Opinion ID: 755880
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Alleged Failure to Weigh Aggravating and Mitigating Circumstances

Text: 92 Ortiz contends that the Arizona Supreme Court committed constitutional error in failing to reweigh the remaining aggravating circumstances against the mitigating circumstances. He also argues that the court should have remanded his case for resentencing rather than reweighing the circumstances itself. We reject both of these claims. 93 If a trial court has based a sentence of death in part on aggravating circumstances deemed later to be invalid, the remaining aggravating and mitigating circumstances must be reweighed against each other. See Clemons v. Mississippi, 494 U.S. 738, 751-53, 110 S.Ct. 1441, 108 L.Ed.2d 725 (1990). As we have acknowledged, recent Arizona cases indicate that it is generally preferable to remand to the sentencing court for reweighing. See Poland v. Stewart, 117 F.3d 1094, 1101 (9th Cir.1997) (citing State v. Bible, 175 Ariz. 549, 858 P.2d 1152 (1993) (en banc)). We nevertheless have made clear that a state appellate court may also perform the reweighing function. See Jeffers v. Lewis, 38 F.3d 411, 414 (9th Cir.1994). Thus, there is no merit to Ortiz's contention that the Arizona Supreme Court erred in undertaking to reweigh the aggravating and mitigating factors itself. 94 We are satisfied, moreover, that the Arizona Supreme Court adequately reweighed the factors. After invalidating two of the aggravating circumstances (prior felony conviction and cruel state of mind), the court concluded, Our reading of the trial court's verdict indicates that whatever mitigation evidence [Ortiz] offered, it was not sufficiently substantial to call for leniency. We have independently reviewed the evidence in a painstaking manner, and we agree. Ortiz, 639 P.2d at 1035. Although the court's discussion of its reweighing analysis is cursory, we presume that state courts follow the law, even when they fail to so indicate. Jeffers, 38 F.3d at 415. Moreover, as we observed in Poland, It is sufficient that a sentencing court state that it found no mitigating circumstances that outweigh the aggravating circumstances. 117 F.3d at 1101 (citing Parker v. Dugger, 498 U.S. 308, 318, 111 S.Ct. 731, 112 L.Ed.2d 812 (1991)). Accordingly, we reject Ortiz's claim that the Arizona Supreme Court's reweighing analysis was deficient.