Opinion ID: 2432958
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: previous felony as aggrvating circumstance

Text: Prior to the beginning of the trial, appellant pled guilty to three counts of aggravated robbery and one count of kidnapping, and to burglary, theft and escape. These offenses stemmed from appellant's escape from jail and the incident at the Rice home in Woodson and occurred on the same day as the murder and attempted murder of which appellant was convicted. In the penalty phase of the trial, the state used these convictions pursuant to Ark.Stat.Ann. § 41-1303(3) (Repl.1977) which provides as an aggravating circumstance: The person previously committed another felony an element of which was the use or threat of violence to another person or creating a substantial risk of death or serious physical injury to another person. Appellant maintains that the statute does not contemplate the use of felonies that are part of the same criminal episode as the capital murder. We disagree. In passing § 41-1303(3) the General Assembly intended to narrow the class of persons exposed to the death penalty to those with a predisposition for violent acts. The state, during the guilt and innocence phase, can always prove other acts done at the same time as the principal crime to show the aggravated nature of the crime charged. McFarland v. State, 284 Ark. 533, 684 S.W.2d 233. Furthermore, Ark. Stat.Ann. § 41-1303(8) (Supp.1985) allows the state, during the penalty phase, to show the murder was done in a particularly heinous manner. The reason, then, for section (3) is to allow the state to show that the defendant has a character for violent crimes or a history of such crimes. Section (3) was amended in 1977 to permit the state to prove that the defendant has previously committed violent felonies. Prior to the amendment, the state could only offer proof of previous convictions for violent felonies. The question we must answer is what the legislature meant by previously committed. Since there are other avenues by which the state can prove crimes immediately connected with the principal crime, the only logical conclusion is that section (3) applies to crimes not connected in time or place to the killing for which the defendant has just been convicted. In this case the crimes used to prove an aggravated circumstance involved other victims, in another place and previously in time. Therefore, they were properly used as an aggravating circumstance.