Opinion ID: 1587246
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: murderprincipal or accomplice

Text: If you believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of either murder under Instruction No. 2 or complicity to murder under Instruction No. 3, but are unable to determine from the evidence whether the defendant committed this crime as principal under Instruction No. 2 or accomplice under Instruction No. 3, then you will find the defendant guilty of murder, principal or accomplice, under this Instruction and so state in your verdict. Both appellants were convicted of murderprincipal or accomplice, under Instruction No. 4. Both assert that their convictions are invalid because (1) the instruction did not set out the elements of the offenses of murder and complicity to murder; (2) the instruction authorized a non-unanimous verdict; (3) the instruction negated their right to an impartial jury; and (4) the instruction denied them individualized sentencing. We previously addressed and rejected the first two contentions in Halvorsen v. Commonwealth, Ky., 730 S.W.2d 921 (1986), and specifically approved an instruction identical to the one given in this case. Id. at 925. As noted in Halvorsen , there was no need to repeat the elements of murder and complicity to murder because they were fully set forth in Instructions Nos. 2 and 3. Id. The combination instruction specifically referred to those instructions and incorporated them by reference. Id. The unanimity requirement was not violated because both theories were supported by the evidence. Id.; see Ice v. Commonwealth, Ky., 667 S.W.2d 671, 677 (1984); Wells v. Commonwealth, Ky., 561 S.W.2d 85, 88 (1978). While we, of course, agree that the appellants were entitled to a trial by an impartial jury, they do not explain how the combination instruction denied them that right. The cases they cite to support that proposition, viz: Apodaca v. Oregon, 406 U.S. 404, 92 S.Ct. 1628, 32 L.Ed.2d 184 (1972), Williams v. Florida, 399 U.S. 78, 90 S.Ct. 1893, 26 L.Ed.2d 446 (1970), and Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U.S. 145, 88 S.Ct. 1444, 20 L.Ed.2d 491 (1968), are all inapposite. In fact, Apodaca specifically holds that the Sixth Amendment does not require a unanimous verdict in a state criminal trial. 406 U.S. at 407, 92 S.Ct. at 1630. Nor did the finding of guilt under the combination instruction deny either appellant the right to individualized sentencing. An accomplice to a murder committed by another in the course of the commission of a violent felony can be sentenced to death if the accomplice was a major participant in the commission of the felony and possessed a mens rea of at least reckless disregard for human life. Tison v. Arizona, 481 U.S. 137, 157-58, 107 S.Ct. 1676, 1688, 95 L.Ed.2d 127 (1987). Here, the accomplice instruction (and, hence, also the combination instruction) required the accomplice to actually intend that Mrs. White be killed. Despite that, each set of penalty phase instructions permitted the jury to consider as a possible mitigating circumstance that [t]he Defendant was an accomplice in an offense committed by another person and [his][her] participation in the offense was relatively minor. KRS 532.025(2)(b)(5). Tison, supra , by necessity, also resolves adversely to appellants their claims that they were not eligible for the death penalty because the jury did not specifically determine whether each was a principal or an accomplice in the commission of the offense.
Caudill asserts that, because KRS 507.020(1)(a) contains the proviso that a person shall not be guilty under this subsection if he acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance .., it was error not to include the absence of extreme emotional disturbance (EED) as an element of the offense in the murder instruction. However, we have long held that [a]n instruction on murder need not require the jury to find that the defendant was not acting under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance unless there is something in the evidence to suggest that he was, thereby affording room for reasonable doubt in that respect. Gall v. Commonwealth, Ky., 607 S.W.2d 97, 109 (1980), overruled on other grounds by Payne v. Commonwealth, Ky., 623 S.W.2d 867, 870 (1981). As will be discussed more fully infra, there was no evidence whatsoever that Caudill was acting under extreme emotional disturbance at the time Lonetta White was killed.
