Opinion ID: 554033
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Blystone Ruling

Text: 40 Zettlemoyer's argument that the Pennsylvania death penalty statute is unconstitutional as applied to him centers on the instruction to the jury that it was required to impose the death penalty if the result of a weighing process tipped in favor of the aggravating circumstance. He contends that the jury's discretion in applying the death penalty was thus unconstitutionally removed and he could not be individually judged. 41 In Blystone, the Supreme Court held that, notwithstanding its mandatory language, the Pennsylvania death penalty statute is not unconstitutional on its face because it satisfies the requirement that a capital-sentencing jury be allowed to consider and to give effect to all relevant mitigating evidence and because the death penalty is not automatically imposed for certain types of murders. The Court explained that rather [i]t is imposed only after a determination that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances present in the particular crime by the particular defendant, or that there are no such mitigating circumstances. Blystone v. Pennsylvania, 110 S.Ct. at 1082-83. Additionally, the Court held that the statute was not unconstitutional as applied to Blystone who was convicted of first-degree murder, robbery, criminal conspiracy to commit homicide, and criminal conspiracy to commit robbery. Id. at 1084. The jury which convicted Blystone returned a death penalty verdict after finding, pursuant to Pa.Cons.Stat.Ann. Sec. 9711(d)(6), the aggravating circumstance that Blystone committed a killing while in the perpetration of a felony and further finding that there were no mitigating circumstances. 6 110 S.Ct. at 1081. 42 The Court rejected Blystone's argument that where a jury found there were no mitigating circumstances, mandatory imposition of death violated the Eighth Amendment requirement of individualized sentencing since the jury was precluded from considering whether the severity of the aggravating circumstance warranted the death penalty. Id. at 1083. The Court explained that [t]he presence of aggravating circumstances serves the purpose of limiting the class of death-eligible defendants, and the Eighth Amendment does not require that these aggravating circumstances be further refined or weighed by a jury.... The requirement of individualized sentencing in capital cases is satisfied by allowing the jury to consider all relevant mitigating evidence. Id. (emphasis added) (citing Lowenfield v. Phelps, 484 U.S. 231, 244, 108 S.Ct. 546, 554, 98 L.Ed.2d 568 (1988)). Finding that the trial court specifically instructed the jury to consider, as mitigating evidence, any 'matter concerning the character or record of the defendant, or the circumstances of his offense,'  the Court concluded that the statute, as applied, did not violate the Eighth Amendment. 110 S.Ct. at 1083-84. Moreover, the Court concluded that the trial court's examples of mitigating circumstances did not preclude the jury's considering any other mitigating factors. Id. at 1084. 43 Blystone is dispositive on Zettlemoyer's statutory constitutional issue. The trial court here instructed the jury on mitigating circumstances as follows: 44 There are in the law--well, there's an unlimited number. They list eight. They list seven and they say, any other evidence of mitigation concerning the character. Four of them may be applicable to this case, the others are not. They are one, that the defendant has no significant history of prior criminal convictions; two, he was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional distress; the third one, the capacity of the defendant to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law was substantially impaired; four, the age of the defendant at the time of the crime and then this eighth one; any other evidence of mitigation, which would be the fifth one to consider, any other evidence of mitigation concerning the character and record of the defendant and the circumstances of his offense. 45 All of the evidence from both sides that you have heard earlier, of course, during the trial in chief, all of that which has any bearing in your judgment upon aggravating or mitigating circumstances as I have mentioned them is important or proper for you to consider. 46 App. at 203-04. 47 The court, therefore, instructed the jury that several mitigating circumstances might apply to Zettlemoyer for this particular crime. The trial court instructed the jury to consider Zettlemoyer's age, mental and emotional status at the time of the crime, and absence of a criminal record. These factors distinguished him from other defendants and provided the individualized consideration required by Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 304, 96 S.Ct. 2978, 2991, 49 L.Ed.2d 944 (1976) (individualized sentencing required by fundamental respect for humanity underlying Eighth Amendment). Additionally, because the jury retained discretion in assigning weight to these factors and in weighing them against any aggravating circumstances, the statutory plan did not automatically impose a sentence of death. See id. (statute that automatically imposes death sentence without particularized consideration of character and record of defendant struck down); Roberts v. Louisiana, 428 U.S. 325, 333-34, 96 S.Ct. 3001, 3006-07, 49 L.Ed.2d 974 (1976) (same). 48 The Blystone Court held that a trial court's specific instruction to the jury to consider, as mitigating evidence, any matter concerning the character or record of the defendant, or the circumstances of his offense, complied with the requirements of the Eighth Amendment. Blystone, 110 S.Ct. at 1083-84. See also Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302, 109 S.Ct. 2934, 2947, 106 L.Ed.2d 256 (1989) (jury must be able to consider and to give effect to any mitigating evidence relevant to defendant's background, character, or circumstances of crime); Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 604, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 2964, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978) (plurality opinion) (sentencer must be allowed to consider any aspect of defendant's character or record and any circumstances of the offense as mitigating factors). The trial court here gave this exact instruction. See App. at 203. Additionally, the court instructed the jury to consider all evidence presented from both sides during both the guilt and sentencing phases of trial which has any bearing in your judgment upon aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Id. at 203-04 (emphasis added). This broad instruction permitted the jury to consider mitigating factors in addition to the character, record, or offense evidence required by Blystone. This unrestricted consideration of mitigating circumstances clearly meets the Eighth Amendment's requirements. See Blystone, 110 S.Ct. at 1083-84; Penry, 109 S.Ct. at 2947; Lockett, 438 U.S. at 604, 98 S.Ct. at 2964 (plurality opinion). We, therefore, reject Zettlemoyer's argument that the statute is unconstitutional as applied to him.