Opinion ID: 1772873
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Alternate theories

Text: Without citation to applicable authority, appellant argues that the State is precluded from charging the offense of capital murder under the alternate theories of felony-murder under Ark.Code Ann. § 5-10-101(a)(1) (Repl.1997) and premeditation and deliberation under Ark. Code Ann. § 5-10-101(a)(4) (Repl.1997). He further claims that the trial court did not submit proper verdict forms to the jury. Both of these issues should have been raised on direct appeal. Weaver, supra . There is no showing that appellant objected to either the information or the verdict form at trial. During the Rule 37 proceeding, appellant contended that he was convicted of a nonexistent offense. Appellant cites Ward v. State, 293 Ark. 88, 733 S.W.2d 728 (1987) and Bosnick v. State, 248 Ark. 846, 454 S.W.2d 311 (1970) for his argument that the alternate charges were for two difference offenses. We disagree. Neither case holds that the State could not have charged the murders under the appropriate alternate theories. We have held that the duplication, or double-counting, of an element of a capital offense by one or more aggravating circumstances does not broaden the death-eligible class nor render our death-penalty statutes unconstitutional. Simpson v. State, 339 Ark. 467, 6 S.W.3d 104(1999); Jackson v. State, 330 Ark. 126, 954 S.W.2d 894 (1997). As we stated in Simpson, supra , we see no need to revisit or reconsider this issue yet again. We conclude that there was no merit to this argument. It follows that appellant's counsel was not ineffective for failure to raise these arguments at the trial or on direct appeal.