Opinion ID: 1743160
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: johnson's 1963 new york conviction as an aggravating circumstance.

Text: During the course of the sentencing phase of trial, the State introduced an authenticated copy of a judgment of conviction of Johnson of assault, second degree with intent to commit rape, first degree, rendered by the Monroe County court New York on April 9, 1963. This was offered as one of three aggravating circumstances to support the death penalty. (R. 2171-2173). Johnson did not testify either at the guilt or sentencing phase of his trial. During the course of his argument, the district attorney recited this conviction as a basis for the jury to render a death penalty verdict. (R. 2273) In his motion for a new trial and on appeal, Johnson objected to the introduction of the record of this conviction because it did not channel the jury's discretion by clear and objective standards, and because it was too remote. (Appellant's Brief, pp. 29-31) We rejected both arguments. 477 So.2d at 218-219. In his petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court, no claim of error was made to the introduction of this record into evidence as an aggravating circumstance. In this petition, for the first time, Johnson argues that the 1963 conviction was invalid. Apparently, following or commensurate with its filing, Johnson's counsel also took steps to have this conviction vacated by the New York courts. This Court has been furnished with a copy of an order and slip opinion of the Court of Appeals of New York, dated March 24, 1987, in which that court did indeed reverse and vacate this 1963 conviction and dismiss the indictment. From the exhibits it appears that Johnson did not appeal his 1963 conviction and that he served a year in a New York correctional institution for this crime. Miss. Code Ann. § 99-19-101(5)(b) provides: (5) Aggravating circumstances shall be limited to the following:       (b) The defendant was previously convicted of another capital offense of or a felony involving the use of threat of violence to the person. The aggravating circumstances enumerated in the court's instruction at trial were: (1) That the defendant, Samuel Johnson, was previously convicted of a felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person of another. (2) That the defendant, Samuel Johnson, committed the capital murder for the purpose of avoiding arrest or effecting an escape from custody. (3) The capital murder was especially heinous, atrocious and cruel. (R. 2236) The verdict of the jury found all three of these aggravating circumstances existed. (R. 2294) It is apparent that Johnson waived this claim, and it is procedurally barred. At no time during his direct appeal, or in his petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court did he argue his New York conviction was constitutionally invalid. Moreover, there is nothing to suggest he took any steps to vacate this conviction until he filed this petition. On appeal Johnson's counsel alleged thirteen assignments of error, and at Johnson's own urging, his counsel added seven additional assignments. None questioned the validity of his New York conviction. See Evans v. State, 485 So.2d 276 (Miss. 1986), at 280-281. Also, the jury found three aggravating circumstances to support its verdict. Even if we conceded that the jury had no authority to consider this conviction, the remaining two aggravating circumstances were sufficient to support the jury's verdict. Zant v. Stephens, 462 U.S. 862, 880-884, 103 S.Ct. 2733, 2744-2746, 77 L.Ed.2d 235, 252-254 (1983); Irving v. State, 498 So.2d 305, 314 (Miss. 1986). Aside from the statutory limitation of review, we remain unpersuaded by this contention. We have never faced this question. A somewhat similar question has been before us concerning the use of a prior criminal conviction to impeach a defendant in a criminal trial. We have held that subsequent reversal on appeal of a prior conviction did not affect a defendant's trial conviction. Young v. State, 425 So.2d 1022 (Miss. 1983); Milstid v. State, 347 So.2d 1319 (Miss. 1977); and Nicholson v. State, 254 So.2d 881 (Miss. 1971). Also, in Phillips v. State, 421 So.2d 476 (Miss. 1982), the state used a Kentucky conviction as a basis for Phillips' conviction under one of Mississippi's habitual criminal statutes. Miss. Code Ann. § 99-19-81 (Supp. 1984). We held that when the conviction was subsequently reversed, it could constitute a basis for post-conviction relief from the habitual criminal conviction. Under Miss. Code Ann. § 99-19-81, however, upon proof of the prior conviction a circuit judge has no alternative except to sentence to the maximum authorized by law. Such sentence cannot be suspended, and the accused will never be eligible for parole or probation prior to serving this maximum sentence. In the sentencing phase of a capital murder trial the jury is not required to sentence the defendant to death, regardless of its finding. When a prior conviction is used under either habitual offender statute, it is, of course, certain that the defendant will