Opinion ID: 1857482
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 22

Heading: Factual Determinations.

Text: The resentencing panel found that with regard to the Helgeland murder, aggravating circumstance (1)(a) is clearly applicable beyond a reasonable doubt because the killing of ... Van Ness four days earlier constitutes a history of assaultive or terrorizing criminal activity which is both `substantial' and `serious'.... Moore concedes that the Van Ness murder is certainly indicative of serious assaultive criminal activity, but he maintains that this one incident cannot be described as substantial history of the nature contemplated by aggravating circumstance § 29-2523(1)(a). He is wrong. As we explained in State v. Holtan, 197 Neb. 544, 546, 250 N.W.2d 876, 879 (1977), cert. denied sub nom. 434 U.S. 912, 98 S.Ct. 313, 54 L.Ed.2d 198: `History' refers to the individual's past acts preceding the incident for which he is on trial and `substantial,' ... refers to an actual, material, and important history of acts of terror of a criminal nature. It does not refer to the particular incident involving the homicide for which he is subject to sentence. Clearly, under this definition, the fact that Moore had killed someone prior to the Helgeland murder is sufficient to establish the existence of aggravating circumstance § 29-2523(1)(a). The resentencing panel properly applied this aggravating circumstance. See, State v. Moore, 210 Neb. 457, 316 N.W.2d 33 (1982), cert. denied 456 U.S. 984, 102 S.Ct. 2260, 72 L.Ed.2d 864; State v. Joubert, 224 Neb. 411, 399 N.W.2d 237 (1986), cert. denied 484 U.S. 905, 108 S.Ct. 247, 98 L.Ed.2d 205 (1987). Second, Moore challenges the resentencing panel's finding that aggravating circumstance § 29-2523(1)(b) was present beyond a reasonable doubt with respect to both murders. The panel based its findings on Moore's confession to police that he had killed the victims so they would not be able to identify him. Moore argues that the panel ignored other evidence which contradicts this account of things, such as that he made admissions concerning his actions in the murders to his brother and girl friend after the killings; that although he wiped his fingerprints from the interior of the cab to avoid detection in the Helgeland murder, there is no evidence that he did so in the Van Ness murder; and that, covered in blood, he walked several blocks from the scene of the Helgeland murder. Moore then directs our attention to passages culled from his confession which he characterizes as equivocal statements of his intention to conceal his identity. Brief for appellant at 35. Based on the foregoing, Moore argues that aggravating circumstance § 29-2523(1)(b) has not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. We cannot agree. The record establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that Moore murdered both Van Ness and Helgeland to conceal his identity as the perpetrator of a robbery. The evidence cited by Moore is simply too weak to overcome the strong evidence of his confessed intentions. For example, when asked [t]hen why would you have to shoot him if you were just going to rob [Helgeland,] Moore replied, I didn't want him to know me. Similarly, when asked [h]ow come you planned in mind to shoot [Van Ness] first, Moore replied, Well I figure the guy probly [sic] get ... my identification away. Other parts of Moore's confession demonstrate that he viewed killing the victims as an integral part of his ongoing robbery scheme. There can be no doubt that one of Moore's motives for these murders was the silencing of his victims. Aggravating circumstance § 29-2523(1)(b) clearly applies here. Third, Moore challenges the resentencing panel's finding that aggravating circumstance § 29-2523(1)(d) existed with respect to both murders. In regard to both murders, the panel found that [Moore's] cold, calculated planning of each victim's death, as manifested by the purposeful selection of a particular victim on the basis of the specific characteristic of age, establishes the existence of exceptional depravity beyond a reasonable doubt.... Quoting isolated passages from his confession which he says cast doubt on the theory that he selected his victims on the basis of their age, Moore argues that there is insufficient evidence to sustain a finding that aggravating circumstance § 29-2523(1)(d) exists. Again, he is simply wrong. As the recitation of the circumstances of the murders by Moore demonstrates, there was ample evidence to support beyond a reasonable doubt a finding that Moore planned the victims' deaths and selected his victims on the basis of specific characteristics. Moore further complains that in order for the exceptional depravity aggravating circumstance to be applied to him, it should be necessary for the prosecution to establish not only that he selected his victims on the basis of age, but also that he had previously exhibited animosity or hatred for the group. Brief for appellant at 38. Moore misunderstands the definition of exceptional depravity. It is the act of selection, not the duration or nature of the animus toward the characteristic selected, that is the gravamen of this form of the aggravating circumstance. Moore clearly selected the victims on the basis of the specific characteristic of age so as to make the killings easier on himself. Thus, the record amply demonstrates that aggravating circumstance § 29-2523(1)(d) is present. Next, Moore challenges the resentencing panel's finding that mitigating circumstance § 29-2523(2)(a) was not present in the Helgeland murder. Once again, he is wrong. As noted previously, Moore's murder of Van Ness just 4 days earlier constitutes a significant history of criminal activity for the purposes of mitigating circumstance § 29-2523(2)(a). That being so, it cannot be said that with respect to the Helgeland murder, he had no significant history of prior criminal activity. Moore does not challenge the resentencing panel's finding that mitigating circumstance § 29-2523(2)(g) existed because he suffered from a mental illness or defect. Rather, Moore argues that the panel should also have found that mitigating circumstance to exist because he was intoxicated from smoking marijuana. But by Moore's own admission, the effects of the marijuana were waning at the time he killed Van Ness. The panel properly rejected Moore's claim in this regard.