# Commonwealth v. Waters

> Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · July 15, 1980 · 491 Pa. 85

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9713047

## Case

- **Full name:** COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Gary D. WATERS, Appellant; COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant, v. Gary D. WATERS, Appellee
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** July 15, 1980
- **Citations:** 491 Pa. 85; 418 A.2d 312
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Larsen
- **Judges:** Eagen, O'Brien, Roberts, Nix, Larsen, Flaherty
- **Cited by:** 37 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9713047

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- finding trial court erred in quashing attempted murder charge sua sponte

## Opinion text

LARSEN, Justice,
dissenting.
The majority holds that the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury that the Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the act causing the death was done “in furtherance of the design to commit the felony.” In my opinion, the trial court was correct in refusing that requested instruction.
Murder of the second degree, “felony-murder”, is defined by 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2502(b) as a homicide “committed while defendant was engaged as a principal or an accomplice in the perpetration of a felony (emphasis supplied).” Nowhere in this statute are the words “in furtherance of the design to commit the felony”, and the majority is legislating in en-grafting this requirement into the plain meaning of the statutory language.
Consequently, I would affirm the judgment of sentence at No. 392.

---

Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9713047. Public record. Not legal advice.