Opinion ID: 1728885
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: penalty/sentencing phase

Text: The Defendant complains of the admission during the sentencing phase of two color photographs of Jason and Chad Burnett's bodies as they were found by the police. The trial court held the photos were relevant to aggravating circumstance (i)(5), the murders were especially heinous, atrocious or cruel in that [they] involved torture or depravity of mind. T.C.A. § 39-2-203(i)(5) (1982) [now § 39-13-204(i)(5) (1991)]. The Defendant argues that the probative value of these photographs was outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. Photographs of the victim of a first degree murder have been previously admitted at the sentencing hearing in several capital cases where they are relevant to establish circumstance (i)(5). See, e.g., State v. Payne, 791 S.W.2d 10, 19-20 (Tenn. 1990) (videotape); State v. Miller, 771 S.W.2d 401, 403-404 (Tenn. 1989); State v. Porterfield, 746 S.W.2d 441, 449-450 (Tenn. 1988); State v. McNish, 727 S.W.2d 490, 494-495 (Tenn. 1987). Both photographs are undeniably gruesome; however, we are of the opinion that the trial court did not err in admitting the photographs, which reflect directly upon the issues of torture and depravity. The photograph of Jason Burnett reveals the full extent of the abdominal wounds and illustrates the mistreatment suffered by the victim. The photograph of Chad Burnett shows the multiplicity and viciousness of the wounds inflicted upon him. Their probative value was not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. See, e.g., State v. Payne, 791 S.W.2d at 19-20; T.R.E. 403.
The next issue we must resolve is whether the evidence was sufficient to support the aggravating circumstance that the offense was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel in that it involved torture or depravity of mind. [3] This aggravating circumstance was found by the jury to apply in the murders of all three victims. At sentencing, Dr. Harlan testified regarding the manner in which each of the victims had died. Judy Smith was paralyzed and without feeling from the neck down and would have died between two and six minutes after the infliction of the fatal wound to her neck. She would have been conscious during the early portion of that time but unable to move. She may have been able to hear from between two and four minutes after being shot and thus could have heard the sounds of her children being murdered. Dr. Harlan's testimony at the guilt phase indicated that Judy's neck had been slashed and her stab and puncture wounds were inflicted after her death. Chad would have lived seven to eight minutes after receiving his fatal wounds and perhaps as many as 15 minutes after the gunshot wound to his chest. The wound to the chest was first and would have caused severe pain. Dr. Harlan also noted that Chad had received his multiple stab wounds prior to death. Jason had lived the longest, up to fifteen minutes, and had died slowly from stab wounds to the liver and left lower abdomen. Dr. Harlan said that the latter wound had been inflicted while Jason was already lying on the ground. For most of the time it took him to die, he would have been conscious and in extreme pain, fully aware of his condition as he cradled his small bowel in his arms as it protruded from his abdomen. In State v. Williams, 690 S.W.2d 517, 529 (Tenn. 1985), this Court defined torture as the infliction of severe physical or mental pain upon the victim while he or she remains alive and conscious. The willful infliction of such severe pain necessarily involves depravity, which may also be shown by acts occurring shortly after the victim's death. The defendant's actions in this case meet the definition of this aggravating offense as set forth in Williams and applied in previous cases. See, e.g., State v. Harris, 839 S.W.2d 54 (Tenn. 1992); State v. Black, 815 S.W.2d 166 (Tenn. 1991); State v. Payne, 791 S.W.2d 10 (Tenn. 1990); State v. Miller, 771 S.W.2d 401 (Tenn. 1989); State v. Johnson, 743 S.W.2d 154 (Tenn. 1987); State v. Teague, 645 S.W.2d 392 (Tenn. 1983). The multiplicity of the wounds, the infliction of gratuitous violence on the victims and their needless mutilation supports application of this circumstance. See State v. Melson, 638 S.W.2d 342, 367 (Tenn. 1982), State v. Dicks, 615 S.W.2d 126, 131-132 (Tenn. 1981); cf. Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. 242, 255, 256, 96 S.Ct. 2960, 2968, 49 L.Ed.2d 913 (1976). Defendant also says that a finding of this aggravating circumstance is inherently inconsistent with the jury's verdicts that the murders were committed with a cool purpose as required for first-degree premeditated murder. Nothing in the definitions of torture or depravity under circumstance (i)(5) conflicts with this element of first-degree murder. The Defendant also raises the point made in Chief Justice Reid's dissent in State v. Black, 815 S.W.2d 166, 197 (Tenn. 1991), that, because the jury found that the Defendant killed Chad and Jason Burnett to avoid or prevent his arrest or prosecution, T.C.A. § 39-2-203(i)(6) (1982), their murders do not demonstrate Defendant's depravity of mind because they were killed for a purpose. The majority in Black, id. at 182, did not adopt this interpretation of the aggravating circumstances.
