Opinion ID: 867340
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Content of the statement

Text: ¶ 50 Armstrong argues Ms. Williams made statements that fell outside the permissible scope of what victims may say at a capital sentencing. In particular, he notes that she said that when she learned she was pregnant with Williams, she also learned that her mother and husband had been seriously injured in separate accidents. In addition, she said her ex-husband beat [her] senseless and kidnapped [her] daughter, taking the daughter out of the country. She also discussed her grandchild, Williams' son Brandon, and the child's various health problems. ¶ 51 Armstrong claims that Ms. Williams' comments were inappropriate and prejudicial because they served only to create compassion for Ms. Williams that was not based on the impact of her son's death. Although some of her comments had an attenuated relationship to the impact of the crime on its victims, and for that reason might properly have been excluded by the trial court, Ms. Williams' statement was not so unduly prejudicial that it render[ed] the trial fundamentally unfair. Payne, 501 U.S. at 825, 111 S.Ct. 2597. ¶ 52 After the remarks described above, Ms. Williams described Frank and Farrah, their engagement, and how pleased she was to see them happy. She ended her statement by describing how the murders negatively affected her family and Brandon in particular because he lacked a fatherly figure in his life. Following Ms. Williams' remarks, the judge immediately instructed the jury, [T]his information is not a new aggravating circumstance, and you cannot consider it as such. It must not be the basis for purely emotional response to the defendant's actions. He further explained that the law... allows [the jury] to see the victim of the murder ... as a unique person and to see the loss resulting from his murder. ¶ 53 When considered in context, and in light of the trial court's instructions, Ms. Williams' remarks in the victim impact statement were not unduly prejudicial.