Opinion ID: 215635
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Because Kemp's Incriminating Statements Were Admissible, There is Sufficient Evidence to Support the Imposition of the Death Penalty Under Enmund and Tison.

Text: Kemp's argument that there was insufficient evidence to support the imposition of the death penalty was based on his claim that his incriminating statements were not admissible. Our determination that his statements were admissible disposes of his arguments under Enmund and Tison. We need not consider whether Kemp's assertion would have been persuasive if the statements were inadmissible, but we do conclude that with those statements there is no constitutional barrier to affirming his sentence. In Enmund, the Supreme Court held that the death penalty could not be imposed on a defendant who aids and abets a felony in the course of which a murder is committed by others but who does not himself kill, attempt to kill, or intend that a killing take place or that lethal force will be employed. 458 U.S. at 797, 102 S.Ct. 3368. In Tison, the Supreme Court stated that the reckless disregard for human life implicit in knowingly engaging in criminal activities known to carry a grave risk of death represents a highly culpable mental state, a mental state that may be taken into account in making a capital sentencing judgment when that conduct causes its natural, though also not inevitable, lethal result. 481 U.S. at 157-58, 107 S.Ct. 1676. Here, the evidence, including Kemp's incriminating statements, is more than sufficient to support the state courts' determination that Kemp possessed the requisite culpable mental state to allow the imposition of a capital sentence.