Opinion ID: 2427926
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Overlap

Text: Landreth next argues that the definition for capital murder found in Ark.Code Ann. § 5-10-101(A)(4) (Repl.1993), impermissibly overlaps with the definition of first-degree murder found in § 5-10-102(A)(2) (Repl.1993), and, therefore, the jury was given unfettered discretion to convict him of either offense which violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. This proposition has been squarely rejected by this court, when the death penalty has been at issue. See, e.g., Nooner v. State, 322 Ark. 87, 907 S.W.2d 677 (1995), cert. denied, 517 U.S. 1143, 116 S.Ct. 1436, 134 L.Ed.2d 558 (1996); Kemp v. State, 324 Ark. 178, 919 S.W.2d 943 (1996), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 117 S.Ct. 436, 136 L.Ed.2d 334 (1996). Landreth relies on death-penalty cases for the most part in making his argument, even though the State waived the death penalty in this case. Landreth presents us with no good reason to overturn our line of death cases, and we decline to do so. Landreth does contend, without really developing the issue, that overlapping in the two statutes resulted in an arbitrary verdict in this case, but beyond making this conclusory statement, he does not tell this court how the statutes overlap or explain why this is reversible error when the death penalty is not involved. Surely, giving the jury the option of considering the lesser included offense of first-degree murder did not inure to Landreth's detriment. This point is without merit.