PA Superior Court: It's Possible to Conspire to Commit Involuntary Manslaughter

Criminal Defense Lawyer Zak Goldstein

The Superior Court has decided the case of Commonwealth v. Arrington, holding that a defendant can be found guilty of committing the crime of conspiracy to commit involuntary manslaughter. The court reached this conclusion despite conspiracy being a specific intent crime. The decision makes no sense - involuntary manslaughter is an unintended homicide. Conspiracy requires an agreement to commit a particular crime. Thus, conspiracy to commit an involuntary manslaughter requires an agreement to commit an unintended homicide. Such an agreement, of course, is impossible. Nonetheless, the Superior Court has approved of this charge.

Commonwealth v. Arrington

The defendant contacted an individual and offered to sell him heroin. This individual resided in Clarion County. This individual did not have any money to buy drugs, so he contacted the decedent because he would routinely buy drugs for the individual. The decedent also lived in Clarion County. The individual and the decedent then drove to Pittsburgh to meet with the defendant and bought drugs 30 bags of heroin that was laced with fentanyl from the defendant. The decedent gave the individual five bags and kept 25 for himself. The individual then dropped the decedent off at his home that he shared with his girlfriend. 

One night, after the girlfriend returned home from work, she found the decedent dead, lying face down on their living room floor. Investigators located 21 bags of heroin in the decedent’s pants pockets and ruled that he had died from a fentanyl overdose. After the decedent’s death, the police were able to locate the individual. The individual agreed to serve as a confidential informant for the Clarion County Police Department. At the police’s direction, the individual purchased heroin from the defendant in Pittsburgh. He performed another controlled buy from the defendant five days later. 

The defendant was then subsequently arrested and was charged with involuntary manslaughter, conspiracy to commit involuntary manslaughter, and Drug Delivery Resulting in Death. The defendant elected to proceed by jury trial where he was found guilty of the aforementioned crimes. The trial court sentenced the defendant to 11 ½ to 23 years’ incarceration. The defendant filed a timely post-sentence motion which was denied. He then filed a timely appeal. On appeal, the defendant raised several issues. For purposes of this blog, only the issue of whether conspiracy to commit involuntary manslaughter is a cognizable offense in Pennsylvania will be addressed.  

What is Involuntary Manslaughter? 

18 Pa. C.S.A. § 2504 is the statute that governs the crime of involuntary manslaughter. It provides:

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.

Practically, this is an easier crime for the Commonwealth to prove in comparison to First-Degree Murder. Why? Because to convict a defendant of First-Degree Murder, the Commonwealth must prove that the defendant specifically intended to kill someone. Whereas for Involuntary Manslaughter, the Commonwealth only needs to prove that the defendant was acting reckless or in a grossly negligent way.  

What is Conspiracy? 

18 Pa. C.S.A. § 903 is the statute that governs the crime of conspiracy. To sustain a conviction for the crime of conspiracy, the Commonwealth must prove that a defendant 1) entered into an agreement to commit or aid in an unlawful act with another person(s), 2) with a shared criminal intent, and 3) an overt act was done in furtherance of the conspiracy. Conspiracy is known as a “specific intent” crime, which are the hardest crimes for the Commonwealth to prove because they must establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant actually intended to commit the crime.   

The Pennsylvania Superior Court’s Decision

The Pennsylvania Superior Court upheld the defendant’s conviction. In his appeal, the defendant argued that because conspiracy is a specific intent crime and involuntary manslaughter involves an unintentional death, a person cannot conspire to commit involuntary manslaughter because one cannot intend to commit an unintentional act. The Superior Court rejected this argument. The Court cited previous decisions where Pennsylvania appellate courts have found that a defendant can be found guilty of conspiracy to commit a crime that resulted in an unintentional consequence. Further, the Superior Court has held that an individual can commit the crime of conspiracy to commit drug delivery resulting in death. 

According to the Court, it is sufficient to be found guilty of conspiracy to commit drug delivery resulting in death if the Commonwealth is able to prove that a defendant delivered drugs to an individual and that individual died as a result of using said drugs. Therefore, using this logic, the Superior Court found that “when a defendant acts with another to intentionally commit an unlawful act characterized by the conscious disregard of a substantial and unjustifiable risk…that results in a death that was a natural and probable result of that act, the defendant is guilty of Conspiracy to Commit Involuntary Manslaughter.” Additionally, the Superior Court denied his other issues he raised on appeal. Consequently, the defendant will not get any relief and, barring further appeals, will be forced to serve the remainder of his sentence. 

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