Opinion ID: 1252842
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Participation in the crime as aberrant behavior

Text: ¶ 27 Defendant requested that the trial court find, as mitigation, that the killing of David Johnson was aberrant behavior. As affirmative evidence on this point, defendant pointed to the lack of a prior felony record or any record of abusive or violent behavior. While the absence of such a record may, of itself, be mitigating, and indeed was separately considered by the trial court in both defendant's sentencings, it does not fall with the definition of aberrant behavior. Defendant also now relies on the following facts as found by the trial court during the resentencing proceedings: (1) no difficulties since his confinement and his attempts to be a model prisoner; (2) re-establishment of contact with his children and assistance to his daughter Isabel; (3) acceptance that his remaining life will be spent in prison and that even in prison his life has value. ¶ 28 The aberrant behavior concept, created by the Ninth Circuit as an exception to federal sentencing guidelines, is intended to deal with what that Circuit views as an inflexible sentencing scheme under United States sentencing guidelines which are viewed as too rigid to take into account situations where a lesser penalty seems more appropriate. The doctrine has been applied in cases that would result in a fundamentally unfair sentence, but not in a capital case. See United States v. Green, 105 F.3d 1321, 1322-23 (9th Cir.1997) (no aberrant behavior where defendant's drug operation motivated by greed; absence of a prior criminal record insufficient to mitigate sentence); United States v. Lam, 20 F.3d 999, 1003-05 (9th Cir.1994) (aberrant behavior found where recent robbery and concern for family's safety prompted defendant to purchase illegal gun); United States v. Fairless, 975 F.2d 664, 667-68 (9th Cir.1992) (aberrant behavior found where defendant motivated not by greed, but to help family); United States v. Takai, 941 F.2d 738, 740-41 (9th Cir.1991) (aberrant behavior found where after consulting lawyer, defendant withdrew from crime so far as he would receive any personal benefit). The federal cases indicate that even were we to accept this as a mitigator, defendant's behavior in the instant case would not qualify as aberrant behavior for purposes of nonstatutory mitigation. ¶ 29 The observations in Green apply here with equal force: One could search this record in vain to find any particular extenuating circumstances, other than Green's lack of a prior criminal record, and we long ago concluded that an absence of criminal history is not synonymous with aberrant behavior. Takai, 941 F.2d at 743. Criminal history is already taken into account by the Sentencing Guidelines.... Green's marijuana operation was significant and well-planned; no rationale for the behavior was proffered other than the money Green and his co-defendant planned to share.... Therefore, on this record it does not seem that there were any mitigating circumstances not fully taken into account by the Guidelines. Green, 105 F.3d 1321, 1323 (emphasis added) (footnote omitted). ¶ 30 There is no Arizona authority for aberrant behavior as a mitigating factor, and we decline to adopt the doctrine on the facts of this case.