Opinion ID: 1378832
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Hill was the actual perpetrator of the sexual assault and murder.

Text: Hill alleges that his appellate counsel was ineffective for failure to bring a petition for rehearing after issuance of this court's decision on direct appeal. Specifically, Hill contends that this court misapprehended or overlooked a material fact: neither the three-judge panel nor the jury ever found that Hill was the actual perpetrator. This issue was not raised in Hill's petition for post-conviction relief, nor has he alleged cause and prejudice for failure to raise it below. Generally, we decline to consider such issues. Cf. Hewitt v. State, 113 Nev. 387, 936 P.2d 330 (1997); Emmons v. State, 107 Nev. 53, 807 P.2d 718 (1991). However, because this issue raises a claim of constitutional dimension which, if true, might invalidate Hill's death sentence and the record is sufficiently developed to provide an adequate basis for review, we will address it. Jones v. State, 101 Nev. 573, 580, 707 P.2d 1128, 1133 (1985). Nevertheless, we conclude Hill's argument has no merit. Enmund v. Florida, 458 U.S. 782, 797, 102 S.Ct. 3368, 3376, 73 L.Ed.2d 1140 (1982), held that the Eighth Amendment is violated by the imposition of the death penalty on a defendant who aided and abetted a felony in the course of which a murder is committed by others but who does not himself kill, attempt to kill, or intend that a killing take place or that lethal force will be employed. [3] Therefore, Hill argues that without a finding that he actually killed, attempted to kill, or intended to kill Altonia or employ lethal force, he cannot receive the death penalty. This claim is of no avail because after a careful review of the record, we conclude that the jury and the three-judge panel each independently found that Hill was the actual perpetrator of the sexual assault and murder and not an aider/abettor to Marshall. Initially, we conclude that the evidence submitted at trial was sufficient for a trier of fact to find that Hill was the actual perpetrator. Leroy testified in no uncertain terms that he struggled with Marshall in the living room/kitchen area and Marshall never left his sight. Additionally, Leroy testified that Hill remained in the bedroom during this struggle. This is corroborated by the testimony of Lavone Kelly, a neighbor of the Matthews and an acquaintance of Marshall and Hill. She testified that during the incident, she had the opportunity to be outside the kitchen window of the Matthews' apartment. Although she could not see what was taking place, she heard a voice from inside, near where she was listening, call to another person to leave the apartment. She further testified that she recognized that voice to be Marshall's. Such testimony places Marshall, not Hill, in the living room/kitchen area where Leroy testified the struggle with Marshall took place. The only evidence presented that Marshall committed the atrocities on Altonia was Hill's own self-serving voluntary statements to the police shortly after his arrest and the testimony of Ray Turner, a convicted felon and fellow jail inmate of Marshall. Turner testified that Marshall told him that Marshall forced a stick into Altonia's anal opening, but that both Marshall and Hill vaginally raped her. The trier of fact is entitled to determine the weight and credibility to give the evidence. Bolden v. State, 97 Nev. 71, 73, 624 P.2d 20, 20 (1981). Therefore, it is entirely reasonable for the jury and the three-judge panel to decide that Hill, not Marshall, was the actual perpetrator, and we conclude that such was indeed the finding in this case. The jury returned a verdict finding Hill not guilty for the charge of battery with a deadly weapon committed upon Leroy, while returning a verdict of guilty for sexual assault on Altonia. Accordingly, it is evident that the jury believed the state's version of events, specifically, that Hill was the actual perpetrator of the acts upon Altonia. Had the jury believed that Hill was struggling with Leroy while Marshall committed the sexual assault, it would not have returned the verdicts as it did. Moreover, in the jury penalty phase, the jury was unable to agree on the appropriate punishment for Hill. However, it returned the special verdict forms indicating it unanimously found all four aggravating circumstances to exist, while finding that no mitigating circumstances existed. Of particular noteworthiness was the unanimous finding of the aggravator that Hill murdered Altonia while committing sexual assault. Therefore, we conclude that the jury unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt found that Hill actually committed the sexual assault leading to Altonia's murder. Next, although the three-judge panel took the jury's verdicts into consideration, it nevertheless conducted an independent review of the evidence, concluding that Hill was the actual perpetrator. The panel adopted the penalty phase jury instructions which did not allow Hill to be sentenced to death without a finding that he was indeed the actual perpetrator. The panel stated: The issue has been raised whether or not the defendant was the actual perpetrator of the crime of murder. This court finds as a matter of law, based upon a review of the evidence, transcripts and verdicts of the crimes, verdicts of the jury, that there is substantial evidence upon which the jury found beyond a reasonable doubt: One, the defendant committed the crime of sexual assault with the use of a deadly weapon; Two, the defendant committed the crime of murder with the use of a deadly weapon. This is further substantiated by the finding of the jury of not guilty to count four, battery with use of a deadly weapon on Leroy Matthews. (Emphasis added.) Accordingly, because we conclude that Hill was determined to be the actual perpetrator of the crimes, his appellate counsel was not ineffective.