Opinion ID: 2539046
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Victim-Impact Witnesses Improperly Recommended Death Sentence

Text: For his first assignment of error in the penalty phase, Miller contends the trial court erred in allowing two victim-impact witnesses to tell the jury that they wanted Miller to receive the death sentence. Miller points out that the requests for the death sentence from the members of the victims' family was further referenced by the prosecutor in his penalty-phase closing argument. Miller asserts that this violated his Eighth Amendment right to a fair trial and his Fourteenth Amendment due-process rights under Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808, 111 S.Ct. 2597, 115 L.Ed.2d 720 (1991). The State concedes that the challenged evidence was admitted in error, but contends that this point is procedurally barred from our review because Miller did not make the specific objection below that he now argues on appeal. Alternatively, the State contends this was harmless error. Miller replies that because victim-impact evidence is neither an aggravating nor a mitigating circumstance, but is simply additional evidence used by a jury in considering whether a sentence of death is warranted, this court cannot conduct a harmless-error review. Miller further asserts that this issue is subject to review by this court pursuant to Wicks v. State, 270 Ark. 781, 606 S.W.2d 366 (1980). The State called two witnesses to present victim-impact testimony. They were Ray Barr, the father of Garrett and Sydney Barr, and Linda McCormack, Mr. Barr's mother and the children's grandmother. Both witnesses testified by reading their written statements to the jury. Ms. McCormack specifically asked the jury to please sentence James Aaron Miller to the death penalty. Mr. Barr stated that Miller chose his own destiny by choosing to take the lives of Sydney and Garret, and that [t]he death penalty is not even close to enough punishment for what [Miller] has done to my children, my family and myself. We must first address the State's assertion that we are precluded from addressing the merits of this argument because Miller did not object on the specific basis that he now argues on appeal. Our review of the record reveals that Miller filed a pretrial motion requesting the trial court to disallow victim-impact evidence. The record further reveals that at the conclusion of in camera discussions concerning jury instructions for the penalty phase, Miller's counsel stated the following objection: [W]ith regard to these victim impact statements ... we would renew our motions with regard to the introduction of these statements or even additional statements of any of the witnesses who are seeking to demonstrate some aggravations or for whatever intent they intend to offer it. I would recite that these victim impact statements that we've just been handed certainly are intended to inflame the Jury in a prejudicial manner and are intended to have the Jury ignore what the Court will instruct them to do and to ignore the facts and to have their emotional side making this decision and such, Your Honor, that is an unconstitutional violation of due process. It violates the Defendant's right to a fair trial and we object to same. The trial court denied the motion, and the case proceeded with the opening statements of the penalty phase. When the State sought to introduce Ms. McCormack's written statement and testimony, Miller's counsel stated same objection, and the trial court admitted the statement subject to your previously made objection. This same colloquy was repeated with respect to Mr. Barr's written statement and testimony. While this record demonstrates that Miller did make a contemporaneous objection, we agree with the State that his objection was not on the specific basis that he now argues on appeal, namely that the testimony and statements contained improper requests to impose the death sentence. This court has previously applied the specific, contemporaneous objection rule to victim-impact testimony. Williams v. State, 347 Ark. 728, 67 S.W.3d 548 (2002). Nevertheless, given our case law that strongly prohibits such requests and comments from victim-impact witnesses, we are of the opinion that Rule 10(b)(v) requires our review of this issue, despite the lack of a specific contemporaneous objection, as one in which the trial court erred in failing to take notice of an evidentiary error that affected a substantial right of the defendant. Rule 10(b)(vii) also requires our review of this issue as one in which the sentence of death was imposed under the influence of passion, prejudice, or any other arbitrary factor. Turning now to the merits of this argument, we note that in Greene v. State, 343 Ark. 526, 37 S.W.3d 579 (2001), this court held that it was not proper for witnesses to tell the jury what the appropriate penalty should be. This court stated, [w]e conclude that penalty recommendations from family members of the victim are not relevant as victim-impact evidence. Id. at 535, 37 S.W.3d at 586. Key to this conclusion was this court's observation that such testimony would interfere with and be irrelevant to a jury's decision on punishment. Thus, based on Greene, we conclude, as the State concedes, that it was error for Ray Barr and Linda McCormack to testify that they desired the jury to impose the death sentence. We further conclude that this testimony was clearly contrary to Payne, 501 U.S. 808, 111 S.Ct. 2597, and resulted in a violation of Miller's Eighth Amendment rights. Family members of the victim may testify about the victim and the emotional impact of the victim's death on the family; however, they may not state characterizations and opinions about the crime, the defendant, and the appropriate sentence. Parker v. Bowersox, 188 F.3d 923, 931 (8th Cir.1999) (quoting Payne, 501 U.S. at 830 n. 2, 111 S.Ct. 2597). We must now address the State's contention that such error was harmless. In support of this contention, the State argues that Ark.Code Ann. § 5-4-603(d)(e) (Supp.2009), allows this court to engage in a harmless-error analysis in the sentencing phase of a death-penalty trial and to affirm the death sentence if it concludes that the error would not have changed the jury's decision to impose the death penalty. We disagree with this overly simple interpretation of the statute. Section 5-4-603(d)-(e) mandates that this court conduct a harmless-error review of a death sentence when the jury erred in finding the existence of any aggravating circumstance for any reason and found no mitigating circumstance. As the present allegation of error does not challenge the jury's conclusions as to aggravating circumstances, section 5-4-603(d)-(e) is not applicable. Also in support of its contention that this error was harmless, the State cites us to Nance v. State, 339 Ark. 192, 4 S.W.3d 501 (1999), wherein this court conducted a harmless-error review under somewhat similar circumstances to the present casevictim-impact testimony from the victim's mother that she wanted the jury to impose the death sentence. The State's reliance on the Nance decision is misplaced, however, because it was an appeal from a denial of postconviction relief under an Ark. R.Crim. P. 37 petition, where this court analyzed whether the failure to object to the mother's testimony constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. The components of harmless-error analysis applicable to an evidentiary ruling in the guilt phase of a capital murder trial are whether there is overwhelming evidence of guilt and the error is slight. Greene v. State, 317 Ark. 350, 878 S.W.2d 384 (1994). However, to hold as harmless an error occurring in the penalty phase of a capital murder trial that is outside the parameters of the review mandated by section 5-4-603(d)-(e), we must be able to reach the conclusion that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See Clemons v. Mississippi, 494 U.S. 738, 110 S.Ct. 1441, 108 L.Ed.2d 725 (1990) (indicating it is constitutionally permissible for a state appellate court to engage in re-weighing or harmless-error analysis in capital sentencing proceedings); see also Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967) (indicating that error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt is proper standard for federal constitutional error). We are unable to reach that conclusion in this case. Error occurred in this case when not one but two of the victims' family members recommended to the jury that they impose the death sentence. Although there is overwhelming evidence of Miller's guilt, and although the verdict forms reflect that the jury found several aggravating factors outweighed any mitigating ones, it is a practical impossibility for us on appellate review to judge the impact on the jury's decision to impose the death sentence of these erroneously admitted requests by two of the victims' family members. The verdict forms give us some indication of what the jury concluded with respect to the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, but there is no way for us to determine the effect of the victim-impact evidence on the jury's decision to impose the death sentence. Accordingly, on the record before us, we cannot say that the jury would have imposed the death sentence absent the request from the victims' family members to do so. We cannot, therefore, say that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. We reverse the death sentence and remand the case to the trial court to resentence Miller pursuant to the requirements of section 5-4-616.