Opinion ID: 1774319
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Double Jeopardy/Collateral Estoppel

Text: Appellant asserts that because the first jury did not find that the aggravating factor of pecuniary gain existed, the State was precluded by double jeopardy and collateral estoppel from seeking the death penalty based on that aggravating factor in the resentencing. Appellant relies on Bullington v. Missouri, 451 U.S. 430, 101 S.Ct. 1852, 68 L.Ed.2d 270 (1981), to support his argument. His reliance is misplaced, however, because the facts present in Bullington are distinguishable from those of the present case. In Bullington , the Court was faced with the issue of whether a criminal defendant who had been acquitted of the death penalty under a bifurcated sentencing proceeding and had his conviction reversed on appeal could then be found guilty on retrial and sentenced to death under the same bifurcated sentencing scheme consistent with the double-jeopardy clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Court noted that Missouri criminal procedure required the state to prove additional facts beyond a reasonable doubt in a separate proceeding in order to justify the sentence, and that because Bullington had been acquitted of the death penalty in such a proceeding in the original trial, he could not again be exposed to a sentence for which he had been acquitted. Here, Appellant has not had a jury find him innocent of the death penalty. To the contrary, Appellant was sentenced to death during the first trial. See Ford v. Wilson, 327 Ark. 243, 939 S.W.2d 258 (1997). Appellant even concedes that res judicata is not applicable as the State is not precluded from seeking the death penalty again. Nonetheless, Appellant asserts that the doctrine of collateral estoppel is applicable, as this case involves the relitigation of a particular issue. In Fletcher v. State, 318 Ark. 298, 884 S.W.2d 623 (1994), we acknowledged that the United States Supreme Court had accorded constitutional dimensions to collateral estoppel by incorporating it into the Fifth Amendment bar against double jeopardy. See Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970). Collateral estoppel provides that when an issue of ultimate fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit. Edwards v. State, 328 Ark. 394, 943 S.W.2d 600 (1997). This court has required proof of the following elements in order to establish collateral estoppel: (1) the issue sought to be precluded must be the same as that involved in the prior litigation; (2) the issue must have been actually litigated; (3) the issue must have been determined by a final and valid judgment; and (4) the determination must have been essential to the judgment. Id. Here, the determination by the first jury disregarding pecuniary gain was not essential to the judgment for the death penalty. The finding of an aggravating circumstance is not a separate verdict but is a standard to guide the jury in its selection of punishment. Poland v. Arizona, 476 U.S. 147, 106 S.Ct. 1749, 90 L.Ed.2d 123 (1986). The failure to find any particular aggravating factor does not preclude the death penalty or acquit a defendant. Id. at 156, 106 S.Ct. at 1755-56. While the first jury may have rejected the pecuniary gain aggravator, it did not acquit Appellant. Therefore the second jury could consider that factor. We further agree with the State that even if the jury in this case wrongly considered the pecuniary gain aggravator, Appellant is not entitled to a resentencing. Under Ark.Code Ann. § 5-4-603(d) (Repl.1997), this court conducts a harmless-error review if the jury finds no mitigating factors. This section provides: (d) On appellate review of a death sentence, if the Arkansas Supreme Court finds that the jury erred in finding the existence of any aggravating circumstance or circumstances for any reason and if the jury found no mitigating circumstances, the Arkansas Supreme Court shall conduct a harmless error review of the defendant's death sentence. The Arkansas Supreme Court shall conduct this harmless error review by: (1) Determining that the remaining aggravating circumstance or circumstances exist beyond a reasonable doubt; and (2) Determining that the remaining aggravating circumstance or circumstances justify a sentence of death beyond a reasonable doubt. Thus, even if the jury should not have considered the pecuniary gain factor, it found three other aggravating factors existed beyond a reasonable doubt to support its verdict.