Caudill asserts error in the trial judge's failure to instruct the jury on manslaughter in the first degree under KRS 507.030(1)(b), i.e., intentional homicide committed under the influence of EED, as a lesser included offense. She points to three triggering events as evidence of EED: (1) she was informed of the recent suicide of a former boyfriend, Thomas Garrett, on Thursday, March 12, 1998; (2) she argued with her present boyfriend, Steve White, about her resumption of drug use on either Friday, March 13, or Saturday, March 14; and (3) Lonetta White refused her demand for money immediately before the murder. Caudill has placed the cart before the horse. First, there must be evidence of the existence of an EED at the time the homicide was committed. It is only upon such proof that the requirement arises for proof that the EED was the result of adequate provocation, i.e., a triggering event, and that the EED remained uninterrupted from the provocation until the killing. Fields v. Commonwealth, Ky., 44 S.W.3d 355, 359 (2001). We start with the definition of extreme emotional disturbance, formulated in McClellan v. Commonwealth, Ky., 715 S.W.2d 464 (1986): Extreme emotional disturbance is a temporary state of mind so enraged, inflamed, or disturbed as to overcome one's judgment, and to cause one to act uncontrollably from the impelling force of the extreme emotional disturbance rather than from evil or malicious purposes. It is not a mental disease in itself, and an enraged, inflamed or disturbed emotional state does not constitute an extreme emotional disturbance unless there is a reasonable explanation or excuse therefor, the reasonableness of which is to be determined from the viewpoint of a person in the defendant's situation under circumstances as [the] defendant believed them to be. Id. at 468-69 (emphasis added.) Caudill did not claim that she went to Mrs. White's residence under the influence of EED. She claimed she went there to induce White, under false pretenses, to give her money with which to satisfy her drug dependency. However, a drug dependency or the effects of substance abuse, standing alone, does not authorize instructions on EED and first-degree manslaughter. Stopher, 57 S.W.3d at 803; Bowling v. Commonwealth, Ky., 873 S.W.2d 175, 179 (1993); Stanford , 793 S.W.2d at 115. Nor does Caudill claim that she killed White because she was emotionally disturbed about the death of her former boyfriend, or even about her argument with her then-present boyfriend, Mrs. White's son. A closer factual question is created by her claim that she became extremely emotionally disturbed when White refused her demand for money. However, even viewing the circumstances from Caudill's drug dependent point of view, White's mere resistance to her demand for money was not a reasonable explanation or excuse for Caudill to become so enraged, inflamed or disturbed as to be entitled to the defense of EED. Hodge, 17 S.W.3d at 850 (Mere resistance by the victim ... does not... constitute a reasonable explanation or excuse for an emotional state so enraged, inflamed or disturbed as to cause the perpetrator to kill the victim.).
Both Caudill and Goforth claim they were entitled to an instruction on manslaughter in the first degree under KRS 507.030(1)(a), i.e., unintentional homicide committed with the intent to cause serious physical injury but not death. However, an instruction on a lesser included offense is required only if, considering the totality of the evidence, the jury might have a reasonable doubt as to the defendant's guilt of the greater offense, and yet believe beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of the lesser offense. Parker v. Commonwealth, Ky., 952 S.W.2d 209, 211 (1997). The postmortem examination of Mrs. White's body revealed that she suffered at least fifteen blows to the head with a hammer-like object. The blows ranged from those that caused lacerations to those that fractured the skull causing fragments of bone to be driven into the brain. This undisputed evidence precludes any reasonable doubt that whoever attacked Mrs. White intended to kill, as opposed to merely injure, her.
Caudill asserts that she was entitled to an instruction on manslaughter in the second degree because the jury could have believed that her complicity in the plan to rob White amounted only to wantonness, i.e., awareness and conscious disregard of a substantial risk that Goforth would kill White during the course of the robbery. KRS 507.040(1); KRS 501.020(3). Formerly, an accomplice to a dangerous felony could be convicted of an intentional murder committed by another participant in the felony on the theory that the intent to commit the dangerous felony provided the element of intent necessary to convict of murder. This felony murder concept was abandoned in Kentucky with the adoption of the penal code. However, participation in a dangerous felony, e.g., armed robbery, may supply the element of aggravated wantonness, i.e., extreme indifference to human life, necessary to convict of wanton murder. KRS 507.020(1)(b). See Graves v. Commonwealth, Ky., 17 S.W.3d 858, 862-63 (2000); Bennett v. Commonwealth, Ky., 978 S.W.2d 322, 327 (1998); Kruse v. Commonwealth, Ky., 704 S.W.2d 192, 193-95 (1985). In that scenario, second-degree manslaughter becomes a lesser included offense of wanton murder if the jury could believe that the defendant's participation in the dangerous felony amounted to wantonness but not extreme indifference to human life. Kruse , at 194 (quoting the Commentary to KRS 507.020). Although a trial judge has a duty to prepare and give instructions on the whole law of the case, including any lesser included offenses which are supported by the evidence, ... that duty does not require an instruction on a theory with no evidentiary foundation. Gabow, 34 S.W.3d at 72 ( quoting Houston v. Commonwealth, Ky., 975 S.W.2d 925, 929 (1998)); see also Thompkins v. Commonwealth, Ky., 54 S.W.3d 147, 151 (2001). Caudill's version of the events was that she went to White's residence to ask for money and that White was in the process of complying with her request when Goforth unexpectedly attacked and killed her. Goforth's version was that Caudill killed White when White refused her request for money. Julia Davis testified that Caudill told her that she (Caudill) killed White. Cynthia Ellis testified that Caudill told her that she was the first to attack White by hitting her twice in the head with a clock. None of these versions support a theory that Caudill intended to rob White and that, during the course of the robbery, Goforth unexpectedly killed her. An inference can be drawn from Jeanette Holden's testimony that Caudill was looking for an accomplice who was willing to rob and hurt White. However, evidence that Caudill expected White to be hurt during the robbery would have warranted, at best, an instruction on aggravated wantonness, i.e., wanton murder, which was not requested, not an instruction on mere wantonness, i.e., second-degree manslaughter.
