Opinion ID: 2582487
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Consideration of Crime and Defendant

Text: ¶ 112 In the Cross opinion, which was filed just one year ago, this court followed the customary four-factor approach and concluded that Cross's death sentence was not disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases, considering both the crime and the defendant. RCW 10.95.130(2)(b). Consistent with the Cross court's analysis, this court likewise concludes that Yates's death sentence for the murders of Mercer and Ellis was not disproportionate under RCW 10.95.130(2)(b). ¶ 113 Regarding the first factor, the nature of the crime giving rise to the death sentence, Yates's crimes were similar to Cross's. First, while Cross murdered three women (his wife and two of her daughters), Yates murdered two, and as the Cross court pointed out, death sentences have previously been handed down in cases with fewer than three victims. 156 Wash.2d at 632, 132 P.3d 80 (citing State v. Woods, 143 Wash.2d 561, 616, 23 P.3d 1046 (2001); State v. Stenson, 132 Wash.2d 668, 759, 940 P.2d 1239 (1997); State v. Elledge, 144 Wash.2d 62, 66, 26 P.3d 271 (2001)). Second, the Cross court recognized that [t]here was a marked level of cruelty in the murders: At least one of Cross's victims was conscious and pleaded with him to either spare her life or kill her more quickly. Id. Yates's crimes were similarly cruel. For example, the evidence indicated that, after Yates shot Mercer three times with a .25 caliber weapon and tied four plastic grocery bags over her head, she survived long enough to chew through the two innermost bags and partially suck one bag into her mouth. 56 VRP at 5538-39; 57 VRP at 5626-28. Yates's crimes, in fact, reflected a more calculated cruelty than did Cross's crimes. The degree of planning in Yates's crimes was similar to that seen in the murders committed in Pirtle, 127 Wash.2d 628, 904 P.2d 245, and Brett, 126 Wash.2d 136, 892 P.2d 29, and Yates selected his victims from a particularly vulnerable class. Dodd, 120 Wash.2d 1, 838 P.2d 86. ¶ 114 The second factor in proportionality review, the aggravating circumstances proved at trial, is closely allied to the first factor, the nature of the crime. Cross's conviction for aggravated first degree murder was based on the common scheme or plan aggravator defined in RCW 10.95.020(10), see 156 Wash.2d at 633, 132 P.3d 80, and as the State points out in the present case, [p]revious cases have found the death penalty not disproportionate when based on a single aggravator. Br. of Resp't at 226 (citing Luvene Trial Judge Report (TJR) 135; Gentry TJR 119; Benn TJR 75; Harris TJR 29). The jury in the present case, however, found that the State had proved not only the common scheme or plan aggravating factor, but the additional in furtherance of . . . [r]obbery aggravator as well. As the Cross court pointed out, this court is not merely looking for the number of aggravators but, more importantly, at the nature of the aggravating circumstances. 156 Wash.2d at 633, 132 P.3d 80 (emphasis added). Here, the nature of the aggravating circumstances is disturbing, to say the least. Yates's plan required considerable planning and was carried out, not over a period of hours, but over a span of more than two years. In sum, although Cross's and Yates's death sentences arose from crimes involving a similar number of victims and a similar degree of cruelty, the nature and number of the aggravating factors in the present case mark Yates's crimes as surpassingly reprehensible. Considering the first two proportionality factors (the nature of Yates's crimes and the nature and number of the aggravating factors), we find no basis for declaring Yates's death sentence disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases. RCW 10.95.130(2)(b). ¶ 115 To satisfy the requirement in RCW 10.95.130(2)(b) that this court consider not only the crime but also the defendant, the court relies on the third and fourth proportionality factors, the defendant's criminal history (prior convictions) and personal history. Yates has an extensive criminal history. He has been convicted of 13 first degree murders and 1 attempted first degree murder, and those crimes were committed over a period of more than 20 years. As the State pointed out, Yates's prior murder convictions place him in a unique category, since among those defendants included in the trial judge reports, only 13 had a prior conviction for murder or manslaughter, and of those, only 1 had more than one such conviction. Br. of Resp't at 228. As to Yates's personal history, the testimony at his special sentencing proceeding depicted a stable, happy childhood. The State has aptly compared Yates and another defendant who received a death sentence: Stenson was not lacking in normal intelligence, was not youthful, and was not the victim of a tragic background. We have compared this case and all the circumstances of the Defendant and his crime with other first degree aggravated murders which have and have not received the death penalty. Given the brutal, calculated nature of the crimes, the motivation of financial gain, and the lack of mitigating circumstances, we conclude the sentence was neither excessive nor disproportionate. Id. at 229, 132 P.3d 80 (quoting Stenson, 132 Wash.2d at 760, 940 P.2d 1239). As with proportionality factors one and two, the consideration of factors three and four (Yates's criminal and personal history) does not suggest that his death sentence was excessive or disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases. RCW 10.95.130(2)(b).