Opinion ID: 2069959
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 16

Heading: Allegedly Improper Rejection of (e)(1) Mitigator

Text: Johnson finds error with the decision of the jury to reject the (e)(1) mitigating circumstance with respect to the murder of Gregory; he raises the claim as one of ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to seek an instruction that the jury was bound by the stipulation of the parties. During the penalty phase, the Commonwealth and Johnson stipulated to the fact that Johnson had no significant history of prior criminal convictions. As discussed above, the jury found the existence of the (e)(1) mitigator (no significant history of prior criminal convictions) with respect to the murder of Damon, but rejected this mitigating circumstance when determining the sentence for the death of Gregory. The jurors each indicated that they made this determination based upon the medical testimony that Damon died before Gregory. Johnson now submits that trial counsel erred by failing to raise on direct appeal to this Court that the jury improperly rejected the (e)(1) mitigating circumstance with respect to the murder of Gregory. Johnson cites to our decision in Commonwealth v. Rizzuto, 566 Pa. 40, 777 A.2d 1069 (2001), for the proposition that a jury is bound by the stipulation of the defendant and the Commonwealth to the existence of any mitigating circumstances. In that case, the parties stipulated that the defendant did not have a previous criminal record. The jury rejected the (e)(1) mitigating circumstance and sentenced the defendant to death. We reversed, holding that where a mitigating circumstance is presented to the jury by stipulation, the jury is required by law to find that mitigating factor. Id. at 1089. Thus, we expressly overruled Commonwealth v. Copenhefer, 526 Pa. 555, 587 A.2d 1353 (1991), in which we had held that a jury was free to refuse to find the (e)(1) mitigating circumstance even when the parties stipulated that the defendant did not have a prior criminal record. As a preliminary note, at the time of the sentencing phase of Johnson, on November 26, 1997, Copenhefer was the law of this Commonwealth. As we have held on myriad previous occasions, counsel will not be deemed ineffective for failing to divine a change in the law. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Tilley, 566 Pa. 312, 780 A.2d 649, 653 (2001) (citing Commonwealth v. Fowler, 550 Pa. 152, 703 A.2d 1027 (1997)). On a more substantive basis, this case is clearly distinguishable from Rizzuto. In Rizzuto, the jury convicted the defendant of one murder, which the parties stipulated at the penalty phase was his first criminal conviction. In the case sub judice, the jury convicted Johnson of two separate murders. During the penalty phase, the trial court instructed the jurors that they would be rendering two separate verdicts, one with respect to Damon and the other with respect to Gregory. Sentencing N.T. 11/26/97, page 1031. Prior to the trial in this case, Johnson had no significant history of criminal convictions, which the jury found as a mitigating circumstance in the death of Damon. However, given the evidence that Gregory died after Damon, the jury found that the (e)(1) mitigator no longer existed. Johnson and the Commonwealth did not stipulate to the existence of the (e)(1) mitigator as to both murders; rather they agreed that at the beginning of the proceedings Johnson did not have a significant criminal past. Rizzuto mandates that the jury find the (e)(1) mitigator with respect to the first murder, but the jury was well within its bounds to reject the (e)(1) mitigator with respect to the second murder.