Opinion ID: 852911
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Hung Jury Provision

Text: The defendant also contends that the trial court order finding the death penalty statute unconstitutional should be affirmed on various alternative grounds, one of which is that the statute unconstitutionally permits a death sentence to be imposed by a judge alone in cases where the jury cannot reach a sentencing decision. Ind.Code § 35-50-2-9(f) (hereafter Subsection 9(f)). [1] He argues that this provision violates Ring, that it renders the entire death penalty statute unconstitutional, and that the Court has no power to sever the provision. Barker's procedural history does not include a hung jury. As explained supra, the defendant's penalty phase jury unanimously recommended a sentence of death, but due to instruction error, we reversed and remanded for a new penalty phase procedure. The issue now presented is the validity not of his previous penalty phase jury determination but of the procedure that would govern his retrial. The State's written argument to the trial court includes the following: The State concedes that the procedure set forth in IC XX-XX-X-X(f), if it were followed by a trial court in sentencing a defendant to death (or to life without parole), would be in violation of Ring. Appellant's Appendix at 142. We decline to accept the concession. As noted in Ritchie, the federal constitution requires aggravating circumstances to be determined by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, but it does not require the weighing, whether by judge or jury, to be under a reasonable doubt standard. 809 N.E.2d at 266, 2004 WL 1153062. The statute now requires the trial court to provide a special verdict form for each aggravating circumstance alleged. Ind.Code § 35-50-2-9(d). It is thus conceivable that a penalty phase jury could return a verdict finding one or more aggravators proven beyond a reasonable doubt, but be unable to reach unanimous agreement on whether any mitigating circumstances are outweighed by the aggravating circumstances. [2] Where a jury is thus unanimous in finding one or more aggravating circumstances proven beyond a reasonable doubt but unable to agree on a sentence recommendation, Subsection 9(f) applies to instruct that the court shall discharge the jury and proceed as if the hearing had been to the court alone. In this event the trial court shall, based upon the evidence presented to the penalty phase jury, impose a sentence of death or life without parole upon a full and proper analysis and sentencing statement, see Harrison v. State, 644 N.E.2d 1243, 1261-1262 (Ind.1995), or it may impose a term of years. In the event a penalty phase jury is unable to reach a unanimous decision as to the existence of aggravating circumstances, however, Ring and Apprendi would prohibit the trial judge from proceeding under Subsection 9(f) and a new penalty phase trial would be required. Bostick v. State, 773 N.E.2d 266, 273-74 (Ind.2002). We are not persuaded that a penalty phase retrial under these circumstances should be treated any differently than a hung jury in an ordinary guilt phase trial: a mistrial should be declared and the case submitted to a new jury. See State v. McMillan, 274 Ind. 167, 409 N.E.2d 612 (1980); Hinton v. State, 272 Ind. 297, 397 N.E.2d 282 (1979); Harlan v. State, 190 Ind. 322, 130 N.E. 413 (1921). We additionally observe, however, that even if Subsection 9(f) were unconstitutional as Barker alleges, it could be severed without impairing the validity of the remainder of the statute. The trial court correctly noted that the hung jury provision of the statute could be subtracted without invalidating the entire statute, citing Brady v. State, 575 N.E.2d 981, 988-89 (Ind.1991). Appellant's Appendix at 216. [3] We applied this procedure in Bostick, 773 N.E.2d at 273-74, where a jury was unable to reach a unanimous determination finding the qualifying aggravating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt, and the trial judge then imposed a sentence under the hung jury provision of Subsection 9(f). [4] Applying Apprendi and Ring, we vacated the trial court's sentence and remanded for a new sentencing proceeding. As noted in Brownsburg Area Patrons v. Baldwin, 714 N.E.2d 135, 141 (Ind.1999), this Court has an overriding obligation to construe our statutes in such a way as to render them constitutional if reasonably possible. If a statute can be construed to support its constitutionality, such construction must be adopted. Burris v. State, 642 N.E.2d 961, 968 (Ind. 1994). As noted in State v. Monfort, 723 N.E.2d 407, 415 (Ind.2000) and In re Public Law No. 154-1990, 561 N.E.2d 791, 793 (Ind.1990), this Court has adopted the test for severability used in Dorchy v. Kansas, 264 U.S. 286, 289-90, 44 S.Ct. 323, 324, 68 L.Ed. 686, 689-90 (1924) (internal citations omitted): A statute bad in part is not necessarily void in its entirety. Provisions within the legislative power may stand if separable from the bad. But a provision, inherently unobjectionable, cannot be deemed separable unless it appears both that, standing alone, legal effect can be given to it and that the legislature intended the provision to stand, in case others included in the act and held bad should fall. The key question is whether the legislature would have passed the statute had it been presented without the invalid features. State v. Kuebel, 241 Ind. 268, 278, 172 N.E.2d 45, 50 (1961). The text of subsection 9(f) has long been a part of the Indiana statute governing sentences of death and life imprisonment without parole. Before the 2002 amendment, the statute provided that the jury would make a sentencing recommendation, but the trial court was assigned the responsibility for determining the sentence, and it was not bound by the jury's recommendation. Subsection 9(f) provided that, in the absence of a unanimous decision of the sentencing jury, the trial judge would proceed to determine the sentence without the jury's recommendation. The 2002 amendment shifted the final sentencing decision to the jury, stating: If the jury reaches a sentencing recommendation, the court shall sentence the defendant accordingly. Ind.Code § 35-50-2-9(e). Even though the amendment assigned the jury the primary responsibility for the sentencing decision, it did not delete subsection 9(f) from the statute. If subsection 9(f) were to be judicially severed, we are convinced that the legislature fully intended the remainder of the Indiana death penalty/life without parole statute to stand because its absence would not impair the operation of the remainder of the statute. We maintain, however, that subsection 9(f) should not be stricken at all. As discussed above, we reject Barker's constitutional challenge to subsection 9(f). We hold that Subsection 9(f) is not unconstitutional as written, but that it may not be constitutionally applied to permit a judge to impose a sentence where a jury has been unable to decide whether the aggravating circumstance or circumstances have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. This does not impede the State's request for the death penalty in Barker's case.