Carter v. Commonwealth

This appeal presents the question whether a person engaged in a criminal concert of action with others incurs vicarious criminal responsibility for the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony (Code § 18.2-53.1) by one of his co-actors in the absence of proof that he personally used the firearm or knew his co-actor possessed it. We also consider the propriety of a self-defense instruction in the context of the evidence.

Ronnie Anthony Carter1 was tried by a jury in the Circuit Court of the City of Newport News and was convicted of first degree murder, robbery, and use of a firearm in the…