Both appellants assert they were entitled to an instruction on manslaughter in the second degree because the jury could have believed that they were so intoxicated that they could not form the requisite intent necessary for a conviction of murder. The defense of voluntary intoxication does not warrant an acquittal but reduces the offense from murder to second-degree manslaughter. Slaven v. Commonwealth, Ky., 962 S.W.2d 845, 856-57 (1997). However, [i]n order to justify an instruction on [voluntary] intoxication, there must be evidence not only that the defendant was drunk, but that she was so drunk that she did not know what she was doing. Springer v. Commonwealth, Ky., 998 S.W.2d 439, 451 (1999); see also Stanford , 793 S.W.2d at 117-18. No evidence was introduced at trial to support a defense of intoxication. Goforth specifically testified that he was not claiming that he was intoxicated by drugs or alcohol and did not request an instruction on intoxication. Caudill testified that she and Goforth parked Goforth's truck in a shopping center parking lot so that White would not suspect there was another person with her. Goforth testified that Caudill gained entry into White's residence under the pretext that she needed to use the telephone because they were having car trouble. These are not the actions of a person who was so intoxicated that she did not know what she was doing.
Both appellants assert they were entitled to an instruction on criminal facilitation of murder. KRS 506.080 provides: A person is guilty of criminal facilitation when, acting with knowledge that another person is committing or intends to commit a crime, he engages in conduct which knowingly provides such person with the means or opportunity for the commission of the crime and which in fact aids such person to commit the crime. [Emphasis added.] Both appellants affirmatively asserted at trial that they had no knowledge that the other intended to murder Mrs. White. Without knowledge, there can be no facilitation. However, as noted in Chumbler v. Commonwealth, Ky., 905 S.W.2d 488 (1995), without knowledge there also could be no complicity. Id. at 498-99. Nevertheless, [f]acilitation reflects the mental state of one who is `wholly indifferent' to the actual completion of the crime, Perdue v. Commonwealth, Ky., 916 S.W.2d 148, 160 (1995), as opposed to one who intends that the crime be committed. Young v. Commonwealth, Ky., 50 S.W.3d 148, 165 (2001). Caudill does not articulate how she facilitated Goforth's murder of White. But if the basis for her claim is that she induced White to unlock her door knowing that Goforth intended to kill her, no reasonable jury could believe she was wholly indifferent to the actual completion of the murder. Goforth claims he only facilitated Caudill's murder of White by furnishing Caudill with transportation to White's residence. Webb v. Commonwealth, Ky., 904 S.W.2d 226, 228-29 (1995). He would have a better argument if he had left Caudill at White's residence and returned to the crack house without her, or, perhaps, if he had waited in the pickup truck while Caudill entered the residence and committed the murder. However, no reasonable juror could believe that Goforth was wholly indifferent to the completion of the murder after he admitted that he accompanied Caudill to White's door, participated in the car trouble ruse that induced White to permit Caudill to enter her residence, and entered the residence with Caudill, all the while knowing that Caudill intended to enter the residence for the purpose of killing White.

Goforth asserts that the trial judge should have, sua sponte, severed his penalty phase from Caudill's penalty phase because Caudill introduced evidence in mitigation of capital punishment that she had a submissive personality. The jury was ultimately instructed to consider on Caudill's behalf the statutory mitigating circumstance, if believed to be true, that she acted under duress or under the domination of another person even though the duress or domination of another person [was] not sufficient to constitute a defense to the crime. KRS 532.025(2)(b)(6). Goforth relies on Foster v. Commonwealth, Ky., 827 S.W.2d 670 (1992), for the proposition that the evidence and instruction were prejudicial to him because they portrayed him as the more culpable of the two. Id. at 679-83. In Foster, the codefendant Powell introduced in support of her mitigation claim of duress and domination numerous witnesses who testified to specific acts of prior misconduct by Foster, including Foster's threats against Powell and her statements that she had to kill one of the victims because Powell was a weak bitch and not capable of finishing the work. Id. at 681. Powell and Foster had a long-term lesbian relationship and Powell, herself, testified that she had been beaten by Foster and that Foster had perpetrated other acts of violence against members of her own family. Id. Powell also introduced expert testimony that she suffered from the equivalent of battered spouse syndrome because she had learned helplessness toward Foster. Id. at 683. The upshot was that the jury fixed Foster's penalty at death and Powell's at life without parole for twenty-five years. Id. at 672. On appeal, the cumulation of Powell's mitigation evidence was held to have been so prejudicial to Foster as to require reversal of Foster's sentences for a new sentencing hearing. Id. at 683. Here, Caudill did not testify in the penalty phase and offered no evidence of any prior misconduct by Goforth. When she testified in the guilt phase, Caudill did not claim that she was dominated by Goforth (a person she barely knew) or that Goforth induced her by threats or otherwise to participate in the murder of White. Remember, her version of the murder was that Goforth acted unexpectedly and unilaterally and bound her hands while he murdered White and ransacked her residence. In support of the duress and domination mitigator, Caudill offered witnesses who testified that she had been physically abused by her father and several husbands and that her lifestyle included drug addiction and prostitution. She also offered the expert testimony of Dr. Peter Schilling, a psychologist, that her history indicated possible brain damage from a prior head injury, and that her history and MMPI-2 test results reflected a submissive personality, particularly with respect to men. To rebut Dr. Schilling's testimony, the Commonwealth presented the testimony of Dr. Andrew Cooley, a psychiatrist, who testified that he had examined and tested Caudill on the Friday and Saturday before trial and found no evidence of either brain damage or a dependent personality disorder. At a bench conference prior to Dr. Schilling's testimony, Goforth's attorney made a motion to prohibit Schilling from testifying that Caudill was a person who would be unable to act as a principal in the commission of a murder, indicating that counsel was aware of the nature of Dr. Schilling's expected testimony. The motion was granted. Goforth's attorney did not request a severance of the penalty phase either before or after Dr. Schilling's testimony. He did not cross-examine either Dr. Schilling or Dr. Cooley. Nor did he request a recess in order to prepare a possible cross-examination. The enduring impression of this entire issue is that Goforth's attorney did not believe Dr. Schilling's testimony was sufficiently prejudicial to his client to warrant a severance or even cross-examination. We agree and hold that the trial judge did not err in failing to grant an unrequested severance. We also note in passing that, unlike the codefendants in Foster, both Caudill and Goforth received identical penalties for every offense.
