Court Opinion

ID: 9863849
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-25 05:55:09.003626+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:04:26.013935
License: Public Domain

MARTONE, Justice,
concurring.
¶ 48 I write separately to affirm the trial judge’s findings that pecuniary gain was a motive for this murder, and that Sansing committed this murder in an especially heinous or depraved manner. In all other respects, I join the court’s opinion and judgment.
I.
¶ 49 The court acknowledges that Sansing planned to rob the person who delivered the food boxes so he could purchase more crack cocaine. Ante, ¶ 2. It also acknowledges that he removed the victim’s jewelry from her body and traded it for more crack cocaine. Ante, ¶ 5. Yet the court concludes that “[a]l-though pecuniary gain certainly was a motive for the defendant’s decision to beat and bind the victim, her rape and the murder appear to be separate events.” Ante, ¶22. I believe the evidence is to the contrary. As the trial court noted, Sansing called the victim’s church seeking food and assistance for his family, “all the while planning to rob the *362unsuspecting Good Samaritan who delivered the food, so that he could purchase crack cocaine.” Special Verdict, Sept. 30, 1999, at 4. When she arrived, he robbed her of a small amount of money and her jewelry and then twice traded pieces of her jewelry for crack cocaine. Id. Sansing said that he had to rape the victim so that it would look like a robbery, beating, and rape. Id. at 8. Thus the beating, rape, and the murder of the victim were all part of the same plan to get money to buy cocaine. In my view, therefore, it cannot be said that pecuniary gain was a motive for the beating and the rape, but not for the murder.
¶ 50 The court says that the murder “did not facilitate the defendant’s ability to secure pecuniary gain.” Ante, ¶ 22. But this confuses pecuniary gain with senselessness. It is true that Sansing did not have to kill her to get her money. This just shows that the murder was senseless within the meaning of State v. Ross, 180 Ariz. 598, 605, 886 P.2d 1354, 1361 (1994), because the murder was unnecessary to allow the defendant to complete his objective. In Ross, we upheld both pecuniary gain and senselessness. See also State v. Lee, 189 Ariz. 608, 619, 944 P.2d 1222, 1233 (1997); State v. Hyde, 186 Ariz. 252, 281, 921 P.2d 655, 684 (1996). The same is true here. Sansing did not have to kill to get the money (and therefore the crime is senseless), but he did kill to get the money (and therefore a motive was pecuniary gain). Indeed, on the facts of this case, pecuniary gain is the only motive for this senseless murder. See State v. Rienhardt, 190 Ariz. 579, 591, 951 P.2d 454, 466 (1997) (“In LaGrand, the defendant came to rob, and killed the employee during the robbery itself.”); State v. Medina, 193 Ariz. 504, 518, 975 P.2d 94, 108 (1999) (Martone, J., concurring in part, dissenting in part) (“In Rienhardt, we said that LaGrand did not apply because Rienhardt did not ‘come to rob.’”). The evidence here shows beyond all reasonable doubt that Sansing’s motivation before, during, and after the killing was to obtain something of value to exchange for cocaine.
II.
¶ 51 Having found that this murder was especially cruel, the court found it unnecessary to address the question of heinousness or depravity. Ante, ¶ 34. While it may be unnecessary to address it, I believe it is very desirable to do so. First, where cruelty, heinousness, and depravity are present the (F)(6) factor is the stronger for it. Second, the heinousness and depravity of this crime are so evident, we should not let anyone wonder why we do not acknowledge this. Judge Reinstein found that “the Gretzler factors of gratuitous violence, senselessness and helplessness all exist in this case and that the state has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the murder in an especially heinous or depraved manner.” Special Verdict at 9. Gratuitous violence is violence beyond that necessary to kill. Judge Reinstein noted that Sansing hit the victim so hard that the club broke in two pieces. He hogtied her ankles and wrists and brutally raped her. He stabbed her not once but three times and ground the butcher knife into her. As if this were not enough, he tried to suffocate her. As this experienced trial judge noted, the rape itself was gratuitous violence and absolutely unnecessary to kill her.
¶ 52 The trial judge found that the victim was made completely helpless by being attacked, then hogtied. And he found that the killing was senseless because it was completely unnecessary to accomplish his goal of robbing the victim. Special Verdict at 9.
¶ 53 I believe all of these findings are unassailable and our failure to address them as a court introduces an element of needless uncertainty. In all other respects, I join the court’s opinion in affirming Sansing’s convictions and sentences.