Opinion ID: 775574
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Fox's Constitutional Claims

Text: 31 Fox claims that in the process of weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances present in his case the three-judge panel improperly considered the planning and violence of the crime. Rather than correcting these errors, Fox further alleges that the state appellate courts compounded them not only by continuing to rely upon the planning and violence of the crime but also by introducing the Ritchey incident into the weighing process. The result, Fox claims, was a constitutionally invalid death sentence. 32 An examination of the Supreme Court's death penalty jurisprudence indicates that for Fox's claim to succeed he must show that the state courts did consider extra-statutory aggravators; that any errors were not corrected by the state appeals process; and that the consideration of extra-statutory aggravating factors so infected the balancing process as to render the ultimate sentence constitutionally infirm. 33 i) Constitutionality of the Consideration of Extra-Statutory Aggravating Factors 34 A state wishing to authorize capital punishment has a constitutional responsibility to tailor and apply its law in a manner that avoids the arbitrary and capricious infliction of the death penalty. Part of a State's responsibility in this regard is to define the crimes for which death may be the sentence in a way that obviates 'standardless [sentencing] discretion.'Godfrey v. Georgia, 446 U.S. 420, 428 (1980) (quoting Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 196 n.47 (1976)). States may fail to meet their responsibility by relying upon constitutionally invalid aggravating circumstances to define those who are to be sentenced to death. See, e.g., id. at 428 (rejecting the Georgia Supreme Court's affirmance of a sentence of death in a case in which the sole aggravating circumstance was the finding that the offense was wantonly vile, horrible and inhuman; such words were insufficient to serve as a restraint on the arbitrary and capricious infliction of the death sentence). A defendant's due process rights may also be infringed upon by a state's failure to adhere to its own sentencing statute. See Hicks v. Oklahoma, 447 U.S. 343, 346 (1980) (Where, however, a State has provided for the imposition of criminal punishment in the discretion of the trial jury, it is not correct to say that the defendant's interest in the exercise of that discretion is merely a matter of state procedural law. The defendant in such a case has a substantial and legitimate expectation that he will be deprived of his liberty only to the extent determined by the jury in the exercise of its statutory discretion . . . .). 35 The present case involves a state's alleged reliance on sentencing factors that, while constitutionally permissible, could not be considered under the state's statutory sentencing scheme since they were not alleged in the indictment and proved beyond a reasonable doubt. 3 In Barclay v. Florida, 463 U.S. 939 (1983), the Supreme Court considered an Eighth Amendment claim regarding a trial court's use of an extra-statutory aggravating factor in a weighing state. The petitioner inBarclay was sentenced to death for the random, racially motivated killing of a young hitchhiker. Id. at 942. At sentencing the trial court rejected the jury's recommendation of a sentence of life imprisonment and imposed the death penalty. Amongst the aggravating factors cited by the trial court was the petitioner's criminal record; a factor not listed in the Florida statute governing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances to be considered in the imposition of the death sentence. Id. at 944-45. A plurality of the Supreme Court began its analysis by noting that the the question whether Barclay's sentence must be vacated depends on the function of the finding of aggravating circumstances under Florida law and on the reason why this aggravating circumstance is invalid. Id. at 951. The Court continued: The trial judge's consideration of Barclay's criminal record as an aggravating circumstance was improper as a matter of state law: that record did not fall within the definition of any statutory aggravating circumstance, and Florida law prohibits consideration of nonstatutory aggravating circumstances. In this case, like in Zant v. Stephens . . . nothing in the United States Constitution prohibited the trial court from considering Barclay's criminal record. The trial judge did not consider any constitutionally protected behavior to be an aggravating circumstance. . . . The crux of the issue, then, is whether the trial judge's consideration of this improper aggravating circumstance so infects the balancing process created by the Florida statute that it is constitutionally impermissible for the Florida Supreme Court [sic] let the sentence stand. 36 . . . . 37 . . . [Petitioner's] assertions seem to suggest that the Florida Supreme Court failed to properly apply its own cases in upholding petitioner's death sentence. The obvious answer to this question, as indicated in the previous discussion, is that mere errors of state law are not the concern of this Court . . . unless they rise for some other reason to the level of a denial of rights protected by the United States Constitution. 38 In any event, we do not accept Barclay's premise. Cases . . . indicate that the Florida Supreme Court does not apply its harmless error analysis in an automatic or mechanical fashion, but rather upholds death sentences on the basis of this analysis only when it actually finds that the error is harmless. There is no reason why the Florida Supreme Court cannot examine the balance struck by the trial judge and decide that the elimination of improperly considered aggravating circumstances could not possibly affect the balance. 