On June 4, 1999, a discovery order was entered requiring the Commonwealth to furnish Goforth with all results or reports of mental and physical examinations ... including, but not limited to, ... any psychological/psychiatric tests of Johnathon Wayne Goforth or Virginia Caudill in the possession of the Commonwealth. Goforth's appellate counsel claims that his trial counsel never received Dr. Schilling's report and that the Commonwealth's failure to furnish that report after receiving it from Caudill's attorney impaired Goforth's trial counsel's right of cross-examination. This, however, is a claim Goforth's trial counsel never made. During the lengthy discussion at the pretrial hearing held on January 27, 2000, concerning time frames for obtaining mental health examinations and furnishing reports of experts, Goforth's counsel indicated that he was not interested in reports of mental health examinations of Caudill. Nevertheless, his motion to limit Dr. Schilling's testimony indicates that he had advance notice of the nature of Dr. Schilling's proposed testimony. KRS 504.070(1) requires a defendant to give the prosecution twenty days notice of an intention to introduce mental health evidence at trial, and KRS 504.070(2) gives the prosecution the right to have the defendant examined by an independent mental health expert. However, KRS 504.070(4) requires the prosecution to file any reports prepared by its witnesses ten days prior to trial. Dr. Schilling testified that he examined and tested Caudill four times over the period November 4, 1999, through January 13, 2000. On January 18, 2000, exactly twenty days before trial, Caudill filed her notice of intent to introduce evidence of mental illness, retardation or deficiency. The Commonwealth was unable to schedule Caudill's examination by Dr. Cooley until February 45, 2000, the Friday and Saturday before the trial began on February 7, 2000. Both appellants complain that they never received a final report of Dr. Cooley's examination. In fact, it appears that Dr. Cooley never prepared a final report. Caudill's counsel admitted receiving Dr. Cooley's preliminary report prior to Dr. Cooley's testimony. Goforth's trial counsel did not raise the issue at all, no doubt because Dr. Cooley's testimony did not prejudice Goforth in any respect. Finally, since neither doctor's report is in the record, we are unable to determine whether either appellant was prejudiced by the failure, if any, to timely receive it. Garrett v. Commonwealth, Ky., 48 S.W.3d 6, 15 (2001) (affirming where disputed document not introduced by avowal); Commonwealth v. Ferrell, Ky., 17 S.W.3d 520 (2000).
Appellants claim it was error for the trial court to refuse their proffer, as mitigation evidence, of the fact that a defendant in another case who had been convicted of multiple murders had been sentenced by agreement to life without parole. However, the requirement of individualized sentencing requires an assessment of the particular defendant's background and character and the nature of the crime for which he or she has been convicted. Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302, 319, 109 S.Ct. 2934, 2947, 106 L.Ed.2d 256 (1989), abrogated on other grounds by Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 122 S.Ct. 2242, 153 L.Ed.2d 335 (2002). As a corollary to that rule, evidence not bearing on the defendant's character, background, or the circumstances of the offense for which he/she has been convicted may be excluded. Smith v. Commonwealth, Ky., 845 S.W.2d 534, 539 (1993) ( quoting Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 604 n. 12, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 2965 n. 12, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978)). Specifically, evidence of a sentence imposed upon someone else, whether pursuant to plea agreement or jury verdict, is not a factor to be considered by the jury or the sentencing judge in determining the appropriate penalty for this defendant. Commonwealth v. Bass, Ky., 777 S.W.2d 233, 234 (1989); McClellan, 715 S.W.2d at 472.
