Opinion ID: 1196280
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 25

Heading: Consideration of alternatives to the death penalty, mitigation evidence, and proportionality review.

Text: Hairston argues that the district court mentions no consideration of alternatives to the death penalty in its findings in considering the death penalty under I.C. § 19-2515, though counsel requested it. He contends that the failure to consider alternatives violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and comparable Idaho rights to have the death penalty reserved for those rare crimes and individuals which compel no other sentence. Hairston also argues that the court failed to consider several mitigating factors ( see Lashley v. Armontrout, 957 F.2d 1495 (8th Cir.1992)), and that there was considerable additional mitigating evidence produced during the post-conviction hearing that the court did not have available during sentencing. Hairston specifically argues that the court did not consider Hairston's youth, lack of criminal history, intoxication and lingering doubt on whether he or Klipfel fired the shots. Finally, Hairston argues that the court failed to engage in a proportionality review. We conclude that the record does not support Hairston's claims. The district court's sentencing memorandum demonstrates that the court considered alternative sentences, including lifetime confinement without possibility of parole. The court considered Hairston's capacity for rehabilitation, but ultimately rejected this as a viable option. The court specifically identified Hairston's age, criminal history, and successful probation and counseling as mitigating factors, but there was never any evidence presented that Hairston was intoxicated at the time of the murders. The court was not required to consider any doubt about who committed the murder; this question was decided by the jury, and need not be considered in the penalty determination phase. Furthermore, there is nothing to indicate that the judge harbored any lingering doubt. The new mitigating factors allegedly produced during the post-conviction proceedings were not in fact new. They were contained in the presentence investigation report and many were incorporated as mitigating factors found by the court. Proportionality review is not required by the trial court. The trial court is required to weigh the mitigating factors together against each aggravating factor to determine whether the death penalty is warranted. I.C. § 19-2515(c). There is no requirement that the trial court also consider the present case comparatively with other capital cases. Prior to 1994, this Court was required to perform a proportionality review as Hairston suggests, however, that was an appellate rather than a trial court function. See, 1994 Idaho Sess. Laws ch. 127.