Opinion ID: 1288191
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defendant's Abusive Childhood

Text: Defendant suffered severe emotional and physical abuse as a child. There was ample testimony from defendant's sister and the psychologists that defendant's mother and father lacked parenting skills, were cruel to defendant, and regularly inflicted physical abuse upon defendant. A difficult family background, however, is not always a mitigating circumstance. State v. Wallace, 160 Ariz. 424, 427, 773 P.2d 983, 986 (1989), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1047, 110 S.Ct. 1513, 108 L.Ed.2d 649 (1990). If it were, many homicide defendants could point to some circumstance in their background that would call for mitigation. Id. A difficult family background is a relevant mitigating circumstance if a defendant can show that something in that background had an effect or impact on his behavior that was beyond his control. Id. Defense counsel argued at sentencing that defendant's abusive childhood directly impacted his ability to cope and contributed to his impulse control problems. Even if that were true, it would not help to explain the behavior at issue here. These crimes were anything but impulsive. Defendant also has not proven that the effect, if any, was beyond his control. Defendant had been referred to counseling and a group home, but he did not take advantage of opportunities to receive therapy. The remedy for child abuse is to submit to therapy, not to abuse others and to ask, in return, to be excused. Atwood, 171 Ariz. at 655, 832 P.2d at 672.