KRS 532.025(1)(a) provides, inter alia: In such hearing, the judge shall hear additional evidence in extenuation, mitigation, and aggravation of punishment, including the record of any prior criminal convictions and pleas of guilty or pleas of nolo contendere of the defendant, or the absence of any prior conviction and pleas; provided, however, that only such evidence in aggravation as the state has made known to the defendant prior to his trial shall be admissible. KRS 532.025(1)(b), which provides for capital sentencing by a jury, incorporates this provision by reference. During the penalty phase of this trial, the prosecutor introduced evidence of two prior criminal convictions of Goforth: (1) a conviction of trafficking in a controlled substance in the third degree, and (2) a conviction of three counts of criminal facilitation of robbery in the first degree. Goforth's appellate counsel asserts entitlement to a new penalty phase because there is no proof in the record that the Commonwealth gave Goforth's trial counsel pretrial notice of an intent to introduce these two prior convictions. However, there is also no proof that the Commonwealth did not give such notice. In fact, prior to the commencement of the penalty phase, Goforth's trial counsel inquired as to the procedure the prosecutor intended to use to introduce Goforth's prior convictions. After the prosecutor recited verbatim what he intended to tell the jury, Goforth's counsel stated he had no objection. At no time did he complain that he had not been given pretrial notice of the Commonwealth's intent to introduce those convictions.

The trial judge instructed the jury with respect to Caudill to consider, if believed to be true, the mitigating circumstance set forth in KRS 532.025(2)(b)(2), viz: The capital offense was committed while the defendant was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance even though the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance is not sufficient to constitute a defense to the crime. At trial, the prosecutor requested that the instruction be accompanied by the definition of EED set forth in McClellan, 715 S.W.2d at 468-69, quoted verbatim in Part IV, issue 3, supra. Caudill's trial counsel did not join in that request, no doubt because the McClellan definition serves to narrow, not broaden, the scope of EED. Dean v. Commonwealth, Ky., 777 S.W.2d 900, 910-11 (1989) (Leibson, J., concurring); McClellan, supra, at 473-74 (Leibson, J., dissenting). Caudill's appellate counsel, however, asserts that it was reversible error to omit the McClellan definition from the penalty phase instructions, relying on the plurality opinion in Dean, supra, at 909. Upon further reflection, we conclude that the McClellan definition of EED applies only to EED as a defense under KRS 507.020(1)(a) and not to EED as a mitigating circumstance under KRS 532.025(2)(b)(2). The language in the latter statute differs somewhat from the former, primarily in that the murder statute requires that there be a reasonable explanation or excuse for the EED, whereas the mitigation statute does not contain that qualification. Yet, the qualification is included in the McClellan definition. McClellan, supra, at 468-69. If the McClellan definition applied to both statutes, evidence justifying an instruction on EED as a mitigator would have to be equally as strong as evidence justifying an instruction on EED as a defense. If so, the omission of the McClellan definition from Caudill's penalty phase instructions would be harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, because, if the evidence was insufficient to entitle Caudill to an EED guilt phase instruction, it was equally insufficient to entitle her to an EED mitigation instruction. However, the phrase, even though the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance is not sufficient to constitute a defense to the crime, in KRS 532.025(2)(b)(2) clearly anticipates that a broader form of emotional disturbance is available as mitigation of punishment than as a defense to the crime. Thus, even though, as here, the evidence is insufficient to warrant an instruction on EED as a defense to the crime, it could still be sufficient to warrant an instruction on EED as a mitigating circumstance. [2] Therefore, the McClellan definition does not apply to EED as a mitigating circumstance and the trial judge properly denied the prosecutor's motion to include the definition in the penalty phase instructions. To the extent that Dean holds otherwise, it is overruled. [3]
The trial judge instructed the jury with respect to both appellants to consider, if believed to be true, the mitigating circumstance described in KRS 532.025(2)(b)(5), viz: The defendant was an accomplice in a capital offense committed by another person and [his][her] participation in the capital offense was relatively minor. Both appellants assert error in the trial judge's refusal to delete the language, and [his][her] participation in the capital offense was relatively minor. We disagree. To delete the language in question would completely change the meaning and intent of this statutory mitigating circumstance. Obviously, major participation by an accomplice in a capital offense is not a mitigating circumstance. Tison v. Arizona, 481 U.S. at 157-58, 107 S.Ct. at 1688.
There is no requirement that a capital penalty jury be instructed that its findings on mitigation need not be unanimous. Mills v. Commonwealth, Ky., 996 S.W.2d 473, 492 (1999); Tamme, 973 S.W.2d at 37; Bowling, 873 S.W.2d at 180. There was no need to instruct the jury that it could impose a life sentence even if it found an aggravating factor beyond a reasonable doubt. Bussell v. Commonwealth, Ky., 882 S.W.2d 111, 113 (1994). Instruction No. 19, Authorized Sentences, read together with the verdict forms and as further explained during closing arguments, adequately apprised the jury of the available range of penalties and the role of the aggravator in the sentencing scheme. An instruction may not be judged in artificial isolation but must be considered in the context of the instructions as a whole and the trial record. Estelle v. McGuire, 502 U.S. 62, 72, 112 S.Ct. 475, 482, 116 L.Ed.2d 385 (1991) (internal quotations omitted). Finally, as we have stated many times, while we prefer the specimen verdict forms at 1 Cooper, Kentucky Instructions to Juries (Criminal) § 12.10A (4th ed. Anderson 1999), over the specimen forms at § 12.10 of that treatise, we do not deem the use of the latter forms to be reversible error. E.g., Hodge, 17 S.W.3d at 854. We note that when the prosecutor suggested that the § 12.10A forms be used, the attorneys representing Caudill and Goforth advised they had no objection to the § 12.10 forms prepared by the trial judge.
