Opinion ID: 453004
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Georgia's Sentencing Hearing

Text: 107 In Zant v. Stephens, 250 Ga. 97, 297 S.E.2d 1 (1982), the Georgia Supreme Court, answering a question certified by the United States Supreme Court, outlined the issue before a Georgia capital sentencing jury. After a conviction of murder, a capital sentencing hearing may be held. The jury hears evidence and argument and is then instructed about statutory aggravating circumstances. The court explained the process beyond this instruction as follows: 108 The purpose of the statutory aggravating circumstances is to limit to a large degree, but not completely, the factfinder's discretion. Unless at least one of the ten statutory aggravating circumstances exist, the death penalty may not be imposed in any event. If there exists at least one statutory aggravating circumstance, the death penalty may be imposed but the factfinder has a discretion to decline to do so without giving any reason. ... [Citations omitted]. In making the decision as to the penalty, the factfinder takes into consideration all circumstances before it from both the guilt-innocence and the sentence phases of the trial. These circumstances relate both to the offense and the defendant. 109 297 S.E.2d at 3-4. The United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of structuring the sentencing jury's discretion in such a manner. Zant v. Stephens, 462 U.S. 862, 103 S.Ct. 2733, 77 L.Ed.2d 235 (1983). 110 This explanation demonstrates that the jury in the sentencing phase has two tasks. It must first determine whether the evidence supports the existence of at least one statutory aggravating circumstance. That determination must be made beyond a reasonable doubt. Ga.Code Ann. Sec. 17-10-30(c). If at least one aggravating circumstance is present, the jury must then examine factors relative to the offense and the defendant and exercise its discretion in choosing between death or life imprisonment. 35 111 In carrying out the first task, the issue before the jury is very clear. The statutory circumstances are elaborated such that they require findings of fact similar to those made by the jury in the guilt phase of the trial. Conner v. State, 303 S.E.2d at 274. The second task, exercise of discretion to impose punishment, is more amorphous. California v. Ramos, 463 U.S. 992, 999, 103 S.Ct. 3446, 3451, 77 L.Ed.2d 1171, 1185 (1983) (once the jury finds that the defendant falls within the legislatively-defined category of persons eligible for the death penalty, ... [it] then is free to consider whether death is the appropriate punishment); Zant v. Stephens, 462 U.S. at 878, 103 S.Ct. at 2743, 77 L.Ed.2d at 248 (upholding Georgia statute over defendant's contention that jury discretion is unbridled at the sentencing stage). Nevertheless, some description of the jury's discretionary choice of punishment is made possible by reference to case law outlining appropriate sentencing concerns. 112 The subject most relevant to the choice of punishment is the broad class of information about the defendant, his character, and the circumstances of his offense made known to the jury throughout the bifurcated trial. Consideration of these factors is made necessary by the Eighth Amendment's requirement that capital sentencing be individualized. Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 96 S.Ct. 2978, 49 L.Ed.2d 944 (1976). It is unconstitutional for a state to restrict the jury's consideration of any such individualized information that the defendant puts forth to mitigate the severity of his offense. Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104, 102 S.Ct. 869, 71 L.Ed.2d 1 (1982); Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978). The Court's opinion in Zant v. Stephens, supra, made clear that, under the Georgia scheme, the jury can also consider reliable 36 aggravating evidence, even though it is not relevant to any statutory aggravating circumstance. Thus, with very few exceptions, 37 any information about the individual defendant and his offense may be properly considered by the jury. 113 A line of cases has also made clear that the sentencing body may consider the future dangerousness of a particular defendant. Jurek v. Texas, 428 U.S. 262, 96 S.Ct. 2950, 49 L.Ed.2d 929 (1976) (approving Texas capital sentencing statute that requires a jury to find, before imposing death, that there is a probability that the defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society); 38 see also, California v. Ramos, 463 U.S. 992, 1002 n. 16, 103 S.Ct. 3446, 3453 n. 16, 77 L.Ed.2d 1171, 1181-83 (1983); Barefoot v. Estelle, 463 U.S. 880, 896-98, 103 S.Ct. 3383, 3396, 77 L.Ed.2d 1090, 1106-07 (1983). 114 A third area of consideration is the accepted penological justifications for the use of death as a punishment. These general justifications are retribution and deterrence. Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 184-87, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 2930-31, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976). A Georgia jury is charged with implementing the state's capital punishment scheme in a particular case. It is hard to imagine a more reasonable approach to this task than consideration by the jury of whether or not imposition of the death penalty in the particular case will serve the accepted objectives of deterrence and retribution. See Collins v. Francis, 728 F.2d 1322 (11th Cir.1984). Translating facts into a penalty is an ethical operation requiring consideration of the accepted justifications of the particular punishment. See Spaziano v. Florida, --- U.S. ----, ----, 104 S.Ct. 3154, 3174, 82 L.Ed.2d 340, 366 (1984) (in the final analysis, capital punishment rests on not a legal but an ethical judgment ...) (Stevens, J., dissenting). 115 Thus, jury consideration of the appropriateness of retribution in the particular case is both proper and inevitable. Similarly, with respect to specific deterrence, the jury may appropriately consider whether a particular defendant is so likely to be dangerous in the future and so unlikely to be rehabilitated that incapacitation is warranted. See Jurek v. Texas, supra. Even general deterrence, while principally a concern for the legislature, Spaziano v. Florida, --- U.S. at ----, 104 S.Ct. at 3172, 82 L.Ed.2d at 354, can be considered in fixing a punishment. In deciding whether to impose the death penalty in a particular case, it is appropriate for a jury to consider whether or not the general deterrence purpose of the statute would be served thereby. Collins v. Francis, 728 F.2d 1322, 1339-40 (11th Cir.1984) (discussing Supreme Court precedent and concluding that the need for general deterrence is a constitutional sentencing consideration). 39 Georgia permits argument about these penological justifications. Conner v. State, 251 Ga. 113, 303 S.E.2d 266 (1983). 40 Such arguments are logically relevant to the jury's proper task. Neither reason nor precedent suggests that we should raise a constitutional barrier to such arguments.