Iacono, 20 Mass. App. Ct. 83, 89-90 (1985......