The next issue we must address is whether the death penalty may be imposed in this case upon a finding of the aggravating circumstance that the murders of Chad and Jason Burnett were committed to avoid, interfere with or prevent the lawful arrest or prosecution of the Defendant. T.C.A. § 39-2-203(i)(6) (1982) [now § 39-13-204(i)(6) (1991)]. The Defendant argues that this aggravating circumstance can only apply to this case if the State proves that Judy Smith was killed first. Such a chronology is not necessarily a prerequisite to finding this aggravating circumstance, cf. State v. McCormick, 778 S.W.2d 48, 53 (Tenn. 1989) (circumstance not limited to first-hand witness of crime). For purposes of applying this circumstance, it is sufficient that the proof supports a finding that at least one motive for killing the boys was the threat they posed of the Defendant's apprehension regardless of the time of their mother's death. See State v. Black, 815 S.W.2d at 182. Jason's futile 911 phone call is evidence of his attempt to report the crime and secure the Defendant's capture by law enforcement officers. The record supports a finding that Defendant was aware of the efforts to contact police and that a motive for the boys' murders was to avoid or prevent Defendant's lawful arrest. Compare State v. Branam, 855 S.W.2d 563, 570 (Tenn. 1993) (evidence insufficient to support this aggravating circumstance). Defendant next argues that prevention of arrest and prosecution must be the dominant motive for the murders. This Court rejected a similar argument in State v. Carter, 714 S.W.2d 241, 250 (Tenn. 1986) (avoidance of arrest need not be sole motive for murder). See State v. Evans, 838 S.W.2d 185 (Tenn. 1992) (Evans committed the murder both while engaged in the robbery and in an effort to avoid arrest. Both motives are present and neither one is dominant.) The Defendant relies upon a line of cases from Florida requiring that, before Florida's similar aggravating circumstance may be used to aggravate a murder, proof of the requisite intent must be very strong where the victim is not a law enforcement officer. See, e.g., Garron v. State, 528 So.2d 353 (Fla. 1988); Perry v. State, 522 So.2d 817, 820 (Fla. 1988); White v. State, 403 So.2d 331, 338 (Fla. 1981); Riley v. State, 366 So.2d 19, 22 (Fla. 1978). The Florida Supreme Court has applied this aggravating circumstance very strictly. Had our Legislature wished to require that there be only one motive or a dominant motive for an aggravating circumstance to be employed, it would have included such a requirement in the statute. Finally, the Defendant submits that the finding of the heinous, atrocious or cruel aggravator precludes a finding of the circumstance in subsection (i)(6). There is no merit to this issue under State v. Black, supra .
