Opinion ID: 48706
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: proof beyond a reasonable doubt and the weighing process

Text: 115 In Fields's final claim of sentencing error, he seeks to extend the Supreme Court's decision in Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002). Specifically, he argues that the FDPA violates the Sixth Amendment, as construed in Ring, because it does not require the jury to apply the reasonable doubt standard in deciding whether the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigators. 116 In Ring, the Supreme Court applied Apprendi v. New Jersey to capital cases. It reiterated, If [Congress] makes an increase in a defendant's authorized punishment contingent on [a] finding of a fact, that fact—no matter how [Congress] labels it—must be found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. 536 U.S. at 602, 122 S.Ct. 2428 (citing Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 482-83, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000)). Contrary to Fields's contention, this rule does not require the jury to apply the reasonable doubt standard during the weighing process. 117 The Apprendi/Ring rule does not extend to the ultimate decision whether to impose the death penalty. Capital defendants have no constitutional right to a jury at sentencing. See Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. 242, 252, 96 S.Ct. 2960, 49 L.Ed.2d 913 (1976) (plurality opinion). Indeed, the Supreme Court has explicitly held that judges may do the weighing of aggravating and mitigating circumstances consistent with the Constitution. See Clemons v. Mississippi, 494 U.S. 738, 745, 110 S.Ct. 1441, 108 L.Ed.2d 725 (1990). The Court's Apprendi line of cases reveals that the reasonable doubt standard is appurtenant to the right to jury trial. 31 Since the Constitution does not require a jury to do the weighing, we cannot conclude that the showing required must be proof beyond a reasonable doubt. 118 Moreover, the Apprendi/Ring rule should not apply here because the jury's decision that the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors is not a finding of fact. Instead, it is a highly subjective, largely moral judgment regarding the punishment that a particular person deserves . . . . Caldwell v. Mississippi, 472 U.S. 320, 340 n. 7, 105 S.Ct. 2633, 86 L.Ed.2d 231 (1985). In death cases, the sentence imposed at the penalty stage . . . reflect[s] a reasoned moral response to the defendant's background, character, and crime. Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302, 319, 109 S.Ct. 2934, 106 L.Ed.2d 256 (1989) (emphasis in original). The Apprendi/Ring rule applies by its terms only to findings of fact, not to moral judgments. See Ring, 536 U.S. at 602, 122 S.Ct. 2428. 119 The Supreme Court's reasoning in Kansas v. Marsh, ___ U.S. ___, 126 S.Ct. 2516, 165 L.Ed.2d 429 (2006), supports our conclusion. In Marsh, the Court construed a previous decision, Walton v. Arizona, 497 U.S. 639, 110 S.Ct. 3047, 111 L.Ed.2d 511 (1990), as holding that a state death penalty statute may place the burden on the defendant to prove that mitigating circumstances outweigh aggravating circumstances. Marsh, 126 S.Ct. at 2524. Additionally, in a concurring opinion in Marsh, Justice Scalia recognized that the Constitution does not require a reasonable doubt standard as to the weighing process: [T]he State could, as Marsh freely admits, [adopt a] scheme requiring the State to prove by a mere preponderance of the evidence that the aggravators outweigh the mitigators. Id. at 2532 n. 2. No member of the Marsh Court disagreed. Accordingly, we hold that the Sixth Amendment does not require a jury to be instructed that it must find that the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors beyond a reasonable doubt.