Opinion ID: 3134725
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Propriety of the Death Penalty in Defendant’s Case

Text: Defendant argues that his death sentence must be vacated because the evidence presented at the second stage of sentencing demonstrates that death is an excessive sentence in his case. With respect to the State’s evidence in aggravation, defendant asserts that the evidence indicates that, rather than a premeditated attack, the crimes were unplanned and the result of an isolated, explosive incident. In addition, defendant contends that his criminal record is 20 years old and that the acts that formed the basis for this record were not the acts of a calculating criminal. Defendant claims that, while the aggravating evidence was limited, weak, and remote, the evidence in mitigation was extensive, strong, and fresh. He argues that, despite his troubled childhood, his record in prison is “exemplary,” and he has developed positive and enduring relationships through correspondence and his interaction with prison staff members. In light of this mitigating evidence, defendant contends that his death sentence should be reversed and his cause remanded for the imposition of a sentence other than death. Alternatively, defendant claims that the jury’s decision at the second stage of sentencing is contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence and that he must, therefore, receive a new sentencing hearing. In determining whether a sentence of death is appropriate, we must consider the character and record of the defendant. People v. Ward , 154 Ill. 2d 272, 340 (1992). “[E]ach capital case is unique and must be evaluated on its own facts, focusing on whether the circumstances of the crime and the character of the defendant are such that the deterrent and retributive functions of the ultimate sanction will be served by imposing the death penalty.” People v. Johnson , 128 Ill. 2d 253, 280 (1989). The propriety of a death sentence in a particular case depends on a balance between aggravating and mitigating factors, and the existence of one or more mitigating factors does not require a sentence other than death. People v. Johnson , 149 Ill. 2d 118, 150 (1992). Our review of defendant’s death sentence requires us to make a separate evaluation of the record. Ward , 154 Ill. 2d at 340-41. However, “the decision of a capital sentencing jury will not be overturned lightly, particularly where that decision is amply supported by the record.” People v. Hooper , 172 Ill. 2d 64, 77 (1996); see also People v. Jones , 156 Ill. 2d 225, 256 (1993). In this case, we find that the record amply supports the jury’s conclusion that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors. The evidence in aggravation included the brutal and senseless nature of defendant’s murder of Byrd and attempted murder of Ray. There was no indication that either Byrd or Ray resisted defendant and his brother’s robbery of Ray’s lounge and apartment. In fact, defendant had tied them with electrical cord and made them lie face down on the floor of the apartment while Jackson pointed a gun at them. While they were in this helpless position, defendant stabbed Ray twice in the chest, and, after ignoring Ray’s pleas to not harm Byrd, also stabbed her. Apparently believing that these steps to subdue Ray and Byrd were insufficient, defendant lit a fire in Ray’s bedroom and left Ray and Byrd to die in the burning room after securing the doorknob to prevent them from escaping the fire. Defendant suggests that these events were spontaneous, but the evidence that defendant waited until Ray closed the bar to visit, that defendant had a history of committing armed robberies of businesses at closing time, and that defendant brought a gun with him when he visited Ray indicates advance planning. In addition, there was evidence that defendant’s crimes against Ray and Byrd were the culmination of a criminal record that began when defendant was a juvenile. This record showed that, shortly after he was released from a juvenile correctional facility or prison, defendant would engage in criminal activity. Indeed, Byrd’s murder occurred less than one month after defendant was released from prison for another offense. His crimes progressed from minor offenses as a juvenile to violent offenses as a young adult. Defendant attempts to minimize the seriousness of these offenses, but we observe that his criminal record includes several armed robberies, and Byrd’s murder illustrates the potential for violence associated with this type of crime. In mitigation, defendant relies in part on his troubled childhood, low-IQ, and learning disability. In other cases, however, we have held that a jury may find that evidence of a defendant’s troubled childhood or developmental problems is not inherently mitigating and may be considered aggravating because it suggests future dangerousness. See Madej , 177 Ill. 2d at 140; People v. Sanchez , 169 Ill. 2d 472, 491-92 (1996). The majority of defendant’s mitigating evidence concerns his good behavior since his incarceration in 1980. We have previously found in other cases, however, that a defendant’s good behavior in prison was insufficient to offset the aggravating evidence against the defendant. See