Appellants cite numerous instances of alleged prosecutorial misconduct to which no objection was made at trial. All are without merit. Any consideration on appeal of alleged prosecutorial misconduct must center on the overall fairness of the trial. In order to justify reversal, the misconduct of the prosecutor must be so serious as to render the entire trial fundamentally unfair. Stopher, 57 S.W.3d at 805 (citations omitted). Informing prospective jurors during voir dire that the court was looking for neutral jurors equated to a desire for impartial jurors and did not dilute the presumption of innocence or shift the burden of proof. The prosecutor did not excessively humanize the victim or over-emphasize the brutality of the crime. Hodge, 17 S.W.3d at 852. Contrary to appellants' assertion, the prosecutor did not tell the jury during guilt phase closing argument that this was the worst crime he had ever seen. He told them, As many times as I have stood here before jurors and in murder cases and I don't have the words. That statement did not interject extrajudicial information into the trial. In Tamme, supra , we held that the prosecutor's characterization of the case as the worst imaginable crime was but a statement of opinion of the prosecutor's view of the evidence. 973 S.W.2d at 39. The prosecutor's guilt phase argument did not invoke the golden rule. The allegedly offensive remarks were: What must she have been thinking that night, this seventy-three-year-old woman, by herself, basically afraid anyway? What panic she must have felt confronted by this woman and this stranger at three o'clock in the morning. A golden rule argument is one in which the prosecutor asks the jurors to imagine themselves or someone they care about in the position of the crime victim. Black's Law Dictionary 700 (7th ed. West 1999). E.g., Suppose you run a store and somebody comes in on you and does that to you. What's it worth? Lycans v. Commonwealth, Ky., 562 S.W.2d 303, 305-06 (1978). See also Lucas v. State, 335 So.2d 566, 567 (Fla.Ct.App.1976) (Think how you ladies would feel if that happened to you.). The prosecutor's statement that just because there is a question or some unanswered part of the case, that there is automatically reasonable doubt did not impermissibly define reasonable doubt. Commonwealth v. Callahan, Ky., 675 S.W.2d 391, 393 (1984). Callahan also contains the disclaimer that [w]e do not intend by this holding that counsel cannot point out to the jury which evidence, or lack thereof, creates reasonable doubt. Id. at 393. In Sanders v. Commonwealth, supra , we declined to reverse where the prosecutor told the jury that beyond a reasonable doubt does not mean beyond all doubt or a shadow of a doubt. 801 S.W.2d at 671. As in Sanders , we are wholly unconvinced, considering the circumstances, that absent this putative error the [appellants] may not have been found guilty of a capital crime, or the death penalty may not have been imposed. Id. The prosecutor's guilt phase argument that neither defendant did, showed, or demonstrated anything that says they're not guilty of this offense was fair comment on the quality of the evidence for the defense. Tamme, 973 S.W.2d at 38; Bowling, 873 S.W.2d at 178; Haynes v. Commonwealth, Ky., 657 S.W.2d 948, 952-53 (1983). The prosecutor's penalty phase argument that you have already found the aggravating circumstances was fair comment on the jury's guilt phase verdicts. The two aggravating circumstances were that the murder was committed during the course of a robbery in the first degree and/or a burglary in the first degree and the jury had, indeed, found appellants guilty of those offenses. The factual issue remaining with respect to the finding of an aggravating circumstance was whether the murder was committed while appellants were engaged in the commission of either of those offenses. KRS 532.025(2)(a). The prosecutor argued that it was; defense counsel argued that it was not. Caudill claims the prosecutor misstated the law with respect to the mitigating factor of intoxication. Voluntary intoxication is a defense to a criminal charge if it [n]egatives the existence of an element of the offense. KRS 501.080(1). Our cases interpret that provision to mean that the defendant must have been so intoxicated as not to know what he or she was doing. See Part IV, issue 6, supra. However, voluntary intoxication is a mitigating circumstance with respect to capital punishment if it equates with the same standard established for the defenses of involuntary intoxication, mental illness or retardation, and insanity, i.e., if it impairs the defendant's capacity to appreciate the criminality of his/her conduct or to conform his/her conduct to the requirements of law. KRS 501.080(2); KRS 504.060(5); KRS 504.120(3); KRS 532.025(2)(b)(7). [4] In his argument, the prosecutor stated: That at the time of the offense the capacity of either defendant to conform their [sic] conduct to the requirements of the law was impaired as a result of intoxication. You listened to the evidence. They knew exactly what they were doing when they were there. Were they under the influence to the extent that they didn't know what they were doing? Thus, the prosecutor first stated the correct test, then referred to an incorrect standard in a rhetorical question. The trial judge's instruction contained the correct test and there was no objection to the