39 Id. at 956-58. 40 The Supreme Court extended the logic of its Barclay decision in Wainwright v. Goode, 464 U.S. 78 (1983) (per curiam). In Goode, the petitioner argued that the trial judge had considered his future dangerousness in sentencing him to death and that reliance on such a factor was impermissible under Florida's capital punishment scheme. Id. at 80-82. Unlike inBarclay, mitigating evidence had been introduced on behalf of Goode and the trial judge found two mitigating factors to be present. Id. at 80. The Florida Supreme Court rejected petitioner's argument on the grounds that the trial judge had not considered future dangerousness in imposing the death sentence. Id. at 82. The Eleventh Circuit concluded otherwise and held that reliance on an extra-statutory aggravating factor violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and rendered petitioner's sentence of death arbitrary. The Supreme Court reversed, finding that the Eleventh Circuit had erred when it had substituted its view of the law and the facts for that of the Florida Supreme Court. The Supreme Court went on to note that even if the state trial court had improperly considered the defendant's future dangerousness, 41 there [wa]s no claim that in conducting its independent reweighing of the aggravating and mitigating circumstances the Florida Supreme Court considered Goode's future dangerousness. Consequently, there is no sound basis for concluding that the procedures followed by the State produced an arbitrary or freakish sentence forbidden by the Eighth Amendment. 42 Id. at 86-87; see also Clemons v. Mississippi, 494 U.S. 738, 746-47 (1990) (jury which had considered an improper aggravating factor imposed the death sentence; Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed on the basis of its own reweighing of the aggravating and mitigating circumstances; Supreme Court concluded that it must reject Clemons' assertion that he had an unqualified liberty interest under the Due Process Clause to have the jury assess the consequence of the invalidation of one of the aggravating circumstances on which it had been instructed). 43 As Barclay and Goode make clear, no constitutional claim is stated where a state's highest court either concludes that no extra-statutory factors were considered at the trial level (as in Goode) or independently reweighs the aggravating and mitigating circumstances without reference to the extra-statutory factor improperly relied upon by the lower state courts (as in Barclay). The critical question in this case is thus whether the Ohio courts considered extra-statutory aggravating factors and, if they did, whether the Ohio Supreme Court cured any error through its own independent re-evaluation of the appropriateness of Fox's death sentence. 44 ii) Planning and Violence of the Crime 45 In its consideration of the mitigating circumstances present in Fox's case, the three-judge panel took note of the manner in which [Fox] planned and executed the events that led to the kidnapping and violent murder of the victim. State v. Fox, No. 89-CR-325, Op. at 6 (Wood Cty. Ct. July 10, 1990). The Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the three-judge panel after independently reweighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances present in Fox's case. In relevant part, that court stated that: 46 We now independently consider whether the aggravating circumstance outweighs the mitigating factors beyond a reasonable doubt. The aggravating circumstance Fox was convicted of was committing a murder while committing, attempting, or fleeing immediately after committing or attempting to commit kidnapping. In our review we will consider the nature and circumstances of the offense, the history, character and background of the offender and the mitigating factors pursuant to R.C. 2929.04(B). 47 . . . . 48 Fox purposely used deception to lure two young women into his control. When Marla Ritchey realized that she was the victim of a cruel hoax, she was lucky enough to get away from Fox as he grabbed for her. Leslie Keckler was not so lucky. When she attempted to get away from Fox, he brutally stabbed and strangled her to death and left her body in a rural ditch. We therefore find that the aggravating circumstance in this case outweighs the mitigating factors beyond a reasonable doubt. 49 Fox, 1992 WL 185671, at , 12. 50 Upon appeal, the Ohio Supreme Court rejected Fox's contention that the three-judge panel and the appellate court had both improperly considered the planning and violence of the crime as aggravating circumstances: 51 Nonetheless, the trial court could appropriately refer to the manner in which [Fox] planned and executed the events that led to the kidnapping and murder. Kidnapping was the specified statutory aggravating circumstance. Moreover, [u]nder R.C. 2929.03(F), a . .. three-judge panel may rely upon and cite the nature and circumstances of the offense as reasons supporting its finding that the aggravating circumstances were sufficient to outweigh the mitigating factors. 52 Fox, 69 Ohio St. 3d at 193, 631 N.E.2d at 132 (quoting State v. Stumpf, 32 Ohio St. 3d 95, 512 N.E.2d 598, syllabus para. 1 (1987)). The Court then went on to reweigh the mitigating and aggravating circumstances, concluding that: 53 We find nothing in the circumstances of the offense to be mitigating. Under any reasonable interpretation of the evidence, Fox lured Keckler by careful deception into a situation where he could control or dominate her for his own gratification. For whatever reason, he then brutally stabbed and strangled her and callously dumped her body in a ditch. 54 . . . . 