Opinion ID: 2070845
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: The Remaining Applications

Text: Both the federal and state constitutions require that the states genuinely narrow the class of persons eligible for the death penalty and reasonably justify the imposition of a more severe sentence on those made death-eligible compared to others found guilty of murder ( Zant v Stephens, 462 US 862, 877 [1983]; see also People v Harris, 98 NY2d 452, 476-477 [2002]; Matter of Hynes v Tomei, 92 NY2d 613, 628 [1998]). Accordingly, the Legislature in Penal Law § 125.27 limited death-eligible, first-degree murder to those who kill intentionally, and whose conduct includes at least one of 13 separately listed aggravating factors (Penal Law § 125.27 [1] [a] [i]-[xiii]). As a result of our decision in LaValle, however, only a subcategory of death-eligible defendantsthose who will never be released from prison even if the jury deadlocks on the sentence of death or life without parolewould be at risk of the death penalty. This is because only these first-degree murderers would be immune to the coercive effect of the deadlock instruction. This subcategory, however, embraces the worst of the worst; specifically, first-degree murderers who have killed multiple victims and/or have committed other separate and distinct crimes such that they are eligible for consecutive sentences so lengthy in total as to be the functional equivalent of life without parole (the case here); and first-degree murderers whose separate and distinct additional crimes are so severe that the Legislature has prescribed an automatic sentence of life without parole. For example, a person serving a life sentence who kills a correction officer will have no possibility of parole, regardless of whether the jury deadlocks, for two reasons: he is already serving life without parole on the prior conviction, and the killing of a correction officer constitutes not only first-degree murder but also aggravated murder (Penal Law § 125.26 [1] [a] [iii]), which automatically results in a sentence of life without parole (Penal Law § 70.00 [3] [a] [i]; §§ 60.06, 70.00 [5]). [4] The killing of a police officer or a peace officer is also aggravated murder (Penal Law § 125.26 [1] [a] [i], [ii]). Additionally, the Legislature has mandated a sentence of life without parole for someone, 18 years of age or older, who intentionally murders a child under the age of 14 during the course of certain sex crimes ( see L 2004, ch 459 [Joan's Law]; see also Penal Law § 125.25 [5]; §§ 60.06, 70.00 [5]); and the crimes of terrorism where the underlying offense is a class A-I felony, or when there is possession of a chemical or biological weapon in the first degree, or use of a chemical or biological weapon in the first degree ( see L 2004, ch 1 [creating the State Office of Homeland Security and enacting various anti-terrorism measures]; see also Penal Law § 490.25 [1], [2] [c], [d]; §§ 490.45, 490.55, 60.06, 70.00 [5]). In the case of a mandatory life-without-parole crime, the trial judge would inform the jury that he was required to sentence the defendant to life without parole notwithstanding any deadlock on a count of first-degree murder. We specifically stated in LaValle that [i]f the deadlock sentence had been life without parole, then jurors would have no reason to fear that a deadlock would result in the eventual release of the defendant. In that instance jurors committed to life without parole would not be coerced into giving up their conscientious belief in order to reach a verdict (3 NY3d at 126 n 19). Further, the Legislature first amended sections 60.06 and 70.00 (5) of the Penal Law in relation to sentencing for mandatory life-without-parole crimes in July 2004, about a month after our decision in LaValle. The Legislature included within these provisions the admonition that nothing in this section (Penal Law § 60.06) or subdivision (Penal Law § 70.00 [5]) respectively shall preclude or prevent a sentence of death when the defendant is also convicted of murder in the first degree as defined in section 125.27 of this chapter. Sections 60.06 and 70.00 (5) have been amended twice since to add new crimes. Defendant argues that the deadlock instruction is nonetheless facially unconstitutional because its constitutional applications post- LaValle are too few. This is, of course, a curious position to take since the federal and state constitutions affirmatively require limiting death eligibility. As a result, the key consideration is not how many constitutional applications of the death penalty remain after our decision in LaValle, but whether those remaining applications are rational. A death penalty applicable to first-degree murderers who kill multiple victims and/or commit multiple crimes; or whose crimes include killing a police officer, peace officer or correction officer; or killing a child during a sex crime; or killing in the course of terrorist-related activities surely meets the test of rationality. Certainly, if the Legislature had purposely confined the death penalty to these applications when it adopted the statute in 1995, its decision would not have been amenable to judicial second-guessing on the basis that too few crimes or murderers were covered ( see Harris, 98 NY2d at 476-477). Defendant also contends, though, that the deadlock instruction is facially unconstitutional precisely because it allows for far fewer constitutional applications than originally envisioned by the Legislature. Defendant surmises that the Legislature would have preferred no death penalty at all to the freakish regime left after LaValle. Similarly, the concurrence opines that any attempt to save a remnant of the death penalty statute through an exercise in `application severability' would be a mistake (concurring op at 157). The death penalty statute was adopted by the Legislature in 1995 after almost two decades of public debate and political reaction ( see Sack, Political Budget Gap is Widening, New York Times, Mar. 9, 1995; Dao, New York Leaders Offer Limited Bill on Death Penalty, New York Times, Mar. 4, 1995). The death penalty was then, as now, controversial. Every aspect of this new legislation was clearly going to be litigated, with unpredictable results. The deadlock instruction itself is a perfect example. As the legislative debate set out in LaValle illustrates, at least one apparent motivation for including an anticipatory instruction on the consequences of deadlock was to avoid a potential constitutional problem ( LaValle, 3 NY3d at 121). The United States Supreme Court did not decide Jones until four years later, in 1999; we did not decide LaValle until 2004. And, as previously discussed, the judicial outcomes differed. In light of its past difficulties in enacting a death penalty and the uncertainties going forward, the Legislature included a severability provision in the statute ( see L 1995, ch 1, § 37). By so doing, the Legislature told us in the clearest way possible that it preferred a judicially redesigned or rewritten statute with fewer applications to a nonexistent one. Allowing the death penalty to be applied to a core group of defendants charged with the worst crimes does not undermine legislative intent; it preserves the legislative will by restricting the death penalty's application in a rational and constitutional manner. The concurrence protests, however, that a sensible Legislature anticipating the LaValle decision would not have enacted a statute this limited, which does not bear[ ] a reasonable resemblance to the statute the Legislature did enact (concurring op at 158). This amounts to pure judicial guesswork, as it finds no support whatsoever in the statute's text, structure, purpose or historyand the concurrence does not bother to claim otherwise. Professions of deference to the Legislature and judicial modesty ring hollow if a reviewing court is unwilling to uphold as much of a statute as possible, especially where the conventional sources for statutory interpretation (here, text and legislative history) clearly signal in this direction. [5] Of course, the Legislature may always amend the death penalty statute in any number of ways, as the concurrence observes. The whole point of severability doctrine, however, is to salvage as much of the Legislature's handiwork as possible, and to free the Legislature from the burden of reenacting that which has already once successfully run the lawmaking gauntlet. There can be no doubt that the Legislature intended to make the death penalty enforceable against someone like defendant, who has been convicted of multiple counts of first-degree murder.