rhetorical question. We are unpersuaded, considering the totality of the circumstances, that, absent this isolated reference, the death penalty may not have been imposed upon either Caudill or Goforth. Sanders, supra, at 668; Cosby, supra, at 369. Compare Mattingly v. Commonwealth, Ky.App., 878 S.W.2d 797, 800 (1993) (when the prosecutor twice misstated the test for insanity, viz: The test is can she discriminate between right and wrong .... The question is whether or not she had the ability to discern right from wrong, the error, properly preserved by contemporaneous objections, was not harmless). During his penalty phase argument, the prosecutor attributed to the late Justice Potter Stewart the remark that if those who break the law do not receive the punishment that the public believes they deserve, therein are sown the seeds of anarchy. Even though Justice Stewart was misquoted, [5] we perceive no fundamental unfairness from this particular dramatic flourish. Nor did the remark diminish the jury's sentencing responsibility or shift that responsibility from the jury to Justice Stewart (which seems to be the gist of this aspect of the argument). Contrary to appellants' assertion, the reversal in Clark v. Commonwealth, Ky., 833 S.W.2d 793 (1992), was not due to the same prosecutor's identical remark. In Clark, the prosecutor more seriously misquoted Justice Stewart as saying that `the seeds of anarchy' are sown unless capital punishment is meted in deserving cases. Id. at 795. Nevertheless, the primary reason for reversal in Clark was that the prosecutor diminished the jury's sentencing responsibility by stating twenty-five times in his closing argument that the jury's verdict would be only a recommendation. Id. at 796. Finally, we perceive no fundamental unfairness in that portion of the prosecutor's penalty phase closing argument that evoked sympathy for the victim and members of her family. Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808, 825, 111 S.Ct. 2597, 2608, 115 L.Ed.2d 720 (1991); Hodge, 17 S.W.3d at 852-53; Bowling, 942 S.W.2d at 303.

The evidence was sufficient to support appellants' convictions of each offense. Commonwealth v. Benham, Ky., 816 S.W.2d 186, 187 (1991). There was ample evidence that appellants unlawfully entered Mrs. White's residence, see Part III, issue 3, supra, for the purpose of committing a crime, that Mrs. White was murdered while appellants were in the building, and that appellants were armed with deadly weapons while in immediate flight therefrom. KRS 511.020(1); Jackson v. Commonwealth, Ky., 670 S.W.2d 828, 830 (1984) (one who steals a deadly weapon during the course of a burglary is armed within the meaning of the statute). It is immaterial to the robbery convictions that the theft may have occurred after the murder so long as the theft and murder were part of the same criminal episode. Bowling, 942 S.W.2d at 307. The evidence afforded a reasonable inference that appellants went to Mrs. White's residence for the purpose of committing robbery and that the murder was committed in facilitation of the robbery. Appellants admitted to tampering with physical evidence by attempting to destroy the victim's body and each testified that the other committed both the murder and arson.
Convictions of both robbery and burglary do not violate the constitutional proscription against double jeopardy since each offense requires proof of an element that the other does not. Jordan v. Commonwealth, Ky., 703 S.W.2d 870, 873 (1985); see Commonwealth v. Burge, Ky., 947 S.W.2d 805, 809-11 (1997). Nor is it double jeopardy to convict a defendant of robbery or burglary and then use the same offense as an aggravating circumstance authorizing capital punishment. Bowling, 942 S.W.2d at 308; Wilson v. Commonwealth, Ky., 836 S.W.2d 872, 891 (1992), overruled on other grounds by St. Clair v. Roark, 10 S.W.3d at 487; Sanders, 801 S.W.2d at 682.
At the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, the trial judge informed the attorneys that he had completed a preliminary draft of the report required by KRS 532.075(1) and that he would complete it in final form later that day and furnish copies to counsel for appropriate objections. The report was filed in the record later that same day. Appellants assert that because the report was at least partially prepared before the sentences were imposed, the trial judge must have prejudged the sentence. We disagree. As required by the statute, the report is in the form of a questionnaire. The only question that directly pertains to the imposition of the death penalty is question 12 of section E which requests general comments of the trial judge concerning the appropriateness of the sentence imposed in this case. All of the other questions pertain to the facts of the case, the conduct of the trial, and the background(s) of the defendant(s). These are factors which a trial judge should consider before passing final sentence and the process of preparing the answers to those questions should assist a trial judge in reaching the ultimate decision. We have reviewed the videotape of the sentencing hearing, which consisted solely of legal arguments and pleas for mercy by counsel and apologies and statements of remorse by the appellants, and find no indication that the trial judge had predetermined the sentence before hearing these arguments, pleas, apologies, and statements of remorse.
