Opinion ID: 2381990
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Exclusion of Sentences for Related Offenses

Text: After Harris's guilty plea in Harris I, Judge DeWaters imposed the death sentence for Hviding's murder. As to related offenses to which Harris had also pled guilty, he imposed a concurrent 20 year sentence for the armed robbery of Hviding (subject to a merger proviso); a 15 year sentence, consecutive to the foregoing, for the armed robbery of George Lindley that had occurred during the same episode; and a five year sentence, consecutive to all the above, for use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. Thus, at the conclusion of his first sentencing proceeding, Harris had been sentenced to death plus 20 years. Harris I, 295 Md. at 331, 455 A.2d at 980. Although Harris's death sentence was set aside, the other sentences remained. At the sentencing proceeding now before us, the State proposed to offer into evidence the presentence report, as authorized by Md.Code (1982 Repl. Vol., 1987 Cum.Supp.) Art. 27, § 413(c)(iv). But the State planned to edit the report by eliminating from it the sentences imposed for the related offenses. Over Harris's objection, the court admitted the report subject to the redaction proposed by the State. Harris now claims, among other things, that evidence of the sentences should have been permitted because it had a bearing on a statutory mitigating factor  the likelihood (or unlikelihood) that he would engage in further criminal activity that would constitute a continuing threat to society. Art. 27, § 413(g)(7). He posits that the consecutive sentences might convince the jury that eventual release on parole would be far in the future; thus, a life sentence might be deemed appropriate punishment when coupled with the consecutive sentences. The State responds that the possibility of parole is simply irrelevant to a capital sentencing decision. The State's argument is correct. In Poole v. State, 295 Md. 167, 197, 453 A.2d 1218, 1233 (1983), involving a capital sentencing proceeding, we held improper a reference to the possibility of parole because, as Judge Couch explained for the Court we believe this type of argument is likely to allow the jury to disregard its duty to determine aggravating and mitigating factors, and to then balance one against the other as required by ... Art. 27, § 413, before imposing the death penalty. Any consideration of the possibility of parole as such simply is irrelevant and obviously prejudicial; we cannot condone such argument. Shortly thereafter we applied the ban against reference to the possibility of parole to defense efforts to use that information at capital sentencing. Evans v. State, 304 Md. 487, 529-530, 499 A.2d 1261, 1283-1284 (1985), cert. denied, 478 U.S. 1010, 106 S.Ct. 3310, 92 L.Ed.2d 722 (1986). There Judge Eldridge, citing Poole (among other authorities), expressly rejected the argument that the possibility of parole is relevant to the § 413(g)(7) future dangerousness mitigating factor. For the Court he wrote: In this connection, it should be pointed out that one might be likely to engage in criminal activity constituting a threat to those around him whether he is confined in a penal institution or is on parole. 304 Md. at 530, 499 A.2d at 1283 [footnote omitted]. We have on numerous occasions reaffirmed the rule. See, e.g., Bowers v. State, 306 Md. 120, 151-153, 507 A.2d 1072, 1087-1089, cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 107 S.Ct. 292, 93 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). And see Booth v. State, supra, 306 Md. at 216-219, 507 A.2d at 1120-1122 (testimony of defense witness as to parole eligibility should have been excluded had proper objection been made). [9] But to concede the validity of the State's argument does not dispose of the issue. The robberies of which Harris was convicted were statutory aggravating factors. Art. 27, § 413(d)(10). A sentencer might consider as a mitigating factor (when weighing the possibility of a death sentence) the fact that Harris had been appropriately sentenced for those crimes. Moreover, a sentencing jury, aware of Harris's convictions for armed robbery and use of a handgun, but not being informed of any sentences for them, might conclude that Harris had not been sentenced. The juror might further conclude that the jury sentence was intended to apply to all the crimes committed by Harris during the Hviding episode. Such a conclusion might induce a harsher sentence, whereas awareness of existence and extent of the prior sentences could have a mitigating effect. A jury in a capital case does not engage in a mechanical tabulation of aggravating factors against mitigating factors. Jones v. State, 310 Md. 569, 601, 530 A.2d 743, 758-759 (1987). The Maryland capital punishment statute does not require the death sentence if the jury believes death to be inappropriate.... Mills v. State, supra, 310 Md. at 50, 527 A.2d at 11. If the sentencing authority perceives anything relating to the defendant or the crime which causes it to believe that death may not be appropriate, it may treat such factor as a mitigating circumstance and decide that it outweighs the aggravating circumstances. Foster v. State, supra, 304 Md. at 475, 499 A.2d at 1254. We hold that the sentences imposed on Harris for robbery and handgun use during the Hviding incident could have helped the jurors, or some of them, to decide not to impose the death penalty. In this sense, these sentences were evidence of mitigating circumstances. They should not have been redacted from the presentence report. [10]