Opinion ID: 1752541
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: issues regarding aggravating and mitigating circumstances

Text: The state presented three statutory aggravating circumstances at the penalty phase: (1) appellant had a prior record of conviction for murder in the first degree, § 565.032.2(1), RSMo Supp.1993; (2) appellant murdered Mrs. McDonald for the purpose of receiving money or any other thing of monetary value from the victim of the murder, § 565.032.2(4), RSMo Supp.1993; and (3) appellant murdered Mrs. McDonald while ... engaged in the perpetration ... of ... robbery, § 565.032.2(11), RSMo Supp.1993. In mitigation, appellant presented eight witnesses who testified regarding his background and character. The jury found that all three aggravating circumstances existed and recommended the death sentence. Appellant raises several points on appeal regarding aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Appellant first asserts that the trial court erred in allowing the state to submit his prior first degree murder conviction as an aggravating circumstance. He contends that the guilty plea and conviction resulted from an unconstitutional confession; therefore, the prior murder conviction cannot support an aggravating circumstance. Appellant relies on Johnson v. Mississippi, 486 U.S. 578, 108 S.Ct. 1981, 100 L.Ed.2d 575 (1988), in which the United States Supreme Court reversed a death sentence where the sole aggravating circumstance was a felony conviction that had subsequently been reversed. The present case is clearly distinguishable. In Johnson , Mississippi improperly relied on a reversed conviction as an aggravating circumstance. Id. Here, appellant's prior conviction has not been reversed. Thus, the trial court properly allowed the conviction to support an aggravating circumstance. Furthermore, appellant's attempt to raise a constitutional challenge to a prior murder conviction at the penalty phase was improper. State v. Ervin, 835 S.W.2d 905, 925 (Mo. banc 1992), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 113 S.Ct. 1368, 122 L.Ed.2d 746 (1993). Appellant also argues that the court plainly erred in allowing the state to read the guilty plea transcript from appellant's prior murder conviction into the record, thereby removing reason from the jury's sentencing decision. The jury was informed that appellant was eighteen years old when he deliberately, with premeditation, shot and killed Mr. Gianino. The transcript of the guilty plea revealed that appellant was a passenger in Mr. Gianino's car; that police saw appellant wipe his fingerprints off the car and run into a house; that appellant was found lying in bed fully clothed with a sheet over his head; that police recovered from appellant four bullets, a .38 revolver, Mr. Gianino's watch and keys, and sixty-two cents; that Mr. Gianino's body was found in an alley and he died instantly from a gunshot that lacerated the spinal cord; that appellant confessed to shooting Mr. Gianino; that appellant's fingerprints were found inside the car; that overalls worn by appellant contained blood that matched Mr. Gianino's blood type; and that the shooting was without provocation. The guilty plea transcript also revealed that appellant would have presented evidence in mitigation that he was attempting to resist a persistent homosexual advance when he shot Mr. Gianino during a scuffle. The transcript presented the prosecutor's statement that there was no physical evidence of a struggle and that the claim of a scuffle was first being heard at the guilty plea and was not included in appellant's videotaped confession. The transcript also noted that Mr. Gianino was a family man with six children; that appellant had three or four felonies as a juvenile; and that the court had told appellant that he had done a very, very mean thing taking the life of another human being and that but for appellant's youth, and lack of sufficient facts, the court would seriously and willingly sentence him to death. To be entitled to plain error relief, appellant bears the burden of demonstrating that the action of the trial court was not only erroneous, but that the error so substantially impacted upon his rights that manifest injustice or a miscarriage of justice will result if the error is left uncorrected. State v. Hornbuckle, 769 S.W.2d 89, 92-93 (Mo. banc), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 860, 110 S.Ct. 171, 107 L.Ed.2d 128 (1989). During the penalty phase of a bifurcated trial, it [is] desirable for the jury to have as much information before it as possible when it makes the sentencing decision. Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 203-04, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 2939, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976). This Court has, accordingly, declined to impose strict evidentiary limits during the penalty phase. See State v. Smith, 781 S.W.2d 761 (Mo. banc 1989) (upholding the introduction of the details of a prior conviction); State v. Petary, 781 S.W.2d 534, 539 (Mo. banc 1989) (upholding the introduction of evidence of prior unadjudicated criminal conduct during the punishment phase, stating that [t]he jury at the punishment phase is entitled to full information about the defendant and his previous conduct. Under the statute, unadjudicated evidence of Petary's sexual abuse of his children was relevant to show his character where the jury was aware that the crimes were unadjudicated). In a similar situation, the United States Supreme Court found no constitutional violation where the State of Oklahoma introduced the following at the penalty phase of a capital murder trial: (1) a copy of a defendant's prior judgment and death sentence; (2) testimony of the prior victims's neighbor concerning her observations the day of the murder; (3) the prior victim's autopsy report; and (4) photographs and fingerprints that showed that the defendant in the prior case was the defendant in the present case. Romano v. Oklahoma, ___ U.S. ___, 114 S.Ct. 2004, 129 L.Ed.2d 1 (1994). Here the guilty plea transcript, judgment, and sentence from appellant's prior first degree murder conviction constituted evidence supporting the statutory aggravating circumstance of a prior first degree murder conviction. § 565.032.2(1), RSMo Supp.1993. The details surrounding appellant's prior murder gave the jury relevant information regarding the appellant and his character. The trial court did not plainly err in allowing the state to read the details surrounding appellant's prior murder into the record. Appellant next asserts that the court erred in allowing the state to submit both the statutory aggravating circumstance of murder for the purpose of pecuniary gain, § 565.032.2(4), RSMo Supp.1993, and the statutory aggravating circumstance of murder during the perpetration of a robbery, § 565.032.2(11), RSMo Supp.1993. The Court rejected the same argument in State v. Griffin, 756 S.W.2d 475, 489 (Mo. banc 1988), cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1113, 109 S.Ct. 3175, 104 L.Ed.2d 1036 (1989). See also State v. Walls, 744 S.W.2d 791, 798-99 (Mo. banc), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 871, 109 S.Ct. 181, 102 L.Ed.2d 150 (1988); State v. Jones, 749 S.W.2d 356, 365 (Mo. banc), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 871, 109 S.Ct. 186, 102 L.Ed.2d 155 (1988). Appellant attempted to introduce as mitigating evidence a copy of a letter written by his department of corrections supervisor during appellant's prior incarceration. Appellant asserts that the letter contained evidence of his talent in music, poetry, and writing, and that these aspects of his character warranted a sentence less than death. The state objected to introduction of the copy on foundation grounds, Business Records Act, § 490.660 to 490.690, RSMo 1986; § 490.692, RSMo Supp.1993., and argued that such evidence was cumulative of evidence already presented. Appellant asserts that the letter should have been admitted despite the lack of foundation. Appellant analogizes to Green v. Georgia, 442 U.S. 95, 99 S.Ct. 2150, 60 L.Ed.2d 738 (1979) (per curiam), which held that mitigating evidence that violates hearsay rules is nonetheless admissible. In Green , the Court held that under the unique facts presented, exclusion of hearsay evidence was unconstitutional. Green is clearly distinguishable. The evidence excluded in Green was highly relevant to a critical issue. Id. at 96, 99 S.Ct. at 2151. The defendant proffered testimony of a state's witness concerning a codefendant's admission that he, rather than defendant, actually killed the victim. In the present case, the mitigating evidence that appellant seeks to have admitted was cumulative of other witness testimony. Appellant admits this but argues that because the statement comes from a department of corrections supervisor, it carries more credibility. Skipper v. South Carolina, 476 U.S. 1, 8, 106 S.Ct. 1669, 1672, 90 L.Ed.2d 1 (1986). Credibility differentials may serve as the basis for admitting cumulative evidence in some cases, but, here, credibility is, at most, a slight consideration because of the noncontested evidence adduced by other witnesses. The court correctly excluded the cumulative evidence of appellant's talent in music, poetry, and writing contained in the letter. Finally, appellant claims the trial court erred in sustaining the state's objection to appellant's attempt to introduce proportionality evidence during the penalty stage. The trial court did not err. Missouri juries do not conduct proportionality analysis. State v. Schneider, 736 S.W.2d 392 (Mo. banc 1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1047, 108 S.Ct. 786, 98 L.Ed.2d 871 (1988). Responsibility to conduct proportionality analysis of death sentences is vested within this Court. § 565.035.3(3).