Riley v. State
| Decision Date | 27 December 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. A-7834.,A-7834. |
| Citation | 60 P.3d 204 |
| Parties | Richard L. RILEY, Appellant, v. STATE of Alaska, Appellee. |
| Court | Alaska Court of Appeals |
Marcia E. Holland, Assistant Public Defender, Fairbanks, and Barbara K. Brink, Public Defender, Anchorage, for Appellant.
James L. Hanley, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals, Anchorage, and Bruce M. Botelho, Attorney General, Juneau, for Appellee.
Before: COATS, Chief Judge, and MANNHEIMER and STEWART, Judges.
Richard L. Riley and another man, Edward F. Portalla, opened fire on an unsuspecting crowd of young people who were socializing around a bonfire on the Tanana River near Fairbanks. Two of the young people were seriously wounded. Riley and Portalla were indicted on two counts of first-degree assault (recklessly causing serious physical injury by means of a dangerous instrument) and six counts of third-degree assault (recklessly placing another person in fear of imminent serious physical injury by means of a dangerous instrument).1 Riley was ultimately convicted of all eight charges. In this appeal, Riley challenges his two convictions for first-degree assault.
The State faced a problem in prosecuting Riley and Portalla for first-degree assault: the physical evidence (in particular, the ballistics analysis) did not reveal which of the defendants' weapons had fired the wounding shots. The bullet recovered from the body of one victim was so deformed that it could not be matched to either Riley's or Portalla's weapon, and the bullet that wounded the other victim passed through the victim's body and was never recovered. Thus, with respect to each victim, the State could prove that the wound was inflicted by one of the two defendants, but the State could not easily prove which one.
At the close of Riley's trial, the jurors were instructed that, with regard to each count of first-degree assault, they should decide whether Riley acted as a "principal" (i.e., by firing the wounding shot) or, if they could not decide beyond a reasonable doubt which man fired the shots, they should decide whether Riley acted as an "accomplice" (i.e., by aiding or abetting Portalla to fire the wounding shot). The jurors found Riley guilty as an accomplice in the wounding of both victims.2
Riley argues that his convictions for first-degree assault are flawed because the jurors were misinstructed regarding the elements of accomplice liability. The alleged flaw concerns the culpable mental state that must be proved when the State alleges a defendant's complicity in another person's crime.
In Echols v. State, 818 P.2d 691 (Alaska App.1991), this Court addressed a situation where a wife was charged as an accomplice to first-degree assault committed by her husband. The State's evidence showed that the defendant summoned her husband to discipline their child, then stood by and watched while the husband inflicted serious physical injury on the child by whipping her with an electric cord.3 The question was whether the wife's conduct was sufficient to establish her accountability as an accomplice to the assault.
The underlying crime of first-degree assault required proof that the principal (i.e., the husband) acted recklessly with respect to the result (i.e., the infliction of serious physical injury). The State argued that the wife could be convicted as an accomplice to the first-degree assault because (1) she solicited her husband to discipline the child and (2) she acted with the culpable mental state required for the crime—i.e., she acted recklessly with respect to the possibility that the beating would result in serious physical injury to the child.
But this Court held that the wife's complicity could not be premised on recklessness. Rather, we held that the wife could be held accountable as an accomplice to the first-degree assault only if the State proved that she acted intentionally with respect to the prohibited result—i.e., that her conscious objective was to have the child suffer serious physical injury.4
In the present appeal, Riley relies on Echols. He contends that his jury instruction on accomplice liability was flawed because it failed to clearly inform the jurors that the State was obliged to prove that Riley intended to have Portalla inflict serious physical injury on the victims (and not simply that Riley acted recklessly with respect to the possibility that Portalla's conduct would cause this result).
The first hurdle Riley faces is that he did not object to the accomplice liability instruction that he now challenges. Riley must therefore show that the instruction amounted to plain error. We conclude that the jury instruction did not amount to plain error for two reasons: first, the instruction was not obviously flawed, but only potentially ambiguous on the question of the required culpable mental state; and second, the parties' summations to the jury cured the potential ambiguity in the instruction.
But, more important, the State asks us to re-examine our holding in Echols. We have done so and, for the reasons explained here, we conclude that we misstated the law of complicity in Echols.
