Opinion ID: 1528698
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Previous felony as aggravating circumstance

Text: For his next assignment of error, Dansby argues that the court erred in admitting, during the penalty phase, a sworn statement of the victim, Brenda Dansby, recorded at his revocation hearing eight years prior to her murder. In this statement, it was her testimony that in October of 1985, Ray forced his way into her house by prying a door open with a pocketknife. She further testified that when she asked him to leave, he stated that he would not unless she went to bed with him, which she did, and that soon afterwards she reported the incident to police. Dansby argues that Ms. Dansby's testimony should not have been allowed during the sentencing phase of his trial because it was previously admitted at a revocation proceeding which requires a lesser degree of proof than is required to sustain a criminal conviction. We have stated that the same degree of proof is not required to sustain a finding that an aggravating or mitigating circumstance exists, as would be required to sustain a conviction if the circumstance was a separate crime. Clines v. State, 280 Ark. 77, 656 S.W.2d 684 (1983) cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1051, 104 S.Ct. 1328, 79 L.Ed.2d 723 (1984). If there is evidence of an aggravating or mitigating circumstance, however slight, it is sufficient to submit that issue to the jury. Id. The statute in question is codified at Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-604(3) (1987), which permits the State to prove, as an aggravating circumstance, that the defendant has previously committed a violent felony. In this instance, we have held that this provision applies to crimes not connected in time and place to the killing for which the defendant has just been convicted. See Hill v. State, 289 Ark. 387, 713 S.W.2d 233 (1986), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1101, 107 S.Ct. 1331, 94 L.Ed.2d 182 (1987). Arkansas Rule of Evidence 804(b)(1) provides the following hearsay exception: Former testimony. Testimony given as a witness at another hearing of the same or a different proceeding ... if the party against whom the testimony is offered ... had an opportunity and similar motive to develop the testimony by direct, cross, or redirect examination. At the revocation hearing, Brenda's testimony was given under oath, and not only was Ray represented by counsel and thus had the opportunity to cross-examine her testimony, Brenda was in fact cross-examined. Looking at Ms. Dansby's recorded testimony, there was some evidence that Dansby had previously committed a felony involving violence to her, and under these circumstances, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in allowing the transcript of her testimony to be admitted during the penalty phase.