Opinion ID: 1736847
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Etienne Nachampassak's Murder

Text: The defendant also argues that the jury's finding that Etienne Nachampassak was killed in a heinous and cruel manner is not supported by the evidence. Upon our review of the record, we must agree that there is insufficient proof of that aggravating factor, as the infant died from a single gunshot wound to the head. There is no evidence that the killing involved any element of torture or pitiless infliction of unnecessary pain. See Hamilton, 681 So.2d at 1226. Additionally, the evidence supports a finding that the wound was inflicted to kill, not to maim or inflict unnecessary pain. See Tassin, 536 So.2d at 411. However, the failure of one statutory aggravating factor does not invalidate others that were properly found, unless introduction of evidence in support of the invalid factor interjected an arbitrary factor into the proceedings. Hoffman, 768 So.2d at 575; Castleberry, 758 So.2d at 774. In the present case, the jury found three other valid aggravating factors: (1) the murder occurred during the attempted perpetration of an armed robbery; (2) the defendant knowingly created a risk of death or great bodily harm to more than one person; and (3) the victim was under the age of twelve. The evidence regarding the invalid factor of heinousness in this case did not interject an arbitrary factor into the proceedings, as evidence of the manner in which the offense was committed and of the nature of Etienne's injuries was clearly relevant and properly admitted at trial. Thus, while we find that the jury's return of heinousness as an aggravating factor in its death verdict for the Nachampassak murder is invalid based on the evidence in the record, that error does not present us with grounds for a reversal of the defendant's death sentence, as the jury also returned three other valid aggravating circumstances.