Opinion ID: 2410262
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Comparative review

Text: This court conducts, on a case-by-case basis, a comparative review of each death penalty case on appeal. Ruiz v. State, 280 Ark. 190, 655 S.W.2d 441 (1983). In conducting this comparative review, the Supreme Court considers the following factors: (1) whether the death sentence at issue was the result of passion, prejudice, or any arbitrary factors; (2) whether the evidence supports the jury's finding of any statutory aggravating circumstance; (3) whether the evidence supports the jury's findings with regard to whether the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances; and (4) whether a death sentence is excessive. Henderson v. State, 311 Ark. 398, 844 S.W.2d 360 (1993). The record shows that Sanders committed two capital murders in the furtherance of his theft of cash and jewelry from the Brannons. This court has found murders committed in the course of a robbery in order to facilitate the theft of property from the victims to be proportional in warranting the imposition of the death penalty. Davis v. State, 314 Ark. 257, 863 S.W.2d 259 (1993); Whitmore v. State, supra . The jury in the resentencing hearing found two aggravating circumstances: (1) the capital murder was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing an arrest; and (2) Sanders had previously committed a violent felony. The State introduced supporting evidence on the first finding from which the jury could have inferred that Sanders shot Mr. and Mrs. Brannon in order to prevent them from informing the police that he either had ransacked or intended to ransack their house for the purpose of stealing a large sum of cash that Mr. Brannon was reputed to have kept there. In support of the second finding, the State introduced the judgment of conviction in the February 1992 LaSalle murder case. These factors outweighed the evidence, offered in mitigation, of Sanders's military service, Bible study, and junior-and senior-high track-meet ribbons.