Opinion ID: 585300
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: duest's sentence

Text: 44 Duest also challenges his death sentence on a number of different grounds, including those grounds identified supra as Issue II (the Johnson v. Mississippi claim relating to Duest's vacated prior conviction); Issue III (ineffective assistance of counsel at sentencing); Issue IV (to the extent the prosecutorial misstatements took place at the penalty phase of the trial); Issue V (to the extent that appellate counsel failed to raise on appeal issues arising out of the penalty phase of the trial); Issue VII (insufficient instructions at sentencing phase on heinous, atrocious and cruel aggravating circumstance); Issue IX (erroneous instructions regarding votes necessary for a life sentence); and Issue X (improper burden-shifting instruction at penalty phase). Because we agree with Duest that resentencing is appropriate on the grounds raised in Issue II, we need not reach the other issues raised by Duest pertaining to his sentence. 45 Duest's Johnson v. Mississippi Claim (Issue II) 46 As noted supra, Duest contends that because the sentencing jury's recommendation of death was based upon consideration of a criminal conviction that was later vacated by the Massachusetts courts, resentencing is in order under Johnson v. Mississippi, 486 U.S. 578, 108 S.Ct. 1981, 100 L.Ed.2d 575 (1988). Two questions must be answered in order to decide Duest's claim. First, did the sentencing jury's consideration of Duest's prior vacated conviction amount to Eighth Amendment error under Johnson? Second, if so, did the Florida Supreme Court err in concluding that the Eighth Amendment error was harmless?
47 In Johnson, the sentencing jury found three aggravating circumstances regarding Johnson's murder of a Mississippi highway patrolman, one of which was that Johnson had previously been convicted of a felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person of another. 8 The sole evidence supporting this aggravating circumstance was an authenticated copy of petitioner's commitment following his 1963 conviction in New York State for second-degree assault with intent to commit first-degree rape. The prosecutor repeatedly referred to this conviction during sentencing. Because the three aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances, the Mississippi jury, the sentencer under Mississippi law, sentenced Johnson to death. In 1987, after the Mississippi jury passed its sentence, the New York Court of Appeals reversed Johnson's conviction for second-degree assault with intent to commit first-degree rape on the grounds that Johnson's confession was coerced. 9 Despite the sentencing jury's consideration of this invalid conviction, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Johnson's death sentence. 48 The United States Supreme Court reversed and remanded the case to the state courts for resentencing. The Court held that the sentencing jury's consideration of the invalid conviction violated the Eighth Amendment because the decision to sentence Johnson to death was predicated on factors that are constitutionally impermissible or totally irrelevant to the sentencing process. Johnson, 486 U.S. at 585, 108 S.Ct. at 1986 (quoting Zant v. Stephens, 462 U.S. 862, 884-85, 887 n. 24, 103 S.Ct. 2733, 2747, 2748 n. 24, 77 L.Ed.2d 235 (1983)). 49 Thus, Johnson stands for the proposition that a sentencing jury's consideration of a vacated conviction in establishing aggravating factors violates the Eighth Amendment because such consideration undermines the need for reliability in the determination that death is the appropriate punishment. Id. at 584, 108 S.Ct. at 1986 (citations omitted). In assessing Duest's Johnson claim, the Florida Supreme Court implicitly recognized the existence of an Eighth Amendment violation. Duest v. Dugger, 555 So.2d at 851. The State does not dispute the existence of Constitutional error in this case.
50 Before examining whether the Eighth Amendment error in this case was harmless, we note that federal courts are not bound by state court determinations as to whether Constitutional error is harmless. Jackson v. Dugger, 931 F.2d 712, 717 (11th Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Singletary v. Jackson, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 452, 116 L.Ed.2d 470 (1991). Whether such error rises to the level of reversible error is a mixed question of law and fact, reviewable de novo. Id. 51 In Johnson, the State opposed Johnson's request for resentencing, arguing that because the Mississippi Supreme Court had concluded that the death sentence returned by the jury would have stood even absent Johnson's New York conviction, such resentencing was inappropriate. The United States Supreme Court rejected this argument. First, the Court noted that the Mississippi Supreme Court had expressly refused to conduct a harmless error analysis, and that such refusal was appropriate, given that the prosecution had focused upon that aggravating factor far more than on the others. Johnson, 486 U.S. at 590 n. 8, 108 S.Ct. at 1988-89 n. 8. Second, and more importantly, the Court noted that the error here extended beyond the mere invalidation of an aggravating circumstance supported by evidence that was otherwise admissible. Here the jury was allowed to consider evidence that has been revealed to be materially inaccurate. Id. at 590, 108 S.Ct. at 1989. 52 As noted supra, the Florida Supreme Court rejected Duest's Johnson claim because it believe[d] beyond a reasonable doubt that Duest would still have received a sentence of death without evidence of [the vacated] conviction. Duest v. Dugger, 555 So.2d at 851. 