Opinion ID: 1207978
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Lack of Prior Felony Record

Text: Lack of prior felony convictions may constitute a nonstatutory mitigating circumstance. Scott, 177 Ariz. at 144, 865 P.2d at 805. However, arrests or misdemeanor convictions may be considered when lack of felony convictions `is advanced as a mitigating factor.' Id. at 145, 865 P.2d at 806 (quoting State v. Rossi, 171 Ariz. 276, 279, 830 P.2d 797, 800, cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 113 S.Ct. 610, 121 L.Ed.2d 544 (1992)). Although defendant has no prior felony conviction, he also does not have a law abiding past. He has a history of misdemeanor arrests and offenses including a conviction for disorderly conduct in 1973, two arrests for public drunkenness in 1977, and arrests for assaults on two former wives, one in 1978 and the other in 1986. Unlike the trial court, in our independent reweighing, we conclude that this thirty-eight year old defendant's lack of a felony record is a nonstatutory mitigating circumstance, but the weight to be given it is substantially reduced by his other past problems with the law. See Scott, 177 Ariz. at 144-45, 865 P.2d at 805-06; Cook, 170 Ariz. at 63 n. 12, 821 P.2d at 754 n. 12.