receive greater punishment. The admission of a prior conviction in order to impeach the accused as a witness, or at a sentencing phase of a capital murder trial may or may not materially influence the jury. As we noted, the jury found three aggravating circumstances existed, and of the three we have little doubt that in a rational sentencing process Zant v. Stephens, supra, the other two aggravating circumstances would carry greater weight than the New York conviction in determining Johnson's sentence. Indeed, the remoteness in time of the prior conviction was a mitigating circumstance. Johnson v. State, 477 So.2d at 219. We eschew harmless error in our reasoning, however, because the district attorney argued this particular aggravating circumstance as a reason to impose the death penalty. Johnson v. State, 477 So.2d at 219. Nevertheless, we reject New York's setting aside of the 1963 conviction as a basis to vitiate the verdict of the jury. If there is one single point emphasized by the U.S. Supreme Court decisions of Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 96 S.Ct. 2978, 49 L.Ed.2d 944 (1976); Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976); and Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972), it is that before a jury is permitted to sentence a human being to death, it must have clear guidelines. The centerpiece of these decisions requires the jury to find one or more aggravating circumstances exist before they can impose the death sentence. Of course, any such aggravating circumstance must reasonably justify making the difference between imposing a life sentence or the death penalty. If the death penalty is to be imposed without caprice or chance, there is no doubt that a crucial guideline to assist citizens who have this formidable responsibility is whether the convicted murderer has engaged in serious criminal conduct involving violence to other people in the past. Thus, the reason for Miss. Code Ann. § 99-19-101(5)(b). There is no question but that the state proved this aggravating circumstance in this case. At the time of Johnson's trial, New York had imposed a final conviction and Johnson had served his sentence. If we adopted Johnson's argument, the state could never use a conviction as an aggravating circumstance, because of the extreme likelihood that a foreign state could overturn the prior conviction through collateral attack. The loss of this guideline to a jury would serve to return juries to the unbridled, unchannelled, and hence, unconstitutional discretion they had in imposing the death sentence. We are not required in this case to go as far as Nicholson, Milstid and Young, supra, in authorizing introduction of proof of a prior conviction in a capital murder case. That is, in this case, we do not address whether a prior conviction can be used as an aggravating circumstance if that conviction is subsequently reversed on direct appeal. We do hold that a foreign state cannot vitiate the death penalty verdict in this state by setting aside a prior conviction of a violent crime through a collateral relief petition. We deem it important to add in this case that there is no evidence or indication that the post-conviction relief proceedings in the New York courts were truly adversarial. Insofar as we can determine from Johnson's petition and exhibits, the state's attorney in New York had no significant interest or concern in vouchsafing the validity of his 1963 conviction, and we find no challenge by the state's attorney of New York of Johnson's petition. Other than Johnson, this state had the greatest interest in upholding the validity of his New York conviction. Yet, this state was not made a party to Johnson's petition and had no voice in any of the New York proceedings to vacate his conviction. Indeed, we know of no method whereby this state could have been made a party to the New York proceedings, and this state probably should not have been a party. This does not remove the fact that the proceedings lacked an essential adversarial ingredient. The New York courts are, of course, the final and proper arbiters of all judicial proceedings in that state, including the disposition of post-conviction petitions. Assuredly, by our view, we suggest no impropriety in the courts of that state taking whatever action they deem appropriate in a criminal case in New York. The fact remains that Johnson was convicted in 1963 by a New York court of a serious felony involving violence to a female for which he was imprisoned in that state. No New York court extended Johnson relief from his conviction before Johnson paid his debt to the state. If his crime was serious enough for him to be convicted and final enough for him to serve time in a penal institution, it had sufficient finality to be considered as an aggravating circumstance by a jury of this state. No death penalty verdict based upon this conviction need be vitiated by the subsequent relief granted more than twenty years later by the New York Court of Appeals. We accordingly reject all assignments of Johnson's petition based upon his 1963 conviction in the State of New York.