[A]rguments that the death penalty is discriminatory and arbitrary, and that our statutory scheme does not provide constitutionally adequate guidance to capital sentencing juries, have been raised, considered and rejected by this Court on numerous occasions. Hodge, 17 S.W.3d at 854. Our views with respect to those arguments remain unchanged. Id.
There is no constitutional right to a proportionality review. Pulley v. Harris, 465 U.S. 37, 44, 104 S.Ct. 871, 876, 79 L.Ed.2d 29 (1984). Our review is governed solely by the provisions of KRS 532.075.
Failure to provide access to data compiled pursuant to KRS 532.075(6) does not implicate the Due Process Clause. Mills, 996 S.W.2d at 495; Sanders, 801 S.W.2d at 683; Harper v. Commonwealth, Ky., 694 S.W.2d 665, 671 (1985).
Death qualification of jurors is not unconstitutional. Hodge, 17 S.W.3d at 838.
Appellants cite a statement in Matthews v. Commonwealth, Ky., 709 S.W.2d 414 (1985), that the statutory scheme not only permits, but anticipates, that the trial court will play a separate and different role in sentencing in capital cases after the jury's verdict has been received. Id. at 423. From this statement they conclude that our capital sentencing scheme is fatally flawed because it does not articulate what that separate and different role might be. Of course, the quotation from Matthews is out of context. What we said in Matthews was that a trial judge, in sentencing a defendant convicted by a jury that has also fixed a sentence, is not limited, as was the jury, to consideration of statutory aggravating and mitigating circumstances when exercising his/her discretion as to whether to accept the jury verdict or to impose a lesser sentence. The information elicited in the trial judge's report, KRS 532.075(1), can be a partial guide to assist the trial judge in making that decision.
Once again, we are cited to Lockhart v. McCree, 476 U.S. 162, 106 S.Ct. 1758, 90 L.Ed.2d 137 (1986), for the proposition that the death penalty should be set aside because of the existence of a residual doubt. Lockhart does not so hold and we specifically addressed and rejected that argument in Tamme, 973 S.W.2d at 40. 10. Video record. The Court's use of videotaped records pursuant to CR 98 instead of stenographic transcripts did not prejudice [the appellants'] right to appeal. Hodge, 17 S.W.3d at 854-55 ( citing Foster v. Kassulke, 898 F.2d 1144, 1147-48 (6th Cir.1990)). 11. Cumulative error. No cumulative error occurred that requires reversal of this case. Compare Funk v. Commonwealth, Ky., 842 S.W.2d 476, 483 (1992).
Pursuant to KRS 532.075(3), we have reviewed the record and determined that the sentence of death was not imposed under the influence of passion, prejudice, or any other arbitrary factor. There was ample evidence to support the jury's finding of statutory aggravating circumstances. We have also reviewed all cases decided since 1970 in which the death penalty was imposed. We have particularly considered those cases in which the defendant was convicted of a single murder committed during the course of a burglary or robbery, or both, and sentenced to death, viz: Mills v. Commonwealth, Ky., 996 S.W.2d 473 (1999) (burglary and robbery); Bowling v. Commonwealth, Ky., 942 S.W.2d 293 (1997) (burglary and robbery); Bussell v. Commonwealth, Ky., 882 S.W.2d 111 (1994) (robbery); Epperson v. Commonwealth, Ky., 809 S.W.2d 835 (1990) (burglary and robbery); Moore v. Commonwealth, Ky., 771 S.W.2d 34 (1988) (robbery); Slaughter v. Commonwealth, Ky., 744 S.W.2d 407 (1987) (robbery); Marlowe v. Commonwealth, Ky., 709 S.W.2d 424 (1986) (robbery); Kordenbrock v. Commonwealth, Ky., 700 S.W.2d 384 (1985) (robbery); McQueen v. Commonwealth, Ky., 669 S.W.2d 519 (1984) (robbery); Self v. Commonwealth, Ky., 550 S.W.2d 509 (1977) (robbery); Meadows v. Commonwealth, Ky., 550 S.W.2d 511 (1977) (burglary); Caine v. Commonwealth, Ky., 491 S.W.2d 824 (1973) (robbery); Galbreath v. Commonwealth, Ky., 492 S.W.2d 882 (1973) (robbery); Leigh v. Commonwealth, Ky., 481 S.W.2d 75 (1972) (robbery). (The death sentences in Self , Meadows , Caine , Galbreath , and Leigh were all vacated pursuant to Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972).) Considering the facts of this case and comparing them to similar cases in which the death penalty was imposed, we conclude that the sentences of death imposed in this case are neither excessive nor disproportionate. Accordingly, the judgments of conviction and sentences imposed by the Fayette Circuit Court are affirmed. LAMBERT, C.J.; COOPER, GRAVES, JOHNSTONE, and WINTERSHEIMER, J.J., concur. KELLER, J., concurs in the result by separate opinion, which STUMBO, J., joins.