Court Opinion

ID: 9793500
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:48:41.830366+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:05:35.958797
License: Public Domain

LUMPKIN, Vice Presiding Judge:
Concurs in Part/Dissents in Part.
¶ 1 The Court’s opinion cites no statutory authority which requires trial courts to conduct a bifurcated trial in cases where a defendant is charged with both capital and unenhanced non-capital counts in the same proceeding. In the absence of such legislative enactment, this Court should exercise self-discipline and refrain from creating such a procedure here. See Kelsey v. State, 1987 OK CR 206, ¶ 9, 744 P.2d 190, 193 (“In the absence of relevant authority to the contrary, ... such a claim falls within the sphere of the Legislature.”).
¶ 2 I find no reason to modify a sentence based upon a procedure which is not prohibited by statute and to which Appellant’s counsel did not object at trial. Furthermore, there is no reason to simply assume the jury was confused or misled by the jury instructions to the point that it considered the capital aggravating circumstances in deciding punishment on the non-capital offenses, Counts II and IV. In fact, the record does show the instructions in this case clearly channeled the jury’s decision-making process as between the non-capital and the capital offenses. Rather than applying the jurisprudence of this Court that presumes the jury follows the instructions of the trial judge, the Court speculates the jury was influenced by the evidence in aggravation without also applying the evidence presented in mitigation. When all the evidence is considered, there is no showing of prejudice, much less error.
¶ 3 Therefore, I concur in affirming the Judgment and Sentence in Count I and the judgments in Counts II and IV. However, I find no error in the trial procedure which was utilized and no basis in law or fact to modify the sentences in Counts II and IV. Accordingly, I dissent to the modification of the sentences in Counts II and IV.