Opinion ID: 514627
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Victim-impact Evidence.

Text: 20 The State next challenges the district court's conclusion that the admission of victim-impact evidence 13 violated Gilmore's eighth amendment rights as established by the Supreme Court's decision in Booth v. Maryland, 482 U.S. 496, 107 S.Ct. 2529, 96 L.Ed.2d 440 (1987). As a preliminary matter, the State contends that (1) Gilmore has waived his Booth claim by failing to address, in his traverse, the State's argument that the claim is procedurally barred; and (2) Gilmore committed certain state procedural defaults which erect an adequate and independent bar to consideration of the Booth claim. 21 The State correctly observes that pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2248, [t]he allegations ... of an answer to an order to show cause in a habeas corpus proceeding, if not traversed, shall be accepted as true except to the extent that the judge finds from the evidence that they are not true. Gilmore did not respond to the State's procedural default argument in his traverse, nor did he allege in his habeas petition that his Booth claim was not procedurally barred. Nevertheless, because it is apparent that the State's waiver argument was not presented to, nor considered by, the district court, we believe it improvident to conclude that the State's contentions must be accepted as true. 22 Moreover, a review of the record discloses that Gilmore may not have defaulted with respect to all of the transcript references cited in support of his Booth claim. Gilmore objected to the questions propounded at page 357 of the transcript on the grounds of relevancy and prejudice, 14 and requested that the questions be stricken or that a mistrial be declared. Furthermore, Gilmore advanced a claim on direct appeal challenging these questions. Thus, we are reluctant to say that default has occurred. Gilmore did, however, clearly default with respect to the testimony on pages 354 and 361 of the transcript. He did not object to the testimony on either of these pages on the grounds of relevancy or prejudice; rather, the stated bases for his objections were merely that the witness's answers were nonresponsive. Missouri law requires that during trial the complaining party make a specific objection upon the grounds advanced on appeal. See Lawson v. Cooper, 475 S.W.2d 442, 447 (Mo.Ct.App.1972). Furthermore, on direct appeal, Gilmore did not raise a claim challenging the testimony on page 354 of the transcript, nor did he request additional relief after his objections to the testimony on both pages were sustained. Under Missouri procedure, where, as here, a litigant objects to a trial event, invokes specific relief and is granted the full request, he cannot complain that the trial court did not do more. State v. Johnson, 663 S.W.2d 265, 266 (Mo.Ct.App.1983). 23 In summary, then, we will review the merits of Gilmore's claim challenging the questions propounded on page 357 of the transcript. Since Gilmore clearly has not demonstrated cause 15 for his procedural default with respect to the other transcript references, nor has he shown prejudice as defined under Wainwright, our consideration of these items is procedurally barred. 24 On the merits, we conclude that a considerable extension of Booth would be required to render the challenged transcript references to be considered in the case at hand violative of the Booth decision. In Booth, the Supreme Court invalidated a Maryland statute which required a capital sentencer to consider information contained in a victim-impact statement (VIS) prepared by the Maryland State Director of Parole and Probation. The VIS in Booth described the personal characteristics of the victims, an elderly couple; contained a detailed recitation of the emotional impact of the crime upon the victims' family members; and set forth the family members' opinions as to the crime and the characteristics of the defendants. The Supreme Court held that such information is irrelevant to the capital sentencing decision and creates a constitutionally impermissible risk that the jury may impose a sentence of death in an arbitrary and capricious manner. Booth, 107 S.Ct. at 2533. 25 The transcript references in the present case are not of the same nature as the evidence condemned in Booth. Here, the prosecutor asked Audrey Watters how Mary Luella Watters occupied herself and what her spirits were like. Both questions were objected to before the witness's answers. One need only peruse the VIS appended to the Booth decision to appreciate the qualitative difference of the evidence presented in that case and its indelible impact upon a jury. The same risk of inflaming the jury and diverting it from its responsibility of making a sentencing determination based upon the individual characteristics of the defendant and the particular circumstances of the crime did not exist in the present case. Accordingly, we conclude that the district court erred in holding that Gilmore is entitled to habeas corpus relief upon the basis of his Booth claim. 26