Opinion ID: 2379044
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Statutory overlap

Text: Mr. Buchanan argues that the law pursuant to which he was convicted was void for vagueness. The capital murder statute, Ark.Code Ann. § 5-10-101(a)(4) (Supp.1993), under which Buchanan was charged, describes the offense as one committed [w]ith the premeditated and deliberated purpose of causing the death of another person. The first degree murder statute, Ark.Code Ann. § 5-10-201(a)(2) (Supp.1993), describes that crime as causing the death of another person [w]ith a purpose of causing the death of another person. Mr. Buchanan's point is that the discretion given the prosecution to choose between the two similarly described crimes makes the law too vague for enforcement. It would allow different persons to be convicted of two different offenses even though their conduct had been the same. A subsidiary contention is that, had he been charged with first degree rather than capital murder he could have been freed on bond to assist in his defense and the discretion given to the prosecutor to charge either offense violates some unspecified constitutional mandate. The argument seems to assume that a charge of capital murder automatically obviates the possibility of the accused being freed on bond. Although the State's brief does not question the assumption, it is not correct. Arkansas Const. art. 2, § 8 (1874) provides, All persons shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses, when the proof is evident or the presumption great. The State bears the burden of showing the proof is evident or the presumption great, and the mere fact that capital murder has been charged does not mean the offense is non-bailable. Renton v. State, 265 Ark. 223, 577 S.W.2d 594 (1979). The only authority cited in support of the contention that the overlapping of the two statutes constitutes some sort of constitutional violation is Cromwell v. State, 269 Ark. 104, 598 S.W.2d 733 (1980). In that case the same argument was presented with respect to the so called felony murder provisions found in both the capital murder and first degree murder statutes. We rejected the void for vagueness argument because we found that each of the statutes in question contained no impermissible vagueness, and the fact of the overlapping of the definitions of the two crimes presented no constitutional infirmity. We said the first degree murder statute might have been intended to include an overlap with the capital murder statute. The actual wording of the [first degree murder] statute may have been chosen to lighten the possible punishment that might be imposed for conduct falling within the strict definition of capital murdera consequence that might be acceptable both to the prosecution and to the defense. If that is not true in a particular case, presumably the defense can ask that the State be required to elect between the two degrees. In any event, we find no constitutional infirmity in the overlapping of the two sections, because there is no impermissible uncertainty in the definition of the offense. Mr. Buchanan concedes that the very case he cites is contrary to his position, but he seeks to distinguish it on the basis that the felony murder situation is somehow different from the one before us now. We disagree with the proposed distinction. We have followed the Cromwell rationale on a number of occasions in which the same argument has been made, Mauppin v. State, 309 Ark. 235, 831 S.W.2d 104 (1992); Smith v. State, 306 Ark. 483, 815 S.W.2d 922 (1991); Sellers v. State, 300 Ark. 280, 778 S.W.2d 603 (1989); White v. State, 298 Ark. 55, 764 S.W.2d 613 (1989), and it applies in this case as well.