Opinion ID: 2394990
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: XV, XVI and XVII

Text: The three issues now under consideration all relate to the victim impact statement introduced as joint exhibit two at the sentencing hearing. Md.Code (1957, 1982 Repl.Vol., 1985 Cum.Supp.), Art. 41, § 124 requires in certain cases, including capital cases, the preparation and consideration of victim impact statements. The statute was amended by Acts of 1983, Chs. 297 and 345, effective July 1, 1983. Because the subject murders were committed before July 1, 1983, Booth contends that application of the amended victim impact statement statute to him is a prohibited ex post facto application. This argument was rejected in Grandison v. State, 305 Md. 685, 506 A.2d 580 (1986). And see Dobbert v. Florida, 432 U.S. 282, 293, 97 S.Ct. 2290, 2298, 53 L.Ed.2d 344, 356 (1977). Appellant also submits that Art. 41, § 124 is unconstitutional and that the introduction of victim impact evidence violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. The argument common to both of these submissions is that victim impact evidence injects an arbitrary factor into a capital sentencing proceeding. We considered and rejected this argument in Lodowski v. State, 302 Md. 691, 735-42, 490 A.2d 1228, 1251-54 (1985), vacated on other grounds, ___ U.S. ___, 106 S.Ct. 1452, 89 L.Ed.2d 711 (1986). The analysis in Lodowski was considered dicta, intended for the guidance of trial courts and the bar. We apply that analysis in support of our holding here. Booth further argues that the Lodowski analysis rested the relevancy of victim impact information to capital sentencing exclusively on the legislative determination implicit in enacting the statute and that Lodowski failed to consider what Booth calls the constitutional aspects. Certainly a primary purpose of the General Assembly in enacting a requirement for victim impact information was to insure that some consideration would be given to the victims of certain types of crimes when the perpetrator was sentenced, lest the emphasis on the perpetrator as an individual be so great as to exclude consideration of the victim. In capital cases the victims include survivors of the murdered individual. There is no per se constitutional defect in using a victim impact statement at a capital sentencing proceeding. The sentencing authority is not constitutionally restricted to considering only the operative facts in the commission of the crime, in addition to the circumstances of the perpetrator. This Court, speaking through Judge Cole in Trimble v. State, 300 Md. 387, 425, 478 A.2d 1143, 1155 (1984), explained the purposes behind the death penalty. The death penalty is said to serve two principal social purposes: retribution and deterrence of capital crimes by prospective offenders. In part, capital punishment is an expression of society's moral outrage at particularly offensive conduct. This function may be unappealing to many, but it is essential in an ordered society that asks its citizens to rely on legal processes rather than self-help to vindicate their wrongs. [quoting Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 183, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 2929-30, 49 L.Ed.2d 859, 880 (1976) (opinion announcing judgment) (footnotes omitted).] We have also reviewed the particular victim impact statement submitted in this case. Given the nature of the subject matter, it is a relatively straightforward and factual description of the effects of these murders on members of the Bronstein family. We are satisfied that the sentence of death was not imposed in this case under the influence of passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factor. § 414(e)(1). There was no error here in the admission of the victim impact statement.