Opinion ID: 1528698
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Number of aggravating circumstances required

Text: For his final point of error, Dansby asserts that Arkansas's statutes, particularly Ark.Code Ann. § 5-4-603 (Repl.1993), require that more than one aggravating circumstance be present for a jury to impose the death penalty. We rejected this argument in Hayes v. State, 280 Ark. 509, 509-H, 660 S.W.2d 648 (1983). In Hayes , this court referred to Ark.Stat.Ann. § 1-201 (Repl. 1977), which is codified in Ark.Code Ann. § 1-2-203(b) (1987), and provides as follows: Whenever, in any statute, words importing the plural number are used in describing or referring to any matter, parties, or persons, any single matter, party, or person shall be deemed to be included, although distributive words may not be used. In referring to this statute, we said in Hayes that the only requirement is that the jury unanimously find at least one of the aggravating circumstances to exist before it can impose the death penalty. Hayes v. State, supra . It is significant to note that, with respect to each charge, the jury found three aggravating circumstances in this case: (1) that Dansby previously committed another felony an element of which was the use or threat of violence to another person or creating substantial risk of death or serious physical injury to another person; (2) that in the commission of the capital murder, Dansby knowingly created a great risk of death to a person other than the victim; and (3) that the capital murder was committed in an especially cruel or depraved manner. In short, we find no merit to Dansby's argument on this point.