Opinion ID: 1127545
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Helplessness of victim

Text: Evidence presented at trial indicates that a protracted struggle occurred between defendant and the victim. Defendant argues that this fact implies that the victim resisted and was not helpless. He further argues that it is inconsistent to have a finding of both gratuitous violence resulting from the struggle and helplessness of the victim at the end of the struggle. But see Brewer, 170 Ariz. at 502-03, 826 P.2d at 799-800. Defendant contends that helplessness, as interpreted by the trial court in this case, would apply to every murder case, thus violating the mandate that aggravating circumstances must provide a narrowing function and must distinguish the few cases in which [the death penalty] is imposed from the many cases in which it is not. Godfrey v. Georgia, 446 U.S. 420, 427-29, 100 S.Ct. 1759, 1764-65, 64 L.Ed.2d 398 (1980), quoting Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 313, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 2764, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972). Defendant concludes that the helplessness factor, as interpreted by the trial court in this case, is unconstitutional. See U.S. Const. amends. 8, 14; Ariz. Const. art. 2, §§ 4, 15. The United States Supreme Court has held that the construction by the Arizona Supreme Court of the (F)(6) aggravating circumstance is not unconstitutionally vague. Walton v. Arizona, 497 U.S. 639, 654, 110 S.Ct. 3047, 3057, 111 L.Ed.2d 511 (1990); see also State v. Amaya-Ruiz, 166 Ariz. 152, 176, 800 P.2d 1260, 1284 (1990). Evidence of a protracted struggle does not negate the finding of helplessness. For example, in Brewer, the court held that the victim was helpless, despite her apparent ability to initially resist the assault in a violent and protracted struggle. 170 Ariz. at 502, 826 P.2d at 799. Here, defendant ultimately rendered Irene helpless by binding her. We conclude that the trial court properly found the victim's helplessness was proven beyond a reasonable doubt.