We were wrong when we said in Echols that liability for assault or criminal homicide under a complicity theory always requires proof that the defendant intended to cause the injury or the death, even though the underlying crime requires proof of only a lesser culpable mental state (extreme indifference to the value of human life, recklessness, or criminal negligence). When a defendant solicits, encourages, or assists another to engage in conduct, and does so with the intent to promote or facilitate that conduct, the defendant becomes accountable under AS 11.16.110(2) for that conduct. If that conduct leads to unintended injury or death, the defendant can be convicted of assault or criminal homicide if the government additionally proves that the defendant acted with the culpable mental state required for the charged crime.
Thus, to establish Riley's guilt of first-degree assault in the present case, the State did not have to prove that Riley acted with the intention of causing serious physical injury. Rather, the State had to prove that Riley acted recklessly with respect to the possibility that serious physical injury would be inflicted on another person through (1) Riley's own conduct or (2) the conduct of another for which Riley was accountable under AS 11.16.110. And, to prove that Riley was accountable for Portalla's conduct under AS 11.16.110(2), the State had to prove (1) that Riley solicited, encouraged, or assisted Portalla's act of shooting at the victims, and (2) that Riley did so with the intent to promote or facilitate this conduct.
To summarize: when two or more people are jointly accountable for conduct under Alaska's complicity statute, and if, on the basis of that conduct, they are charged with a crime that is defined in terms of an unintended injury or death (i.e., an injury or death for which the accompanying culpable mental state is something other than "intentionally"), that same culpable mental state— whether it be "extreme indifference to the value of human life", "recklessness", or "criminal negligence"—applies to the State's prosecution of all participants, whether they acted as principals or accomplices, and regardless of whether the resulting injury or death can be linked beyond a reasonable doubt to a particular defendant's conduct.
The challenged jury instruction on complicity, and why we conclude that this instruction did not constitute plain error under the Echols rule
AS 11.16.110 codifies the basic rules governing vicarious liability in Alaska—i.e., it specifies the situations in which one person is criminally responsible for another person's conduct. Under AS 11.16.110(2)(B), a defendant is legally accountable for another person's conduct if the defendant "aids or abets the other in planning or committing the offense" and if the defendant does so "with [the] intent to promote or facilitate the commission of the offense". Riley was convicted of first-degree assault under the theory that, acting with the intent to promote or facilitate Portalla's commission of first-degree assault, he aided or abetted Portalla to engage in the conduct that resulted in the wounding of the victims.
In Echols, this Court was asked to construe the phrase "with intent to promote or facilitate the commission of the offense" as it applied to crimes that require proof of a particular result (for instance, the infliction of serious physical injury). We held that a defendant does not intend "to promote or facilitate" the commission of such an offense unless the defendant intends that the prohibited result occur. Echols, 818 P.2d at 695. Thus, even though the principal might be convicted on proof that he or she acted "recklessly" or with "criminal negligence" with respect to the prohibited result, the accomplice could not be convicted unless the State proved that the accomplice acted "intentionally" with respect to that result.
At Riley's trial, his attorney proposed the following instruction concerning Riley's potential liability as an accomplice to first-degree assault:
Even though he was the proponent of this instruction in the trial court, Riley contends on appeal that...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Gonzales v. Duenas-Alvarez
...(Lexis 2005); Wis. Stat. § 939.05 (2003–2004); Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6–1–201 (2005).B Alaska Stat. § 11.16.110; Riley v. State, 60 P.3d 204, 214, 219–221 (Alaska App.2002); Tarnef v. State, 512 P.2d 923, 928 (Alaska 1973); State v. Phillips, 202 Ariz. 427, 435–437, 46 P.3d 1048, 1056–1058 (2002......
-
Downey v. State
...See Browder v. State, 294 Ga. 188, 191(1), 751 S.E.2d 354 (2013).3 This is consistent with the rule at common law. See Riley v. State, 60 P.3d 204, 211 (Alaska App.2002) ("The rule at common law is that when a person purposely assists or encourages another person to engage in conduct that i......
-
State v. Lewis
...for defendant's accomplice liability despite claim that only his brother, not he, had fired bullet that hit victim); Riley v. State, 60 P.3d 204 (Alaska Ct.App.2002). Although the state did not urge the theory of accomplice liability below and no accomplice instruction was given to the jury......
-
Olson v. State
...statutes have held accomplice to extreme indifference murder or reckless manslaughter is a recognized offense. In Riley v. State , 60 P.3d 204, 215-17 (Alaska Ct. App. 2002), the court discussed cases from other states imposing accomplice liability for crimes involving unintended injury or ......