55 When the aggravating circumstance is weighed against the mitigating factors, we find the aggravating circumstance of kidnapping outweighs the mitigating factors beyond a reasonable doubt. Although Fox kidnapped Keckler by deception, rather than force, considerable effort and planning apparently went into that kidnapping. Fox lured a vulnerable eighteen-year-old girl to a remote country road. When she rejected his advances, Fox brutally stabbed her. Then he deliberately got a rope out of the trunk and strangled her just to make sure she was dead. After doing this, he dumped her body in a drainage ditch and drove home. 56 Fox, 69 Ohio St. 3d at 194-95, 631 N.E.2d at 133. The Ohio Supreme Court thus not only approved of the Ohio Court of Appeal's reference to the planning and violence of the crime but also relied upon those same factors in concluding that the aggravating circumstance outweighed the mitigating evidence presented by Fox. 57 The question presently before us is whether this consideration of the planning and violence of the offense took the Ohio courts outside the carefully delineated boundaries of Ohio's statutory capital punishment scheme. This was a question answered in the negative by the Ohio Supreme Court itself. We find no basis in Ohio law to doubt this conclusion. 58 Under Ohio law the only aggravating circumstances that may be considered by the courts in sentencing are those delineated in Ohio Revised Code § 2929.04(A). The nature and circumstances of the offense are thus to be weighed against the aggravating circumstances and not as aggravating factors themselves. See Ohio Rev. Code § 2929.04(B); see also State v. Davis, 38 Ohio St. 3d 361, 372, 528 N.E.2d 925, 935-36 (1988) (reversing and remanding when the trial panel considered the prior calculation and design of the murder as an aggravating circumstance). It is, however, entirely permissible under Ohio law for courts to consider the nature and circumstances of an offense in determining whether the aggravating factor(s) outweigh the mitigating circumstances. See State v. Stumpf, 32 Ohio St. 3d 95, 512 N.E.2d 598, syllabus para. 1 (1987) ([u]nder R.C. 2929.03(F), a trial court or three-judge panel may rely upon and cite the nature and circumstances of the offense as reasons supporting its finding that the aggravating circumstances were sufficient to outweigh the mitigating factors). 59 In its most recent discussion of this issue, the Ohio Supreme Court explained that 60 [t]he nature and circumstances of a crime may be aggravating in the sense that they are relevant and tend to reinforce the conclusion that a death sentence should be imposed. This does not mean that the facts surrounding a crime can be set forth in the indictment as a specified statutory aggravating circumstance, nor may they be deemed an aggravating circumstance in terms of determining death eligibility. Thus, the fact that a particular murder was, for instance, particularly cruel or heinous is relevant to the determination of the appropriateness of actually imposing a death sentence on a death-eligible perpetrator, even though the fact of cruelty or heinousness would not, of itself, be sufficient to bring the crime within the scope of any section of R.C.2929.04(A), nor could that fact be used to cause the defendant to become death-eligible. 61 State v. Gumm, 73 Ohio St. 3d 413, 420-21, 653 N.E.2d 253, 262 (1995) (internal citations omitted). Thus, while the nature and circumstances of the crime may be considered, such factors may not be weighed against the mitigating circumstances, nor may they be included among the aggravating circumstances. Gumm, 73 Ohio St. 3d at 422, 653 N.E.2d at 263. 62 The Ohio Supreme Court's consideration of the planning and violence of the crime in the present case adheres to the dictates of Gumm. The planning and violence of the crime were neither weighed against the mitigating evidence nor used as aggravating circumstances. Indeed, the Ohio Supreme Court prefaced its discussion by noting that it found nothing in the circumstances of the offense to be mitigating, thus indicating that the planning and violence of the crime were used to indicate the absence of mitigating factors rather than the presence of aggravating circumstances. The Ohio Supreme Court therefore did not consider a factor outside the strict limits of Ohio's statutory death penalty framework. Under such circumstances no constitutional violation is stated. 63 iii) The Ritchey Incident 64 The Ohio Supreme Court also rejected Fox's claim that the appellate court had erred when it referenced the Ritchey incident in the process of reweighing the mitigating and aggravating circumstances: 65 Fox also argues the court of appeals erred in commenting that Fox purposely used deception to lure two young women into his control. We find no error even though Fox was not charged with any offense against Ritchey. The facts of the Ritchey incident were interwoven with the facts and circumstances of the Keckler kidnapping and murder. Moreover, the Ritchey offense was part of Fox's social history and background and reflected upon his character. 66 Fox, 69 Ohio St. 3d at 193, 631 N.E.2d at 132. Fox argues that this is an inaccurate characterization of Ohio law. We need not reach this argument, however, as our own careful reading of the Ohio Supreme Court's independent reweighing of the aggravating and mitigating circumstances discloses no reliance on the Ritchey incident. Indeed, the Ohio Supreme Court does not mention the Ritchey incident. See Fox, 69 Ohio St. 3d at 194-95, 631 N.E.2d at 133-34. The Ohio Supreme Court's independent examination of the aggravating and mitigating circumstances thus cured any error that may have been introduced by the lower state court's reference to the Ritchey incident, see Clemons, 494 U.S. at 748-50, and Fox's claim on this point therefore fails.