Opinion ID: 170350
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Impact on the community

Text: Including the community in the victim-impact inquiry is fraught with complication. It would involve not just the incremental extension from family to friends (and even to co-workers), but a radical change in perspective: replacing a close-in focus on persons closely or immediately connected to the victim with a wide view encompassing generalized notions of social value and loss. Even if justified in principle, such an approach would be difficult to delimit and police to ensure it stayed within proper bounds. And there is no guidance to be gleaned from the case law, which is still on the first step of extending the victim-impact inquiry from family to friends. Lacking clear direction from the Supreme Court, we do not approve further expansion of the inquiry to the community. But, once again, any error here is essentially academic in light of the evidence actually adduced in this case. There is nothing in the victim-impact testimony addressing community impact directly, nor did the government press the point in closing argument to the jury. As far as one can tell from the testimony of the Chicks' family and friends, everything this loving and generousbut decidedly unconventional and individualisticcouple, did for, and meant to, others was direct and personal. And in that respect the aggravator properly presented a powerful consideration in the weighing process, supported by moving testimony demonstrating the unique value of these particular people. In short, any error involved in formally framing the victim-impact aggravator to include community-level consequences was harmless given the lack of evidence directly relating to that improper consideration and the otherwise weighty considerations the aggravator properly put before the jury.