Opinion ID: 407646
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Unsupported Aggravating Circumstances

Text: 94 Appellant contends that two of the aggravating factors relied on by the judge-that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel, and that appellant created a great risk of serious bodily harm and death to many persons-were unsupported by any evidence in this case. Appellant does not contend that it is the federal courts' function in habeas cases generally to review state courts' findings for evidentiary sufficiency. 51 Appellant relies on Godfrey v. Georgia, 446 U.S. 420, 100 S.Ct. 1759, 64 L.Ed.2d 398 (1980), however, in urging that it is properly within the province of this court to review a claim that a state court's construction of an aggravating factor provision in a particular case is so vague or broad as to violate Furman's requirement that sentencing decisions be guided by clear, objective, rationally reviewable standards. On the basis of Godfrey, we conclude that the claim appellant presents is cognizable by this court. 52 95 In Godfrey, the Court considered the constitutionality of a death sentence imposed under the Georgia capital sentencing statute on the basis of the aggravating factor that the murder was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible and inhuman in that it involved torture, depravity of mind, or an aggravated battery to the victim. Id. at 426, 100 S.Ct. at 1764. The defendant had been convicted of killing his wife and his mother-in-law by shooting each in the head with a shotgun. Notwithstanding the Court's prior decision holding that the same aggravating factor was not unconstitutionally vague, Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 201, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 2938, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976), 53 a plurality in Godfrey held that the jury's and state supreme court's application of the vile, horrible and inhuman aggravating factor absent any evidence of torture or aggravated battery to the victims was an unconstitutional construction of that provision. Although the Georgia courts previously had accorded a limiting construction to the aggravating factor at issue, the plurality found that such construction had not been followed in Godfrey's case. 54 The plurality concluded that, in light of the facts and circumstances of the murders that Godfrey was convicted of committing, his crimes could not be said to have reflected a consciousness materially more depraved than that of any person guilty of murder. Godfrey v. Georgia, 446 U.S. at 432, 433, 100 S.Ct. at 1767. Since there was no principled way to distinguish (that) case, in which the death penalty was imposed, from the many cases in which it was not, id. at 433, 100 S.Ct. at 1767, the Georgia courts had failed to comply with Furman's requirement that any decision to impose the death sentence be based on clear, detailed, and objective standards reflecting reason rather than caprice or emotion. Id. 96 The aggravating factors challenged by appellant here were upheld by the Supreme Court as facially valid on appellant's direct appeal. Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. at 255-56, 96 S.Ct. at 2968. The Court did not rule on the constitutionality of the provision as applied in this case, 55 however; hence the issue is properly before this court. Before addressing the merits of appellant's claim, we deem it advisable to state the precise nature of the issue before us. The question is not whether we agree with the sentencing court that appellant should receive the death penalty. See note 51 supra. Nor is it within our province to judge the merits of the particular aggravating factors chosen by the Florida Legislature and interpreted by the Florida courts as justifying the imposition of death. Rather, the issue we must decide is essentially a procedural one: whether the construction of the eighth statutory aggravating factor evinced by the trial court's application of it to the facts of this case comports with the eighth amendment requirement that death sentences be based on clear, detailed, and rationally reviewable standards. See Godfrey v. Georgia, 446 U.S. at 427-33, 100 S.Ct. at 1764-67. 97 As the Supreme Court noted on Proffitt's direct appeal, the Florida court has accorded a limited interpretation to the heinous, atrocious, and cruel aggravating factor. Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. at 255-56, 96 S.Ct. at 2968. The state court has required that the horror of the murder be accompanied by such additional acts as to set the crime apart from the norm. Cooper v. State, 336 So.2d 1133 (Fla.1976), cert. denied, 431 U.S. 925, 97 S.Ct. 2200, 53 L.Ed.2d 239 (1977); State v. Dixon, 283 So.2d 1, 9 (Fla.1973). More specifically, the court has held that the murder must be conscienceless or pitiless in the sense that it is unnecessarily torturous to the victim. Id. The numerous cases in which the Florida Supreme Court has considered challenges to the application of this aggravating factor support the interpretation requiring acts of physical harm or torture to the murder victim prior to or accompanying the act resulting in death. Compare, e.g., Welty v. State, 402 So.2d 1159 (Fla.1981) (factor upheld where defendant robbed victim, later returned to victim's residence, struck sleeping victim several times in neck, and then set fire to his bed); Straight v. State, 397 So.2d 903 (Fla.