Opinion ID: 1060063
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Sufficiency of the Evidence to Support Predicate Determination

Text: The record contains sufficient evidence to support the trial court's finding of future dangerousness. Beck attempts to minimize the evidence of his prior criminal history and subsequent violent acts while incarcerated. This evidence, however, must be considered not in isolation, but in the context of the present offenses. The circumstances surrounding the commission of the capital murder of Miller were sufficient to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Beck would commit future criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society. See Code § 19.2-264.4(C); Murphy, 246 Va. at 144, 431 S.E.2d at 53. By his own admission, Beck planned and executed that murder, in the process killing his cousin Marks, and then remaining at the crime scene to kill Kaplan. These facts, along with the evidence of Beck's prior and subsequent actions, provided sufficient evidence from which the trial court could conclude that Beck placed no value on human life and would kill others whenever it suited him to do so. See Goins v. Commonwealth, 251 Va. 442, 468, 470 S.E.2d 114, 131, cert. denied, 519 U.S. ___, 117 S.Ct. 222, 136 L.Ed.2d 154 (1996). Beck's sole contention with respect to the determination of vileness is that the term is unconstitutionally vague. We have already addressed and rejected this argument in Breard v. Commonwealth, 248 Va. 68, 74, 445 S.E.2d 670, 675, cert. denied, 513 U.S. 971, 115 S.Ct. 442, 130 L.Ed.2d 353 (1994). A finding of vileness must be based on conduct which is outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture, depravity of mind or an aggravated battery to the victim. Code § 19.2-264.2. Proof of any one of these three components will support a finding of vileness. Id.; Mueller v. Commonwealth, 244 Va. 386, 411, 422 S.E.2d 380, 395 (1992), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 1043, 113 S.Ct. 1880, 123 L.Ed.2d 498 (1993). We hold that the evidence sufficiently established Beck's depravity of mind to warrant a finding of vileness.