Opinion ID: 1679780
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Disproportion of Sentence

Text: Since January 1, 1976, there have been twenty-eight first degree murder prosecutions in East Baton Rouge Parish. In some instances, however, these cases reveal inordinately large discrepancies in sentencing. Several of these cases involve murders in which an aggravating circumstance did not even arguably exist: State v. Howard, 377 So.2d 1226 (La.1979) (victim shot in bar several days after he had engaged in fight with two members of motorcycle gang to which defendant belonged); State v. Foote, 379 So.2d 1058 (La.1979), (doctor shot by younger brother suffering from emotional and mental disorders); State v. Gerstenschloger, 377 So.2d 130 (La.1979) (husband shot estranged wife after she refused to reconcile); State v. Allen, 367 So.2d 853 (La.1979) (defendant shoots man he sees out with his former girlfriend). In all of these cases, the defendants, when found guilty of first degree murder, were properly sentenced to life imprisonment. In State v. Edwards, 375 So.2d 1365 (La. 1979) three teenage defendants broke into the home of a 78 year old woman, intending to take the keys to the victim's car in order to steal it. Once in the house, defendant Edwards took a knife from the kitchen, and then went out of his way to find the victim in the bathroom. Edwards then grabbed the victim and stabbed her numerous times. The three boys then ransacked the victim's house and stole her car. For his exploits Edwards was sentenced to life imprisonment, following his conviction of first degree murder. In State v. Collins, 378 So.2d 928 (La. 1979), defendant raped the victim, and then brutally killed her by means of a blow to the head which fractured her skull. Additionally, the victim's body showed numerous small wounds in the hairline area, a large abrasion on her right cheekbone, and cuts and abrasions over the remainder of her denuded body. Defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment. A similar murder occurred in State v. Spooner, 368 So.2d 1086 (La.1979) in which the victim was kidnapped from the front of her apartment. The victim's nude body was later discovered in a drainage canal; she had been strangled with a bra which was still intertwined around her neck. Again defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment. State v. Williams, No. 65,563 and State v. Holmes, No. 65,846, arose out of the same fact situation. On January 5, 1979, Robert Williams and Ralph Holmes entered a Baton Rouge A&P store with ski masks over their faces. Holmes went to one of the store counters to attempt to disarm a security guard. When this attempt failed and the guard reached for his gun, Williams shot him in the head with a shotgun, killing him instantly. The two then robbed the store and as they left, Williams allegedly dropped the shotgun, causing it to discharge and strike the manager and a customer. Holmes was sentenced to life imprisonment, but Williams was given the death sentence. The jury found as aggravating circumstances that Robert Williams was engaged in an armed robbery, in that he knowingly created a risk of death or great bodily harm to more than one person, and that the offense was committed in an especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner. From a review of the above cases, it becomes apparent that juries in East Baton Rouge Parish are reluctant to impose the death penalty. Edwards (aggravated burglary, atrocious manner), Collins (aggravated rape, atrocious manner), and Spooner (aggravated kidnapping and rape, atrocious manner) all involved circumstances more aggravated than those found in the instant case, yet the defendants in all of these cases received life imprisonment. State v. Williams was also far more aggravated than the instant case, particularly in light of the jury's express finding of three aggravating circumstances (armed robbery, risk of harm to several people, atrocious manner) and the finding of actual harm to several individuals. The only apparent deviation from this line of cases is found in State v. Clark. Colin Clark was an employee of the Red Lobster Restaurant in Baton Rouge who quit his job the evening before the murder. After the restaurant had closed, Clark and a friend, Michael Glover, forced their way into the restaurant. When night manager Fred Schmidt came to the door, the two threatened him with a 6 knife and a .38 caliber pistol. Schmidt was forced to open the safe and give defendants its contents. Glover left to place the money in their car, and when he returned, Clark and Schmidt were fighting, with Clark stabbing Schmidt repeatedly. When Clark subsequently cut his own hand, he became angry, grabbed the gun from Glover, and shot Schmidt in the head. Glover was sentenced to life imprisonment, but the jury recommended that Clark be put to death. The jury found as an aggravating circumstance that the murder was committed during the course of an armed robbery. Despite the apparent similarity of the Clark case to that of defendant herein (armed robbery as aggravating circumstance; defendant with no significant prior record), it appears clear that there was adequate evidence in the Clark case on which to base finding of additional aggravating circumstances of aggravated burglary and committing the murder in an especially atrocious manner. In any event, neither Clark nor Williams have yet been reviewed by this Court. The overwhelming majority of first degree murder cases in east Baton Rouge Parish have resulted in sentences to the defendant of life imprisonment. Since many of these cases present factual circumstances far more heinous than those presented herein, it seems clear that punishment disproportionate to that imposed in similar cases will result by the execution of James C. Williams. The judgment convicting the defendant of first degree murder and sentencing him to death should be reversed, and the cause remanded for retrial on the issues of guilt and penalty.