Opinion ID: 775226
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Ohio Death Penalty Scheme

Text: 104 Petitioner asserts, on several grounds, that the Ohio capital punishment scheme violates the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as Article VI of the Constitution and customary international law, both on its face and as applied to him. 105 First, Petitioner highlights the disproportionate imposition of the death penalty on African- Americans in the State of Ohio as indicating an abuse of discretion by prosecutors in seeking the death penalty, as well as an arbitrary application of the death penalty in violation of the Eighth Amendment under Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972). Specifically, Petitioner notes the striking racial discrepancy between African-American representation in the Ohio population generally (9%), and such representation on Ohio's death row (49%). 11 106 However, any statistically-based argument, like Petitioner's, concerning racial disparities in the application of the death penalty, must confront McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279 (1987). The Supreme Court in McCleskey established a demanding evidentiary standard for finding prosecutorial abuse of discretion in seeking the death penalty: [b]ecause discretion is essential to the criminal justice process, we would demand exceptionally clear proof before we would infer that the discretion has been abused. Id. at 297. The proof not meeting this standard in McCleskey was a statistical study on the imposition of the death sentence in Georgia that found, among other racial disparities, that prosecutors seek the death penalty for 70% of black defendants with white victims, but for only . . . 19% of white defendants with black victims. Id. at 327 (Brennan, J., dissenting)(citation omitted). 107 As noted by four dissenting Justices in McCleskey, such racial disparities in the capital sentencing system cast doubt on whether capital sentencing determinations have been, in practice, particularized as required by the Eighth Amendment: [c]onsidering the race of a defendant or victim in deciding if the death penalty should be imposed is completely at odds with [the] concern that an individual be evaluated as a unique human being. McCleskey, 481 U.S. at 336 (Brennan, J., dissenting). Subsequent Supreme Court decisions have reaffirmed that the Eighth Amendment mandates an individualized assessment of the appropriateness of the death penalty. Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302, 317 (1989). 108 Nevertheless, McCleskey remains controlling law on the ability of statistically-based arguments concerning racial disparity to establish an unconstitutional application of the death penalty. Although the racial imbalance in the State of Ohio's capital sentencing system is glaringly extreme, it is no more so than the statistical disparities considered and rejected by the Supreme Court in McCleskey as insufficient to demonstrate a constitutionally significant risk of racial bias affecting the . . . capital sentencing process. McCleskey, 481 U.S. at 313. And though the racial imbalance is, to say the least, extremely troubling, we find that the prosecutorial discretion under the Ohio death penalty scheme, and the disconcerting racial imbalances accompanying such discretion, nevertheless fall, under current Supreme Court law, within the constitutionally permissible range of discretion in imposing the death penalty. Id. at 305. 109 Second, Petitioner argues that Ohio's scheme, as a mandatory death penalty statute, shields death penalty decisions from judicial review in violation of Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 304 (1976). Ohio Revised Code 2929.03(D) provides that at the sentencing stage of a trial, a jury's finding that aggravating factors outweigh mitigating factors beyond a reasonable doubt must then result in recommending the death sentence to the court. Unlike Woodson, the Ohio scheme does not mandate the death penalty for any particular crime, and under 2929.03(D), the death penalty decision making process is not shielded from judicial review. Further, in Boyde v. California, 494 U.S. 370, 374 (1990), the Supreme Court upheld a nearly identical jury instruction, where a finding that aggravating circumstances outweighed mitigating circumstances mandated recommendation of the death sentence. We find that the Ohio scheme is consistent with Woodson and Boyde. 