In People v. Swain (1996) 12 Cal.4th 593, the jury was instructed on the elements of murder, including principles of implied malice second degree murder. However, the implied malice instruction was given in connection with charges against the two defendants for conspiracy to commit murder, which requires a finding of an intent to kill (i.e., express malice). ( Id. at pp. 602-607.) The California Supreme Court held that the defendants' conviction for conspiracy to commit murder must be reversed under the harmless beyond a reasonable doubt standard, stating that it could not "be determined beyond a reasonable doubt that the erroneous implied malice murder instructions did not contribute to the convictions on the conspiracy counts. Nor is there anything else discoverable from the verdicts that would enable us to conclude that the jury necessarily found the defendants guilty of conspiracy to commit murder on a proper theory, i.e., based on express malice or intent to kill." ( Id. at p. 607.)