Opinion ID: 1188889
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Remand for Reweighing

Text: As the court notes, ante, at 335, 878 P.2d at 1373, when an aggravating circumstance is knocked out and when, as here, reweighing on the record is undesirable because there exists the possibility of a more substantive mitigation hearing, we remand to the trial judge for reweighing. He is the one who tried this case. He is the one who sentenced the defendant to death. He is the only one familiar enough with this record and this defendant to decide whether the death sentence should be reimposed notwithstanding the absence of one aggravating factor. As the court notes, the state has not conceded that sentence reduction is preferable. Instead, the court arbitrarily reduces the sentence. As I have noted before, State v. Stuard, 176 Ariz. 589, 614, 863 P.2d 881, 906 (1993) (Martone, J., dissenting), we have an obligation to ensure that the death sentence is not imposed in an arbitrary and freakish way. It is arbitrary to impose the death sentence on others, and then, on a record like this, relieve a defendant of the death sentence without first giving the trial judge an opportunity to properly reweigh. I therefore respectfully dissent. I would remand to the sentencing judge for reweighing.