Opinion ID: 398618
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the vagueness issue

Text: 10 The Arizona Supreme Court in Watson maintained that it was severing the unconstitutional from the constitutional portions of Ariz.Rev.Stat. § 13-454. State v. Watson, 120 Ariz. at 445, 586 P.2d at 1257. Appellant prisoners argue that by claiming to have effected a severance, the Watson court must have deleted all of subsection F, the subsection that lists the mitigating factors. It follows, they argue, that the remainder of the statute is left with meaningless internal references to a non-existent subsection F and thus is void for vagueness. Alternatively, appellants contend that the deletion of subsection F leaves the statute without any authorization for consideration of mitigating factors, with the consequence that it violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. 11 The district court held that Watson merely reinterpreted section 13-454 to allow consideration of any mitigating factors, and did not sever any particular language. Knapp v. Cardwell, 513 F.Supp. at 11. While the use of the word severance is troublesome, the unmistakable effect of the Watson decision as a whole is to reinterpret the statute to allow any mitigating factor to be considered. 12 The intent of the Watson court is clear. The court did not state that subsection F in its entirety was unconstitutional. It merely invalidated a prior interpretation of that provision insofar as it limits the right of the defendant to show additional circumstances. State v. Watson, 120 Ariz. at 445, 586 P.2d at 1257 (emphasis added). The failure of the court explicitly to overrule State v. Richmond, 114 Ariz. 186, 560 P.2d 41 (1976), cert. denied, 433 U.S. 915, 97 S.Ct. 2988, 53 L.Ed.2d 1101 (1977), the case in which the Arizona Supreme Court held the list of mitigating factors to be exclusive, is not determinative. The intent and effect of the Watson decision are clear. 13 We agree with the district court that the substance of Watson was merely the elimination of the restriction on cognizable mitigating circumstances engrafted onto the statute by State v. Richmond. This constitutes a reinterpretation, and it has long been within the prerogative of the highest state court to interpret, or reinterpret, state statutes. See Wainwright v. Stone, 414 U.S. 21, 94 S.Ct. 190, 38 L.Ed.2d 179 (1973); Garner v. Louisiana, 368 U.S. 157, 82 S.Ct. 248, 7 L.Ed.2d 207 (1961); Smiley v. Kansas, 196 U.S. 447, 455, 25 S.Ct. 289, 290, 49 L.Ed. 546 (1905). 14 That the Arizona Supreme Court did not intend to delete the entire subsection F from the statute is further supported by its opinions written after Watson wherein the court specifically cites to subsection F. See State v. Jordan, 126 Ariz. 283, 614 P.2d 825, cert. denied, 449 U.S. 986, 101 S.Ct. 408, 66 L.Ed.2d 251 (1980); State v. Steelman, 126 Ariz. 19, 612 P.2d 475, cert. denied, 449 U.S. 913, 101 S.Ct. 287, 66 L.Ed.2d 141 (1980); State v. Brookover, 124 Ariz. 38, 601 P.2d 1322 (1979). In the Jordan and Steelman cases, the court actually quoted language from subsection F. 15 Since we have found that subsection F was not deleted from Ariz.Rev.Stat. § 13-454 by the Arizona Supreme Court in Watson, we hold that the post-Watson version of the statute is not void for vagueness. We further hold that the post-Watson version of section 13-454 allows consideration of all mitigating factors and thus does not violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.