Opinion ID: 1842904
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Nature of the Conduct

Text: The statute requires only that the evidence be relevant to the character and propensity of the defendant. Yet, the majority would limit evidence of past adult and juvenile adjudicated criminal conduct to those crimes classified as felonies in order to avoid an arbitrary decision by a jury. Any criminal conduct, whether it be classified as a felony or a misdemeanor, is indicative of character. It is up to the jury to decide what weight to give to the various types of criminal conduct; and, for a jury to avoid an arbitrary decision, it should have as much information before it as possible. The majority also limits evidence of past adult unadjudicated criminal conduct to those acts which involve violence against the person of the victim because it believes other types of crimes are not probative of the propensity to commit first degree murder and thus not as relevant in a capital sentencing hearing. The statute in no way requires that the character evidence only be relevant to the defendant's propensity to commit first degree murder. Rather, the evidence need only reveal the defendant's character. For one charged with first degree murder arising out of circumstances involving the stabbing [2] of a seventy-four year old woman outside her home during the course of an aggravated burglary and/or armed robbery, it challenges credulity to find other offenses which would not relate to that person's character and propensity to commit other crimes. The majority's limitation would in practice exclude evidence of, for example, aggravated arson, aggravated criminal damage to property, aggravated burglary, theft, pornography involving juveniles, and molestation of a juvenile. Conduct such as the above is absolutely relevant to the character of a defendant. [3] I respectfully submit that admitting evidence of crimes indicative of a generally bad moral character does not inject an arbitrary factor into the jury's decision. It is a factor fundamental in determining the severity of the sentence society imposes for its own protection from repetitious crimes by the same individual.