Madej , 177 Ill. 2d at 140; People v. Garcia , 165 Ill. 2d 409, 437 (1995). While defendant’s conduct in prison is commendable, we do not find that it outweighs the aggravating evidence in this case. There was evidence that, when defendant was incarcerated prior to the armed robberies he committed in the seventies and his crimes against Ray and Byrd, defendant’s adjustment to imprisonment was positive and his behavior in correctional facilities was good. We cannot conclude, therefore, that defendant’s most recent good behavior necessarily indicates a transformation in his character. See People v. Turner , 156 Ill. 2d 354, 361 (1993), quoting Skipper v. South Carolina , 476 U.S. 1, 14-15, 90 L. Ed. 2d 1, 13, 106 S. Ct. 1669, 1676 (1986) (Powell, J., concurring, joined by Burger, C.J., and Rehnquist, J.) (“ ‘[O]ne arrested for a capital crime, and particularly a convicted defendant awaiting sentencing, has every incentive to behave flawlessly in prison if good behavior might cause the sentencing authority to spare his life. Good behavior in those circumstances would rarely be predictive as to the conduct of the prisoner after sentence has been imposed’ ” (emphasis in original)). In addition, there were significant conflicts in the evidence regarding defendant’s character. For example, Miller testified that defendant had a learning disability, was borderline mentally retarded, and never functioned above a fourth-grade level. By contrast, defendant’s wife testified that she and defendant had communications involving her interests in philosophy and mathematics, and other individuals with whom defendant corresponded described him as articulate, well-read, and above-average intelligence. Furthermore, the evidence that, after his incarceration, defendant was kind, considerate, polite, and responsible appears inconsistent with the evidence of his violent and extensive criminal record. Given these discrepancies, the jury at sentencing could have reasonably concluded that defendant’s behavior in prison was not an accurate indication of his character. In light of the aggravating evidence and our review of the record, we cannot conclude that the death penalty was an excessive sentence in this case. Having determined that there is ample support in the record for the jury’s verdict at the aggravation-mitigation stage of sentencing, we decline to consider defendant’s alternative argument that he must receive a new sentencing hearing because the jury’s decision to impose the death penalty was against the manifest weight of the evidence. Defendant has failed to cite any authority for the application of this standard to our review of the jury’s verdict at the second stage of sentencing. See 177 Ill. 2d R. 341(e)(7); Madej , 177 Ill. 2d at 162; see also Shaw , 186 Ill. 2d at 342-44.
In addition to arguing that his death sentence is excessive based on the evidence presented at the aggravation-mitigation stage of sentencing, defendant contends that a comparison of his sentence to sentences received by Richard Jackson and defendants in other cases demonstrates that the death penalty is inappropriate in defendant’s case. Defendant claims that his death sentence is “grossly disproportionate” to Jackson’s 60-year term of imprisonment. Defendant argues that Jackson’s role in the offenses against Ray and Byrd was equal to, if not more culpable, that defendant’s. Defendant asserts that Jackson “came up with the idea” of using the scissors to stab Ray and Byrd, held them at gun point, and helped throw them into the burning bedroom. In addition, defendant bases his disproportionality argument on Jackson’s criminal record, which includes violent crimes, and Jackson’s poor disciplinary record in prison. In light of this evidence of Jackson’s conduct and his own, good conduct in prison, defendant argues that his death sentence must be vacated and his cause remanded for a sentence other than death to be imposed. While a disparity in the sentences of codefendants does not, in itself, show a violation of fundamental fairness, “[a]rbitrary and unreasonable disparity between the sentences of similarly situated codefendants is impermissible.” People v. Caballero , 179 Ill. 2d 205, 216 (1997). In reviewing the sentences of codefendants, this court considers the following factors: “the nature of the offense, each defendant’s relative involvement or culpability, his character and background, including any criminal record, and his potential for rehabilitation.” Kliner , 185 Ill. 2d at 175-76. Under these factors, we find that defendant’s death sentence is not unreasonably disparate. Defendant’s and Jackson’s criminal backgrounds are comparable. Evidence in the record shows that, prior to his incarceration for the offenses against Ray and Byrd, Jackson was convicted of robbery and unlawful use of a weapon. While in prison in 1981, Jackson stabbed a prison guard and was convicted of aggravated battery and armed violence. Defendant has convictions for grand theft, robbery, and receiving and possessing money stolen from a federal bank. Also, like his brother, defendant has a criminal history involving violent offenses, such as armed robbery and unlawful use of a weapon to commit felonies. Defendant correctly observes that his behavior