Opinion ID: 2103748
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 32

Heading: Failure to Find and Weigh Mitigators

Text: The defendant argues that his sentence of death was arbitrarily and capriciously imposed because the trial court failed to find and weigh mitigating circumstances which he claims are fairly supported by the record. Specifically, the defendant argues that the court ignored uncontradicted evidence that: (1) he was drinking heavily on the night of the murder, (2) his problems with the law began when he started using alcohol and drugs as a teenager following the suicide of his grandfather, (3) he was an alcoholic, and (4) another participant in the crime, Chambers, was the instigator. The defendant argues that even if his use of alcohol the night of the crime did not substantially impair his capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct as required by Indiana Code Section 35-50-2-9(c)(6), it and the other purported mitigators must be considered and given mitigating weight under XX-XX-X-X(c)(8). He requests that this case be remanded so that the trial court may properly consider and weigh all of his allegedly relevant mitigating circumstances against the sole charged aggravator and resentence him appropriately. A trial court is under no duty to deem mitigating every factor so alleged by the defendant simply because it is supported by some evidence in the record. Furthermore, [w]hen a defendant argues mitigating circumstances to the trial court, the sentencing judge is not obligated to explain why he has chosen not to make a finding of mitigation. This is particularly true when an examination of the underlying record shows the highly disputable nature of the mitigating factors. Moreover, the trial court is not obligated to credit or weigh the defendant's evidence of mitigating circumstances the same way the defendant does. Hammons v. State (1986), Ind., 493 N.E.2d 1250, 1254-55 (citations omitted), reh'g denied, 496 N.E.2d 1284; accord Stout v. State (1988), Ind., 528 N.E.2d 476, post-conviction relief granted on other grounds (1991), Ind. App., 580 N.E.2d 676. However, the failure of the trial court to find mitigating circumstances which are clearly supported by the record may reasonably give rise to a belief that they were overlooked and hence not properly considered. Hammons, 493 N.E.2d at 1255. In its sentencing statement, the trial court expressly found that there were no mitigating circumstances warranting consideration. Supplemental Record at 55. Further explanation of the Court's finding the existence of no mitigating circumstances is found in oral statements made at the time of sentencing, when the trial judge stated that no mitigating circumstances existed and explained: The intoxication, the consumption of beer that was in evidence that occurred on the night in question, the Court does not find to any significant degree at all impaired Mr. Bivins' ability to think, to know what he was doing, to act, and cannot rise to the level of an excuse or mitigating factor to be considered by the Court. Record at 3974. [9] The trial court did not otherwise discuss the defendant's claimed alcoholism, troubled adolescence, or the role of the accomplice, Chambers. We do not find the claimed mitigating circumstances so clearly supported by the record as to lead to the conclusion that they were overlooked and not properly considered. The evidence did show that the defendant and his two companions purchased beer and consumed an unspecified quantity, leading the defendant's wife to describe her husband as pretty well buzzed. Record at 2762. However, the companions explained that the defendant had no trouble driving. Record at 3393. They also believed that he was limiting his alcoholic intake to avoid the possibility of being stopped by police. Record at 3393. Because the evidence was in conflict regarding the degree of the defendant's intoxication, we find no error in the trial court's failure to find and consider this to be a mitigating circumstance. There was testimony during the sentencing phase from the defendant's brother and mother that the defendant began drinking and using drugs at age fourteen, shortly after his alcoholic grandfather committed suicide. Six months before the commission of the murder, the defendant was arrested for driving while intoxicated, public intoxication, and driving with a blood alcohol content of .10 percent or above. He was convicted of the latter offense and sentenced to probation, which was terminated because of his failure to comply with alcohol treatment. He was arrested again for public intoxication three months later. The defendant contends that, despite the absence of expert testimony of diagnosed alcoholism, the evidence supported such a potential determination by the trial court. The evidence of alcoholism and troubled youth, although arguably adequate to permit a discretionary finding of relevance as mitigating circumstances, were not so clearly supported by the record as to lead us to conclude that they were overlooked and hence not properly considered by the trial court. The defendant also claims trial court error in its failure to find a mitigating factor in the role of his companion, Chambers, as the alleged instigator of the robbery of Reverend Radcliffe. We find no evidence, however, that Chambers participated in, encouraged, or suggested the murder. There is no showing that the defendant was a relatively minor accomplice or that he acted under the substantial domination of another person. Ind. Code § 35-50-2-9(c)(4), (5). The trial court did not err in failing to consider Chambers's role a mitigating circumstance. Discharging our appellate review function with respect to the trial court's finding that no mitigating circumstances warranted consideration, we do not find error.