Opinion ID: 1058076
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Indictment Fails to Charge Capital Offense

Text: On appeal, the defendant asserts that the Tennessee statutory sentencing scheme under which the State seeks to subject this Defendant to the penalties of death or life imprisonment without possibility of parole is unconstitutional under the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, as well as Article I, Sections 8, 9, 16, and 17, Article II, Section 2, and Article XI, Section 8 of the Tennessee Constitution. Essentially, he argues that Tennessee's sentencing scheme fails to provide that aggravating circumstances be charged in the indictment before elevating the first degree murder penalty from life in prison to a sentence of death. In support of his argument, the defendant relies upon the decisions of the United States Supreme Court in Jones v. United States, 526 U.S. 227, 119 S.Ct. 1215, 143 L.Ed.2d 311 (1999); Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000); and Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002). The defendant's argument is based upon the premise that first degree murder is not a capital offense unless accompanied by aggravating factors. Specifically, the defendant complains that the indictment returned by the grand jury charges non-capital, first degree murder because the grand jury did not find any capital aggravating circumstances. Thus, the defendant alleges that to satisfy the requirements of Apprendi , the indictment must include language of the statutory aggravating circumstances to elevate the offense to capital murder. This argument has recently been rejected by our supreme court in State v. Holton, 126 S.W.3d 845 (Tenn. 2004); see also State v. Berry, 141 S.W.3d 549, 558-62 (Tenn.2004). In Holton, our supreme court explained that  Apprendi applies only to enhancement factors used to impose a sentence above the statutory maximum and that the death penalty is within the statutory range of punishment prescribed for first degree murder by the Tennessee General Assembly. . . . Holton, 126 S.W.3d at 863 (citing State v. Dellinger, 79 S.W.3d 458, 466-67 (Tenn.2002)); see also State v. Odom, 137 S.W.3d 572, 590 (Tenn.2004). The court further emphasized that Tennessee's capital sentencing procedures require that a jury, not a judge, make the findings regarding the presence of aggravating circumstances and that the findings must be made beyond a reasonable doubt. Odom, 137 S.W.3d at 590-91 (citing Holton, 126 S.W.3d at 864; see also Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-13-204(f)(1)(2003). The defendant is not entitled to relief on this issue.