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 102 S.Ct. 556, 70 L.Ed.2d 418 (1981) (factor upheld where defendant participated in murder inflicted by multiple stab wounds and bludgeoning); Thompson v. State, 389 So.2d 197 (Fla.1980) (factor upheld where victim died of wounds from gruesome series of torturous acts by defendant); Lucas v. State, 376 So.2d 1149 (Fla.1979) (factor upheld where defendant shot victim, pursued her into house, struggled with her, hit her, dragged her from house, and shot her to death while she begged for her life); Dobbert v. State, 375 So.2d 1069 (Fla.1979), cert. denied, 447 U.S. 912, 100 S.Ct. 3000, 64 L.Ed.2d 862 (1980) (factor upheld where defendant tortured his child over prolonged period and murdered her to prevent discovery of her battered condition); Washington v. State, 362 So.2d 658 (Fla.1978), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 937, 99 S.Ct. 2063, 60 L.Ed.2d 666 (1979) (factor upheld where evidence showed bullet did not penetrate victim's skull and cause of death was four of nine stab wounds, none of which was instantly fatal) with Maggard v. State, 399 So.2d 973 (Fla.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 102 S.Ct. 610, 70 L.Ed.2d 598 (1981) (factor reversed where victim died quickly from single gunshot blast fired through window and victim was unware he was going to be shot); Armstrong v. State, 399 So.2d 953 (Fla.1981) (factor reversed where murderers were only at scene of crime for very brief period and shooting was precipitated by armed resistance); Williams v. State, 386 So.2d 538 (Fla.1980) (factor reversed where victim died almost instantaneously from gunshot wounds); Fleming v. State, 374 So.2d 954 (Fla.1979) (factor reversed where killing of policeman accomplished by single shot fired when hostage grabbed defendant's gun); Kampff v. State, 371 So.2d 1007 (Fla.1979) (factor reversed where defendant directed pistol shot straight to head of victim); Halliwell v. State, 323 So.2d 557 (Fla.1975) (factor reversed where mutilation of victim's body occurred only after victim's death). The Florida court has repeatedly rejected application of this factor to killings accomplished quickly by acts of shooting or stabbing involving no additional torturous acts to the victim. E.g., Lewis v. State, 398 So.2d 432 (Fla.1981); Demps v. State, 395 So.2d 501 (Fla.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 102 S.Ct. 430, 70 L.Ed.2d 239 (1981); Kampff v. State, supra; Menedez v. State, 368 So.2d 1278 (Fla.1979); Riley v. State, 366 So.2d 19 (Fla.1978). Moreover, the court has expressly held that the fact that a murder is premeditated, cold and calculated does not render it especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel. Lewis v. State, 398 So.2d at 438. Nor does the commission of the killing in the presence of another family member bring it within the statutory factor, since, under the Florida court's construction of the factor, the atrocity must consist of an act done to the victim. Riley v. State, 366 So.2d at 21. 98 In this case, there was no evidence that appellant perpetrated any physical act on the victim other than the single stab in the chest that resulted in his death. 56 Moreover, neither in his findings nor in his instructions to the jury as to the meaning of the eighth aggravating circumstance did the trial judge indicate that such factor requires proof of torturous acts to the victim. 57 The finding made by the judge in this case therefore suggests no inherent restraint on the arbitrary and capricious infliction of the death sentence. Cf. Godfrey v. Georgia, 446 U.S. at 428, 100 S.Ct. at 1764 (instructions alone did not restrain jury's discretion). Finally, the Florida Supreme Court's decision affirming appellant's sentence does not indicate it even considered the propriety of the application of such factor in this case, see Proffitt v. State, 315 So.2d at 466-67, and thus that court's review in no way cured the exercise of uncontrolled discretion by the judge in this case. Godfrey v. Georgia, 446 U.S. at 429, 100 S.Ct. at 1765. 99 Applying the same analysis to the trial court's finding that (t)he defendant knowingly ... created a great risk of ... death to many persons, we conclude that application of that provision in the instant case implies a construction so broad that it cannot be viewed as a meaningful limitation on sentencer discretion. Appellant's act of killing, consisting of the infliction of a single knife wound in the chest of the victim, endangered only the victim himself. Although the facts indicate that appellant struck the victim's wife with his fists when she was awakened by her husband's moans, there was no evidence that the blows were of such force that they were likely to kill her. 58 Even if appellant could reasonably be said to have threatened the woman's life, the sum of appellant's acts surrounding the killing, viewed in the light least favorable to him, at most could be said to have risked death to two persons. Application of this aggravating factor to the facts of this case is not only inconsistent with the Florida Supreme Court's construction of the provision; 59 it also reflects an absence of control or guidance of the sentencing judge's discretion. We cannot say that the death sentence imposed on the basis of such factor was based on reason rather than caprice or emotion. Gardner v. Florida, 430 U.S. 349, 358, 97 S.Ct. 1197, 1204, 51 L.Ed.2d 393.