Opinion ID: 2630520
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Multiple Counting of Aggravating Factors

Text: ¶ 115 The court assistant argues that the trial court counted the same aggravating factors multiple times in determining Arguelles's sentence. The State argues that the trial court did not double count, and that even if it had, the court assistant has failed to show that the double counting prejudiced Arguelles. ¶ 116 The trial court's discussion of aggravating and mitigating factors is somewhat unclear. On close analysis, the record indicates that some aggravating factors were referred to more than once and one factor was counted more than once by the trial court. For example, in discussing the number of victims killed, the court also makes reference to Arguelles's criminal history and the fact that Tuesday Roberts was killed to destroy her as a potential witness. The trial court later cites Arguelles's criminal record as an independent aggravating factor and the murder of a potential witness, i.e., Tuesday Roberts, as another independent aggravating factor. ¶ 117 While some aggravating factors appear to be referred to multiple times, only one aggravating factor appears to have been counted more than once. The trial court states that the fourth aggravating factor is that Arguelles's crimes involved heinous acts of terror to the victims, including actual physical violence. The court then refers to the horrific brutality of the murders as the eighth aggravating factor. To be constitutionally sound, the aggravating factor of heinousness must narrow the class of death eligible defendants. Once the definition of heinousness is narrowed, the difference between brutality and heinousness is small. In fact, to meet the heinousness requirement listed in Utah Code section 76-5-202(1)(p), we have stated that a brutal act must constitute battery or torture. State v. Wood, 648 P.2d 71, 86 (Utah 1982). Thus, the trial court's treatment of heinousness and brutality as two separate aggravating factors was duplicative. ¶ 118 The court assistant cites Parsons v. Barnes, 871 P.2d 516 (Utah 1994), in support of his contention that aggravating factors may not be counted twice. In Parsons we held that a sentencer cannot be allowed the opportunity to doubly weigh the commission of the underlying felony and the motive behind [the] underlying felony as separate aggravators. Id. at 528 (quoting Willie v. State, 585 So.2d 660, 681 (Miss.1991)). Since robbery will presumably always be based upon the motive of pecuniary gain, we held that the defendant's motive in committing a robbery could not be considered as an independent aggravating factor. Id. The current case is not parallel to Parsons since the underlying crime here, aggravated murder, may be the result of various motives, only some of which might be considered as aggravating factors. ¶ 119 While we are sympathetic to the argument that it is generally inappropriate to count the same aggravating factor more than once in a sentencing proceeding, we note that the sentencing process does not involve a mere comparison of the number of aggravating factors to the number of mitigating factors. Rather, [t]hese standards require that the sentencing body compare the totality of the mitigating against the totality of the aggravating factors, not in terms of the relative numbers of the aggravating and the mitigating factors, but in terms of their respective substantiality and persuasiveness. Wood, 648 P.2d at 83. Central to our inquiry then, is whether the trial court weighed the mitigating and aggravating factors correctly, as opposed to whether they were merely counted correctly. ¶ 120 The trial court did not err in its weighing of the aggravating and mitigating factors. Following Arguelles's guilty plea, the trial court convened a hearing to consider the aggravating and mitigating factors as outlined in Utah Code section 76-3-207(1)(a). The trial court then weighed the aggravating factors against the mitigating factors and determined that the aggravating circumstances outweigh, if not eclipse, the mitigating. The evidence justifying the death penalty is overwhelming. (Emphasis added.) Setting aside the technical double listing of one aggravating factor, we hold that the trial court correctly concluded that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, any error stemming from the double reference was harmless.