Opinion ID: 867372
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Severability of Death Penalty Statute

Text: ¶ 61 Pandeli asserts that the portion of the death penalty statute struck down in Ring II is not severable from the rest of the statute, rendering the whole statute unconstitutional. Therefore, he argues, he should be sentenced to life in prison in accordance with a provision of Arizona law that provides as follows: In the event the death penalty is held to be unconstitutional on final appeal, a person convicted of first degree murder or another offense punishable by death who has been sentenced to die shall be resentenced by the sentencing court to life imprisonment without possibility of parole until the person has served a minimum of twenty-five calendar years. 1973 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 138, § 10. We review constitutional questions and questions of statutory interpretation de novo. Roque, 213 Ariz. at 217, ¶ 89, 141 P.3d at 392. ¶ 62 In State v. Watson, this Court explained that [s]everability is a question of legislative intent. 120 Ariz. 441, 445, 586 P.2d 1253, 1257 (1978). We noted that the test is whether the legislature would have enacted [the statute without the unconstitutional portion], if it had known of the invalidity, or, as otherwise stated, if the valid or invalid parts are not so intimately connected as to raise the presumption that the legislature would not have enacted the one without the other. Id. (quoting Millett v. Frohmiller, 66 Ariz. 339, 342-43, 188 P.2d 457, 460 (1948)). [I]f part of an act is unconstitutional and by eliminating the unconstitutional portion the balance of the act is workable, only that part which is objectionable will be eliminated and the balance left intact. Id. at 452, 586 P.2d at 1264 (quoting State v. Coursey, 71 Ariz. 227, 236, 225 P.2d 713, 719 (1950)). ¶ 63 Applying these tests to the death penalty statute, we conclude that the portion of the statute struck down in Ring II, which allowed a judge to find aggravating circumstances, is not so intimately connected to the rest of the statute as to raise the presumption that the legislature would not have enacted the statute without it. We doubt that the legislature enacted the death penalty statute contingent upon judges serving as the fact-finders for aggravating circumstances. Furthermore, the statute, shorn of the unconstitutional provision, is still workable. ¶ 64 We came to a similar conclusion in Watson. In that case, the issue before the Court was whether the portion of the death penalty statute limiting the type of mitigation evidence a defendant could present was severable from the rest of the statute. Id. at 445, 586 P.2d at 1257. After noting that [d]efendants in Arizona have always had the right to present any evidence in mitigation at the time of sentencing, we held that [w]e can presume that had the legislature been aware of the unconstitutionality of the limitation on mitigating circumstances, they [sic] would have enacted the remainder of the statute without what is now the offending portion. Id. ¶ 65 The right to trial by jury in criminal cases is enshrined in two provisions of the Arizona Constitution, [5] as well as the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution. It is reasonable to presume that had the legislature known that juries, not judges, had to find aggravating factors, it would nonetheless have enacted the statute without the portion struck down in Ring II. Moreover, the legislature's decision to have the death penalty is not inextricably intertwined with the identity of the fact-finder for aggravating circumstances. Because the portion of the death penalty statute struck down in Ring II was severable, the unoffending portions remained effective, and the provision requiring automatic conversion of a death sentence to a life sentence does not apply. See 1973 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 138, § 10. ¶ 66 Pandeli urges us to follow Woldt v. People, 64 P.3d 256 (Colo.2003). In that case, decided after Ring II, the Colorado Supreme Court held that Colorado's death row inmates should be resentenced to life imprisonment based on a Colorado provision requiring those sentenced to death under an unconstitutional statute to be resentenced to life in prison. Id. at 267 (citing Colo.Rev. Stat. § 18-1.3-401(5) (2002)). Because the Colorado Supreme Court did not engage in a severability analysis, however, its decision is not helpful. ¶ 67 In sum, the provision of Arizona's former death penalty statute struck down in Ring II was severable from the rest of the statute. Thus, Ring II did not render A.R.S. § 13-703 unconstitutional.