Opinion ID: 559979
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Claims Relating to Sentence

Text: 15
16 Jackson contends that his sentencing hearing violated Hitchcock v. Dugger, 481 U.S. 393, 107 S.Ct. 1821, 95 L.Ed.2d 347 (1987), because the jury was instructed to consider only statutorily enumerated mitigating circumstances and because the judge did not consider nonstatutory mitigating circumstances in sentencing Jackson to death. In Hitchcock v. Dugger, 481 U.S. 393, 107 S.Ct. 1821, 95 L.Ed.2d 347 (1987), the Supreme Court held that an advisory jury may not be prohibited from considering relevant nonstatutory mitigating circumstances in making its sentencing recommendation and that the judge must consider relevant nonstatutory mitigating circumstances in determining an appropriate sentence. Id. at 398-99, 107 S.Ct. at 1824. The Court concluded that a jury's and judge's failure to consider such mitigating evidence violates the principles announced in Skipper v. South Carolina, 476 U.S. 1, 106 S.Ct. 1669, 90 L.Ed.2d 1 (1986), Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104, 102 S.Ct. 869, 71 L.Ed.2d 1 (1982), and Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978) (plurality opinion). Id. 17 In this case, the State of Florida concedes, and both the Supreme Court of Florida and the district court found, that Jackson's sentencing hearing violated Hitchcock. The trial court's jury instructions were almost identical to those given in Hitchcock. 8 We conclude that the jury, in violation of Hitchcock, was not permitted to consider nonstatutory mitigating circumstances in making its recommendation. 18 We also conclude that the trial judge did not consider nonstatutory mitigating circumstances in sentencing Jackson. In support of this conclusion we note that the trial judge instructed the jury only to consider statutory mitigating circumstances. A trial court is presumed to follow the instructions given to the jury. See Daugherty v. Dugger, 839 F.2d 1426 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 871, 109 S.Ct. 187, 102 L.Ed.2d 156 (1988); Zeigler v. Dugger, 524 So.2d 419 (Fla.1988). Additionally, the trial court's sentencing order referred to insufficient mitigating circumstances as enumerated in Subsection (7) of said Section 921.141.... R.S. 13. This was almost identical to the sentencing order in Hitchcock. See Hitchcock, 481 U.S. at 398, 107 S.Ct. at 1824. The sentencing order does not mention nonstatutory mitigating circumstances. Furthermore there were no on-the-record statements by the trial judge indicating that he would consider nonstatutory circumstances. These factors support our conclusion that the trial judge did not consider nonstatutory mitigating circumstances, in violation of Hitchcock. 19 Although we conclude that a Hitchcock violation occurred, that does not automatically require a reversal of Jackson's sentence. If the Hitchcock error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, then Jackson's sentence need not be reversed. See, e.g., Demps v. Dugger, 874 F.2d 1385 (11th Cir.1989), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 1834, 108 L.Ed.2d 963 (1990); Clark v. Dugger, 834 F.2d 1561 (11th Cir.1987), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 982, 108 S.Ct. 1282, 99 L.Ed.2d 493 (1988). A Hitchcock violation is harmless error if the court can conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the nonstatutory mitigating evidence regarding the defendant's character that was not considered by the jury would not have influenced the jury to recommend a life sentence. See Demps v. Dugger, 874 F.2d 1385, 1390 (11th Cir.1989), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 1834, 108 L.Ed.2d 963 (1990). Nonstatutory mitigating evidence not considered by the jury affects the jury's recommendation if it amounts to a significant mitigating circumstance. See Delap v. Dugger, 890 F.2d 285, 306 n. 23 (11th Cir.1989) (The presence of substantial nonstatutory mitigating evidence in this case ... is sufficient to render the Hitchcock error not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 2628, 110 L.Ed.2d 648 (1990); Tafero v. Dugger, 873 F.2d 249, 252 n. 4 (11th Cir.1989) (per curiam) (error harmless where [t]he factors presented by Tafero contain little mitigating value.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 1834, 108 L.Ed.2d 962 (1990); Jones v. Dugger, 867 F.2d 1277, 1279 (11th Cir.1989) (resentencing is not required where the nonstatutory mitigating evidence presented was so insignificant....). 20 The State of Florida concedes that nonstatutory mitigating evidence was presented to the jury but maintains that this mitigating evidence was so insignificant that even if the jury could have considered it, they would not have been affected by it and the sentence recommendation would have been the same. Therefore, the State argues, the Hitchcock error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. This was the position taken by the Supreme Court of Florida when it reviewed Jackson's Hitchcock claim. See Jackson v. Dugger, 529 So.2d 1081, 1082 (Fla.1988). The court stated that [v]iewed in its best light, the nonstatutory mitigating evidence was minimal. We are convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that even with the proper jury instruction, the jury would not have made a recommendation of life imprisonment for this double murder. Id. 21 The State of Florida argues that this court is bound by the supreme court's determination that the error was harmless. We reject that argument. The ultimate determination of whether federal constitutional error is harmless is a federal question and therefore federal courts are not bound by state court determinations of what constitutes harmless error. Grizzell v. Wainwright, 692 F.2d 722, 725 (11th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 461 U.S. 948, 103 S.Ct. 2129, 77 L.Ed.2d 1307 (1983). See also Booker v. Dugger, 922 F.2d 633, 636 n. 4 (11th Cir.1991). 22 Jackson asserts that he produced significant evidence of nonstatutory mitigating circumstances. He points to evidence that he had served in the military for eight years; he served overseas, including three tours of combat duty in Vietnam; he was wounded in the chest while in Vietnam; he was a religious person; he had no history of prior violence; he had attempted to go to college; and he was amenable to incarceration. 23 After reviewing the transcript of the sentencing hearing, we conclude that Jackson's military service is a significant nonstatutory mitigating circumstance that the jury was not allowed to consider. A psychologist, who interviewed Jackson, testified that, I believe he [Jackson] told me he was in the army for eight years.... He said that he was in Vietnam three times and on each of those occasions he was in a combat situation for [a] fairly lengthy period of time. Sentencing Transcript at 741-42. 24 We believe that Jackson's military service is in and of itself a significant mitigating circumstance. We therefore need not decide whether the other evidence presented by Jackson was significant. The State argues that combat military service alone is not a significant mitigating circumstance and relies on this court's opinion in Demps v. Dugger, 874 F.2d 1385 (11th Cir.1989), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 1834, 108 L.Ed.2d 963 (1990), to support that position. In Demps, the petitioner alleged that he had produced evidence of military combat duty and argued that this would have influenced the jury to recommend life instead of death. In rejecting that argument, this court stated that the record reflects no evidence indicating any overseas combat experience. Id. at 1390. Thus, the Demps court concluded that Demps had failed to produce any nonstatutory significant mitigating evidence rather than that military combat service is not a significant mitigating circumstance. 25 We conclude that Jackson presented significant nonstatutory mitigating evidence that was not considered by the jury or judge because of the Hitchcock violation. We do not hold that military service, regardless of type and duration, is a significant nonstatutory mitigating circumstance. We do hold that Jackson's military service, as reflected by the record in this case, is significant. We cannot say beyond a reasonable doubt that this mitigating evidence would not have affected the jury's recommendation. Jackson's military service is a significant circumstance on which reasonable jurors could base a decision to recommend life imprisonment instead of death. We will not speculate about the actual effect of such evidence on a judge or jury. The district court erred by concluding that the error was harmless and by denying relief regarding Jackson's sentence. 26
27 Jackson also appeals the denial of relief on six other claims that challenge his death sentence. Because we hold that he is entitled to a new sentencing hearing, we do not address these claims.