Opinion ID: 1210792
Heading Depth: 6
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Good Marriage and Productive Life

Text: ¶ 54 Greene met his ex-wife in January of 1989, and married her in November of that same year. From 1989 until sometime in 1993, he fathered two children, completed trade school, and was employed. ¶ 55 We have found mitigation where the defendant was an adequate family member, see State v. Stanley, 167 Ariz. 519, 529, 809 P.2d 944, 954 (1991), but refused to find mitigation where the defendant had maintained minimal contact with his child. See State v. West, 176 Ariz. 432, 451, 862 P.2d 192, 211 (1993). Sometime after his marriage ended in 1994, Greene's parental rights to his children were severed and his financial support for his children was minimal to nonexistent. He thus did not have a good marriage or healthy family life. We reject this claim of mitigation. ¶ 56 As for leading a productive life, we have found mitigation where the defendant had for some periods been gainfully employed, State v. Soto-Fong, 187 Ariz. 186, 211, 928 P.2d 610, 635 (1996), cert. denied,  U.S. , 117 S.Ct. 1826, 137 L.Ed.2d 1033 (1997), and refused to find mitigation where the defendant was unable to hold down a job for any significant period and was frequently unemployed, State v. Spears, 184 Ariz. 277, 294, 908 P.2d 1062, 1079 (1996). Greene was unemployed at the time of the murder and failed to provide evidence of gainful employment after trade school in 1990. We reject this mitigating circumstance.