in prison is better, by far, than his brother’s. Whereas defendant has had essentially no disciplinary problems, Jackson’s prison record from 1980 to 1984 shows that he had repeated disciplinary violations involving violence, including possession of a weapon, attacking prison staff members, and fighting. While their behavior in prison suggests that defendant’s potential for rehabilitation may be greater than that of his brother, this is only one factor we consider in determining whether a defendant’s capital sentence is disproportionate to his codefendant’s sentence. We must also consider the relative culpability of defendant and Jackson in the crimes against Ray and Byrd. We disagree with defendant’s assertion that Jackson’s role in these crimes was equal to or greater than his own. While we do not minimize Jackson’s responsibility for these offenses, we believe that defendant was clearly the more culpable participant in these crimes. Defendant arranged to meet with Ray, defendant initiated the armed robbery by pointing a gun at Ray and Byrd, defendant tied Ray and Byrd with electrical cord, defendant removed items from the apartment, defendant stabbed Ray and Byrd, and defendant set the fire in the bedroom. Jackson assisted defendant in committing the crimes by holding Ray and Byrd at gunpoint, suggesting a weapon for the stabbings, and helping to carry Ray and Byrd into the bedroom, but defendant performed the primary role in the crimes. Based on defendant’s greater involvement and culpability in the crimes, we find his greater sentence was justified. Defendant also argues that a comparison of his sentence to sentences received by defendants in other cases demonstrates that his sentence is excessive. Defendant claims that the circumstances surrounding his offense are much less egregious than those in other cases in which this court has upheld the imposition of the death penalty for murder during the course of an armed robbery. See People v. Munson , 171 Ill. 2d 158 (1996); People v. Ashford , 168 Ill. 2d 494 (1995). In support of his argument that the death penalty is excessive in his case, defendant also relies on other decisions in which this court has vacated the defendants’ death sentences. See People v. Smith , 177 Ill. 2d 53 (1997); People v. Buggs , 112 Ill. 2d 284 (1986); People v. Carlson , 79 Ill. 2d 564 (1980). Although comparative proportionality review is not required by the federal constitution or the Illinois death penalty statute, this court has nevertheless exercised its discretion to address comparative sentencing arguments by defendants in other capital cases. See, e.g. , People v. Palmer , 162 Ill. 2d 465, 491 (1994). In this case, we also choose to consider defendant’s comparison of his sentence to sentences received by defendants in other capital cases. A comparison of the facts of defendant’s case to those in People v. Munson , 171 Ill. 2d 158 (1996), and People v. Ashford , 168 Ill. 2d 494 (1995), however, does not demonstrate that the death penalty was an excessive sentence in defendant’s case. In those cases, as in defendant’s, the death penalty was imposed for murders that occurred in the course of an armed robbery. In Munson , the defendant robbed the victim at gunpoint, kidnapped him, fatally shot the victim because he was afraid the victim would identify him, and then set the victim’s car on fire. Munson , 171 Ill. 2d at 167-73. In Ashford , the defendant fatally shot four individuals during an armed robbery because he did not want to leave any witnesses. Ashford , 168 Ill. 2d at 497-99. According to defendant, unlike Munson and Ashford , his case did not involve a planned, premeditated attack. Thus, defendant asserts, the death penalty is excessive in his case. We cannot agree. There was evidence in the case at bar that defendant did indeed plan the armed robbery of the lounge. If the murders in Munson and Ashford were more horrific than those in defendant’s case, such fact does not demonstrate that the facts of defendant’s case are not, in themselves, sufficiently aggravating to warrant the imposition of the death penalty. As stated, defendant killed Byrd in a ruthless and brutal fashion. We find that defendant’s comparison of his case to Ashford and Munson does not indicate that the death penalty was inappropriate in his case. Defendant’s comparison of his case to Smith , Buggs , and Carlson , also does not demonstrate that his death sentence is excessive. Our decisions to vacate the defendants’ death sentences in those cases were based on mitigating factors that are not present in defendant’s case. See, e.g. , Smith , 177 Ill. 2d at 100-01 (the defendant had no criminal record, the murder was motivated by the defendant’s husband’s affair, and the murder was an isolated incident); Buggs , 112 Ill. 2d at 294-95 (the defendant had no history of criminal activity, the murder was a product of marital disharmony, and the murder was an isolated incident); Carlson , 79 Ill. 2d at 588-90 (the defendant had no criminal record and the murders occurred while the defendant was under an extreme emotional disturbance). Accordingly, these cases fail to show that the death penalty is excessive in defendant’s case. See People v. Thomas , 178 Ill. 2d 215, 249-50 (1997).