10 The Court noted that even if Duest's vacated Massachusetts conviction were not considered by the sentencing jury, (1) another conviction for armed robbery remained extant, thereby preserving the existence of the prior crimes of violence aggravating circumstance; and (2) three other aggravating factors existed independent of the prior crimes of violence factor. Id. The State, of course, agrees with the Florida Supreme Court, adding that, unlike the sentencing jury in Johnson, the sentencing jury in this case received only limited exposure to the vacated conviction: the prosecution never mentioned the conviction during the sentencing phase, and the court merely read and later re-read the indictments to the jury. 53 Notwithstanding the Florida Supreme Court's analysis, and the contentions of the State, we hold that the Eighth Amendment error resulting from the sentencing jury's consideration of Duest's vacated Massachusetts conviction was not harmless. 54 The Supreme Court's decisions in Johnson, supra, and Clemons v. Mississippi, 494 U.S. 738, 110 S.Ct. 1441, 108 L.Ed.2d 725 (1990), support our holding, and help us identify the specific reasons why the Eighth Amendment error in this case was not harmless. As noted supra, the Johnson Court stated that, had the Mississippi Supreme Court conducted a harmless error review of the sentencing jury's consideration of Johnson's vacated New York conviction, such review would have yielded a determination that the error was not harmless. First, the Court pointed out that the prosecution's focus on the vacated conviction made the jury's reliance on that conviction especially likely. Johnson, 486 U.S. at 590 n. 8, 108 S.Ct. at 1989 n. 8. The Court in Clemons likewise concluded that where the State repeatedly emphasized and argued the [constitutionally impermissible aggravating factor] during sentencing, ... it would require a detailed explanation based on the record for us to agree that the error in giving the invalid ... instruction was harmless. Clemons, 494 U.S. at 753-54, 110 S.Ct. at 1451. 55 Although the jury in this case received less exposure to the vacated conviction than did the jury in Johnson, the circumstances surrounding the jury's consideration of this conviction indicate that reversible error occurred here as well. The fact that the jury requested to see the vacated convictions after having deliberated for a time suggests strongly that this particular evidence played a significant role in the jury's ultimate determination that death was the appropriate sentence. It is important to note that the jury did not request additional information or instruction from the trial court on any other matter. It is unclear from the record how much time elapsed between the jury's request and its arrival at a recommendation of death; nevertheless, the fact that the entire sentencing hearing took only one day, combined with the other circumstances surrounding the jury's determination, further calls into question the reliability of the jury's recommendation. Finally, that the jury recommended death by the narrowest of margins renders its consideration of the vacated conviction especially problematic. Thus, the context in which the sentencing jury considered Duest's conviction undermines confidence in the jury's recommendation of death as much as the context in which the jury imposed death in Johnson. 56 The Johnson Court rejected a finding of harmless error not only because of the jury's particular exposure to Johnson's vacated conviction, but also because the error [in Johnson ] extended beyond the mere invalidation of an aggravating circumstance supported by evidence that was otherwise admissible. Here the jury was allowed to consider evidence that has been revealed to be materially inaccurate. 486 U.S. at 590, 108 S.Ct. at 1989. The Clemons Court reemphasized this distinction in holding that the Mississippi Supreme Court was not precluded from conducting a harmless error analysis on remand where the trial court, rather than admitting inaccurate and misleading evidence, merely had given an erroneous instruction regarding application of the especially heinous atrocious and cruel aggravating circumstance. Clemons, 494 U.S. at 754-55 n. 5, 110 S.Ct. at 1451 n. 5. 57 The distinction drawn by the Court in Johnson and Clemons compels reversal here. Duest's sentencing jury was allowed to consider evidence that has been revealed to be materially inaccurate. Unlike the jury in Clemons, Duest's jury did not merely consider in an improper context evidence that had been admitted during the guilt phase; it considered evidence that incorrectly indicated that (1) Duest had been convicted of a crime involving violence, and that (2) the underlying conduct for which he was convicted reflected a murderous intent. The fact that Duest may have committed some of the underlying conduct alleged in the indictment--that is, the armed assault--in no way renders harmless the effects such inaccuracies may have had on the jury. The implication that Duest had acted with murderous intent in committing armed assault might well have had particular impact on a jury considering whether to recommend life or death. 58 In Brown v. Dugger, 831 F.2d 1547 (11th Cir.1987), this court stated that: 59 If there remains a possibility that the constitutionally-proscribed evidence impacted on the ultimate decisional process of the jury, if the beneficiary of the error cannot refute that possibility beyond all reasonable doubt, constitutional errors can never be deemed harmless. 60 Id. at 1554 (citing Hutchins v. Wainwright, 715 F.2d 512, 517 (11th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1071, 104 S.Ct. 1427, 79 L.Ed.2d 751 (1984)). It is apparent that the jury's particular focus on the vacated conviction prior to its 7-5 recommendation of death raises a serious possibility that such evidence impacted the ultimate decisional process of the jury. Under the circumstances of this case, the State cannot show beyond a reasonable doubt that the jury would have recommended death absent consideration of the vacated Massachusetts conviction. 11 Therefore, the sentencing jury's consideration of the vacated conviction amounts to reversible error. 12