110 Third, Petitioner argues that because the Ohio scheme does not require proof of a conscious desire to kill or premeditation and deliberation for imposing the death penalty, such imposition may thus be arbitrary in violation of Furman. While the Ohio crime of aggravated murder under 2903.01(B) includes felony murder, which does not require prior calculation and design, imposing the death penalty for felony murder is consistent with the Eighth Amendment under Tison v. Arizona, 481 U.S. 137, 158 (1987), where the Supreme Court found that  major participation in the felony committed, combined with reckless indifference to human life, is sufficient to satisfy the . . . culpability requirement for imposition of the death penalty. We find that Ohio Revised Code 2903.01(B) is consistent with Tison. 111 Fourth, Petitioner argues that no method of review exists under Ohio Revised Code 2929.03 to ensure a proper weighing and consideration of mitigating factors against aggravating factors. For states imposing the death penalty, the Constitution requires that the state define the crimes for which death may be the sentence in a way that avoids standardless sentencing discretion by using clear and objective standards that provide specific and detailed guidance. Godfrey v. Georgia, 446 U.S. 420, 428 (1980)(citations and internal quotation marks omitted). As the district court discussed in detail, the Ohio scheme provides such guidance. First, 2929.04(A) provides that the death penalty for aggravated murder is prohibited unless one of eight aggravating circumstances can be shown. Second, if defendant is convicted of aggravated murder and an aggravating circumstance can be shown, 2929.04(B) affords defendant great latitude in presenting mitigating factors. Third, under 2929.03(D)(1), it is the prosecution's burden to provide, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the aggravating circumstances outweigh mitigating circumstances. Fourth, if the jury recommends the death sentence, under 2929.03(D)(3), the court must then independently evaluate the full record to reconfirm that the aggravating circumstances do indeed outweigh mitigating circumstances. 112 The Ohio scheme does not resemble the scheme in Godfrey, where the Georgia Supreme Court . . . affirmed a sentence of death based upon no more than a finding that the offense was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible and inhuman. Godfrey, 446 U.S. at 428. Specifically, the aggravating circumstances under 2929.04(A) provide specific and detailed guidance, listing murders of the President, Vice President, Governor, law enforcement officers, or children under thirteen; murder for hire; murder to escape accountability for another crime; murder by a prisoner; repeat or mass murder; murder to prevent a criminal witness from testifying; murder by those previously convicted of violent crime; or felony murder where the offender was the principal offender in the commission of aggravated murder or committed the aggravated murder with calculation and design. We find the detailed guidance on aggravating circumstances under 2929.04(A) to be distinguishable from the ill-defined sentencing scheme in Godfrey. 113 Fifth, Petitioner argues that the Ohio scheme, by requiring proof of aggravating circumstances at the guilt phase of the trial, fails to separate consideration of aggravating circumstances from determination of guilt, thereby failing to narrow the category of death-eligible defendants in violation of Zant v. Stephens, 462 U.S. 862 (1983). The Supreme Court, in Lowenfield v. Phelps, 484 U.S. 231, 244-245 (1988), found: 114 The use of aggravating circumstances is not an end in itself, but a means of genuinely narrowing the class of death-eligible persons and thereby channeling the jury's discretion. We see no reason why this narrowing function may not be performed by jury findings at either the sentencing phase of the trial or the guilt phase. 115 We find the Ohio requirement that aggravating circumstances be proven at the guilt, rather than penalty, phase of the trial is consistent with Lowenfield. 116 Sixth, Petitioner argues that his death sentence: (i) violates Article VI of the Constitution, under which every state is bound by terms of international treaties to which the United States is a party; and (ii) violates customary international law. The district court found this claim to be procedurally barred, and for which Defendant had not shown cause and prejudice. However, even merits review of this claim would not have afforded Petitioner habeas relief. 12 117 Seventh, Petitioner argues that execution by electrocution violates the Eighth Amendment. Ohio Revised Code 2949.22(B) provides the option for lethal injection as a form of execution. A recent amendment to Florida law, providing the option for lethal injection in place of electrocution, caused the Supreme Court to dismiss an earlier grant of certiorari to consider whether execution by electrocution violates the Eighth Amendment. Bryan v. Moore, 528 U.S. 1133 (2000). Under 2949.22(B), execution in Ohio, like Florida, need not occur by electrocution. Therefore, Petitioner's claim may be redressed by Petitioner's opting against execution by electrocution under 2949.22(B).