Opinion ID: 1255692
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Irreconcilable Verdicts

Text: [Headnote 5] Bollinger argues that the irreconcilable verdicts rendered in the sentencing phase of his trial can only be explained as the result of sympathy or passion for one victim to the exclusion of the other, the result of showing the Pyro tattoo to the jury, or confusion. Because the two murders were based on the same facts, Bollinger wonders how the jury could have found as an aggravating circumstance that he was under sentence of imprisonment when he murdered Rose, and not under sentence when he murdered James. The State responds that the contradiction is explained because the jury chose to extend clemency to Bollinger. The State emphasizes that the aggravating circumstances found by the jury supporting the death sentence rest on substantial evidence. We conclude that the State is correct. First, despite assertions in his reply brief, Bollinger provides no authority for the proposition that the concept of clemency with regard to inconsistent verdicts cannot apply in his case. The United States Supreme Court has held that no relief in federal cases is available on appeal based on inconsistent verdicts. See United States v. Powell, 469 U.S. 57, 64-68 (1984). In Powell the respondent argued that the jury could not properly have acquitted her of conspiracy to possess cocaine and possession of cocaine, and still found her guilty of using a telephone to facilitate the offenses. Id. at 60, 69. The Court rejected the argument, noting that there is no reason to vacate respondent's conviction merely because the verdicts cannot rationally be reconciled. Respondent is given the benefit of her acquittal on the counts on which she was acquitted, and it is neither irrational nor illogical to require her to accept the burden of conviction on the counts on which the jury convicted. Id. at 69. This reasoning also supported our conclusion in Brinkman v. State, 95 Nev. 220, 592 P.2d 163 (1979). There, the defendant was convicted of robbery without the use of a deadly weapon although uncontroverted evidence existed to convict him of armed robbery. Id. at 223, 592 P.2d at 165. We determined that the jury could have properly concluded as it did to extend a form of clemency. Id. We conclude that the rationale of these cases should apply in sentencing as well. Second, substantial evidence supports Bollinger's death sentence. To be truly persuasive, Bollinger essentially must argue that he should have been given life for both murders, but that prejudicial evidence (namely, the tattoo) or confusion prompted the jury to render a death sentence for Rose's murder. We conclude that the State is correct in arguing that the death penalty could have been justified in both cases, but that the jury decided to extend clemency in the case of James' murder. In Brinkman this court concluded that there was adequate evidence to convict appellant of the charged offense. He should not now be heard to complain that the jury saw fit to relieve him of the enhanced penalty. Id. at 224, 592 P.2d at 165. In Bollinger's case, aggravating factors were clearly present in both murders.