Opinion ID: 2082485
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Constitutionality of the Subsection (b)(1) Aggravator Application

Text: Appellant alleged as ground for post-conviction relief that the use of the subsection (b)(1) aggravator listed in the Indiana death penalty statute, namely the intentional killing in the commission of an attempted burglary, is unconstitutional under the principle of State v. McCormick (1979), 272 Ind. 272, 397 N.E.2d 276. In that case, this Court held that the subsection (b)(8) aggravator, commission of another murder, could not be constitutionally applied when the other murder alleged as an aggravating circumstance is not related to the principal murder charge. Appellant reads the McCormick opinion as being based upon the lack of the procedural safeguards, at the jury and judge capital sentencing hearings, protecting the presumption of innocence and the requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The post-conviction court rejected this ground, because the jury at this sentencing hearing had been fully instructed on these matters. The infirmity found in the (b)(8) aggravator in McCormick was the basic unfairness of requiring the accused in a capital murder trial charging the killing of A to also defend against a charge of murder in the killing of B at some other time and place. The burden of marshalling witnesses and evidence for such a composite trial before the same jury would be simply staggering and the result of such a trial would be unreliable. By contrast, the subsection (b)(1) aggravator is based upon the fact that the mind of the accused has in the same criminal episode formulated and held the intent to kill and the intent to commit one of the enumerated felonies. Woods v. State (1989), Ind., 547 N.E.2d 772. The basic unfairness identified in McCormick is not present when the subsection (b)(1) aggravator is alleged. This aspect of the judgment of the post-conviction court is affirmed.