Opinion ID: 867235
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Difficult Childhood

Text: ¶ 109 A difficult or traumatic childhood is a mitigating circumstance. Armstrong, 218 Ariz. at 465 ¶ 74, 189 P.3d at 392. Although the defendant need not prove a causal nexus between the mitigating circumstance and the crime, the lack of such a connection may lessen the mitigation's weight. Id.; McCray, 218 Ariz. at 260 ¶ 36, 183 P.3d at 511. Difficult childhood circumstances also receive less weight as more time passes between the defendant's childhood and the offense. McCray, 218 Ariz. at 260 ¶ 36, 183 P.3d at 511; Pandeli, 215 Ariz. at 532 ¶ 72, 161 P.3d at 575. ¶ 110 Prince established by a preponderance of the evidence that he endured a difficult and abusive childhood. His father was an alcoholic, abusive to his wife and children and often on the run from law enforcement. As a child, Prince lived in an old barn in rural Virginia that lacked adequate heat, running water, a kitchen, or a bathroom. Prince's psychiatric expert characterized those economic conditions as really, really severe poverty. When Prince was ten, his mother and the children fled by bus to Arizona. During his teenage years, Prince lived at various times with an adult male who provided drugs and alcohol in return for sex. At trial, the parties stipulated that this individual molested and sexually abused Prince. ¶ 111 Prince undoubtedly had a very difficult childhood. We consider it in mitigation but give it little weight because he has not established a connection between his childhood trauma and the murder. Moreover, Prince was twenty-six years old when he killed Cassandra, attenuating the impact of his dysfunctional childhood on his conduct. See State v. McGill, 213 Ariz. 147, 161 ¶ 63, 140 P.3d 930, 944 (2006). ¶ 112 Prince compares his case with Bocharski, in which we vacated a death sentence on independent review because of the defendant's abusive childhood, severe neglect, and alcoholism. 218 Ariz. at 497-99 ¶¶ 101-12, 189 P.3d at 424-26. In Bocharski, however, the defendant established a causal nexus between the crime and the mitigating evidence. Id. at 499 ¶ 110, 189 P.3d at 426 (Dr. Beaver testified that Bocharski's troubled upbringing helped cause the murder of [the victim]: He testified that Bocharski's emotional and alcoholic state likely played a substantial role in the events that led to the murder . . . and that a person in his state would have been far less able than others to control and manage his feelings and reactions.). Here, in contrast, Prince did not prove a causal connection between his childhood and the crime.