Opinion ID: 2621310
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: The right to a jury trial under Ring v. Arizona

Text: On June 24, 2002, after briefing in this case was concluded, the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion in Ring v. Arizona holding that a capital sentencing scheme that places the determination of aggravating circumstances in the hands of a judge violates the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial. [20] Here, a three-judge panel found aggravators and sentenced Johnson to death after his jury failed to reach unanimity on a sentence. We therefore permitted supplemental briefing regarding Ring 's effect on this case. As explained below we conclude that the death sentences should be vacated and the case remanded. At the end of the penalty phase, the jury deadlocked and could not reach a unanimous decision on an appropriate sentence. The record contains special verdict forms signed by the jury foreperson, but the district court dismissed the jury without formally receiving the verdict forms or polling the jurors in any way. The verdict forms indicate a finding of all three alleged aggravating circumstances for three of the murders, a finding of two aggravating circumstances for the remaining murder, and a finding of numerous mitigating circumstances for all four murders. The aggravators were that: (1) Johnson committed the murders while engaged in robbery, burglary, or first-degree kidnapping, and he killed or attempted to kill the person murdered or knew or had reason to know that life would be taken or lethal force used; (2) he committed the murders to avoid or prevent a lawful arrest (this was checked for only three of the murders); and (3) he had been convicted of more than one murder in the immediate proceeding. Four other verdict forms listed numerous mitigators, including that Johnson committed the murders while under extreme mental or emotional disturbance, his youth at the time of the murders, various hardships and negative influences he had experienced, and no eyewitness to identity of shooter. Johnson filed a motion opposing his sentencing by a three-judge panel, but the district court denied it, and a three-judge panel conducted a second penalty phase. For all four murders, the panel found two aggravating circumstances, the first and third ones above. As mitigating circumstances the panel found Johnson's youth and his horrible childhood. The panel determined that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances and imposed a sentence of death for each murder. In light of the Supreme Court's decision in Ring, the instant case presents this court with the question: after a jury is unable to agree on a sentence in a capital case, does the finding of aggravating circumstances and imposition of the death penalty by a three-judge panel violate the Sixth Amendment? We conclude that it does. We also conclude that the error here was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.