People v. Fernandez

This case presents question as to whether govt. failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt defendant’s guilt on charge of aggravated discharge of weapon in direction of police officer, where said conviction was based on accountability theory. Appellate Court, in affirming defendant’s conviction, found that rational trier-of-fact could have found defendant accountable for shooting of officer where defendant acknowledged in written statement that he agreed to drive shooter around neighborhood so that shooter could burglarize parked cars, and that under common design rule, defendant was responsible for shooter’s acts in furtherance of said plan to burglarize that included instant shooting of officer. Appellate Court further noted that defendant had assisted shooter by driving him away from crime scene after shooting, and by pretending that neither he nor shooter was present in apartment when police knocked on apartment door. In his petition for leave to appeal, defendant argued that record contained insufficient evidence of his guilt where he did not know that shooter possessed firearm prior to shooting, and that court could not infer intent to discharge firearm based on defendant’s actions taken after said shooting.