Opinion ID: 1349911
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Dismissal of Charges Against George

Text: Defendant claims that the trial judge erred by not considering the dismissal of charges against George as a mitigating circumstance. We find defendant's claim without merit. This court occasionally will consider as a mitigating circumstance the disparity between the sentences of a defendant sentenced to death for a murder and that of an accomplice or codefendant who received a lesser sentence. State v. Schurz, 176 Ariz. 46, 57, 859 P.2d 156, 167 (1993). This consideration, however, has no application when insufficient evidence exists to charge the other party with the alleged crime. George did not enter into a plea agreement or plead guilty to a lesser offense. He did not testify against defendant. He has at all times denied involvement in the crimes. Aside from defendant's confessions and testimony at trial, the only thing that could be construed as implicating George is a statement by Detective Chambers found in defendant's presentence report, which states: When Detective Chambers questioned [George] about committing the murder, George ... told him, I could have done this, but I don't remember it, I black out a lot. The defense called George as a witness at trial, and he invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. George is presumed innocent until he is proven guilty, and his fate cannot be compared to that of a convicted murderer. Furthermore, if evidence is uncovered at some future time that links George to this crime, he can again be charged for this murder because the charges against him were dismissed without prejudice.