The Defendant next questions whether the death penalty may be imposed in this case under the aggravating circumstance that the murders of Jason and Chad Burnett were committed while the Defendant was engaged in committing the murder of Judy Smith. T.C.A. § 39-2-203(i)(7) (1982) [now § 39-13-204(i)(7) (1991)]. The Defendant avers that the jury's failure to return a verdict of guilty on the felony murder charges relating to the boys' deaths precludes, and is inconsistent with, a finding of this aggravating circumstance. First, the jury was instructed that they could not return a verdict of guilty as to each victim on both premeditated and felony murder but must limit their verdict of guilty to only one of the counts. Thus, under the court's instructions, a finding of guilty on the charges of premeditated murder does not preclude, and is not inconsistent with, the jury's finding of aggravating circumstance (i)(7) in the murders of Chad and Jason Burnett. This Court has also previously held that acquittal under a felony murder charge does not preclude a finding of this aggravating circumstance. See State v. Wright, 756 S.W.2d 669, 675-676 (Tenn. 1988). The Defendant also insists that evidence that the Defendant offered $20,000 to have all three victims killed is inconsistent with the application of the felony murder statutory aggravating circumstance. There was sufficient proof that Chad and Jason were killed in the perpetration of Judy Smith's murder to submit this aggravating circumstance to the jury. While there is a danger if this circumstance is too broadly applied in multiple murders that any murder after the first could arguably be enhanced by this aggravator, in the present case the proof supports a finding of circumstance (i)(7). See, e.g., State v. Black, 815 S.W.2d 166 (Tenn. 1991).
The Defendant next asks whether the mass murder aggravating circumstance in T.C.A. § 39-2-203(i)(12) (1982) [now § 39-13-204(i)(12) (1991)] is applicable in this case. The statute reads as follows: The defendant committed mass murder which is defined as the murder of three or more persons within the state of Tennessee within a period of forty-eight (48) months, and perpetrated in a similar fashion in a common scheme or plan. The jury found the existence of the mass murder statutory aggravating circumstance as to all three victims. We held this aggravating circumstance applicable to a similar set of facts in State v. Black, 815 S.W.2d 166, 183-184 (Tenn. 1991), where a majority of this Court held: The term mass murderer as used in the statute can apply to multiple murders committed close in time or multiple murders committed singly over a longer period of time, not to exceed four years. We are of the opinion that the statute encompasses a situation where a defendant is simultaneously tried, as in the present case, for a series of separate but related homicides committed as part of a common scheme or plan. 815 S.W.2d at 184. See also State v. Van Tran, 864 S.W.2d 465, 478 (Tenn. 1993). The Defendant relies on Chief Justice Reid's dissent in that case and argues that the murders must have been committed over an extended period of time before this circumstance can apply. A majority of this Court, however, found that the mass murder aggravating circumstance was appropriate for a series of separate but related homicides committed as part of a common scheme or plan, as in this case.
The Defendant's final issue deals with the constitutionality of Tennessee's death penalty statute. The Defendant contends that Tennessee's statutory scheme for capital sentencing violates his rights under the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, Sections 8, 9, 16 and 19 of the Tennessee Constitution. The Defendant says that the aggravating circumstances in the statute do not genuinely narrow the class of persons eligible for the death penalty and argues that the use of the circumstances of felony murder to aggravate a felony murder fails to narrow the class. This may be true in the case of felony murder, see State v. Middlebrooks, 840 S.W.2d 317 (Tenn. 1992), but the aggravating circumstances have performed their constitutional function in this case, where the Defendant was convicted of premeditated murder. See State v. Cauthern, 778 S.W.2d 39, 47 (Tenn. 1989). Defendant says the statute unconstitutionally mandates a sentence of death. This argument was rejected in State v. Smith, 857 S.W.2d 1, 21-22 (Tenn. 1993); and State v. Black, 815 S.W.2d at 185 (and cases cited therein). The Defendant states that the absence of a requirement that the jury specify the mitigating factors it found prevents effective appellate review and overemphasizes the importance of the aggravating circumstances, which are required to be listed. There is no merit to this issue under State v. Melson, 638 S.W.2d 342, 368 (Tenn. 1982). In his last two attacks on the statute, Defendant contends that death per se and execution by electrocution are cruel and unusual punishment. These arguments were recently rejected by a majority of this Court in State v. Black, 815 S.W.2d at 179, 187-191.