Court Opinion

ID: 9852193
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:26:30.167471+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:24.033358
License: Public Domain

Justice Orr
dissenting.
The majority notes “that there has been some confusion as to the exact type of crime and number of offenses which determine when *573the (f)(1) mitigator should or should not be given.” The majority then attempts to clarify the law by restating the underlying principle used when analyzing whether the (f)(1) statutory mitigating circumstance should be given: “the focus should be on whether the criminal activity is such as to influence the jury’s sentencing recommendation.” After a discussion of defendant’s criminal history, the majority concludes that
[i]n light of [the] similarities to defendant’s repeated, recent, and escalating criminal activities related to substance abuse, stealing, and violence, the trial court correctly determined that no rational juror could have concluded that defendant’s prior criminal activity was insignificant and thus that this history would not have influenced or had an effect upon the jury verdict as a mitigating circumstance.
In recent years, we have examined numerous cases involving submission of the (f)(1) mitigating circumstance and upheld the trial court’s submission of that mitigator over the defendants’ objections. In State v. Williams, 350 N.C. 1, 13, 510 S.E.2d 626, 635, cert. denied, — U.S. —, — L. Ed. 2d —, 68 U.S.L.W. 3228 (1999), an opinion written by then-Chief Justice Mitchell for a unanimous Court, we stated:
Defendant next contends that the trial court erred by submitting the (f)(1) mitigating circumstance to the jury over defendant’s objection. Defendant informed the trial court that he would not request submission of the (f)(1) mitigator because his history of beating women was closely related to the manner of death in Ms. Plunkett’s murder. Thereafter, over defendant’s objection, the trial court submitted the (f)(1) mitigating circumstance. The jury did not find the existence of the (f)(1) mitigator.
Defendant asserts that no reasonable juror could have found that defendant’s criminal history was insignificant, and therefore, it was error for the trial court to submit the circumstance. Evidence in the present case tended to show that defendant had been convicted of numerous misdemeanor assaults on females, as well as various other offenses including communicating threats, trespass, and burglary. The most serious of defendant’s P£ior convictions were for assaults on his wife and girlfriends. One of those assaults occurred in 1995, four in 1992, and one in 1989. The trial court concluded from the evidence that a reason*574able juror could find that defendant had “no significant history of prior criminal activity,” within the meaning of the statute, and that it was required to submit the (f)(1) statutory mitigating circumstance for the jury’s consideration. We agree. A rational juror could have found defendant’s history of prior criminal activity, which consisted mostly of misdemeanors, to be insignificant with regard to the jury’s capital sentencing recommendation. After determining that a rational juror could find the evidence sufficient to support the (f)(1) mitigating circumstance, the trial court was required to submit it to the jury. This argument is without merit.
See, e.g., State v. Williams, 343 N.C. 345, 372, 471 S.E.2d 379, 394 (1996) (upholding the trial court’s decision to submit the (f)(1) mitigating circumstance where the “defendant’s record consisted] of being convicted of misdemeanor larceny, misdemeanor breaking or entering, and misdemeanor larceny, two counts; misdemeanor possession of stolen property, carrying a concealed weapon — misdemeanor, misdemeanor [breaking and entering], and possession of a weapon of mass destruction, uttering forged papers, misdemeanor assault on a female, and misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon”), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 1061, 136 L. Ed. 2d 618 (1997); State v. Walls, 342 N.C. 1, 56, 463 S.E.2d 738, 767 (1995) (upholding the submission of the (f)(1) mitigating circumstance where the defendant had criminal convictions for “driving while impaired, assault, communicating threats and escape, nonfelonious breaking and entering, receiving stolen goods, possessing a stolen vehicle and possessing stolen credit cards”), cert. denied, 517 U.S. 1197, 134 L. Ed. 2d 794 (1996). These cases all noted that the focus of the decision concerning submission of the (f)(1) mitigating circumstance should be placed on whether the criminal history is likely to influence the jury’s sentencing recommendation as to life or death.
We have also recently held that the trial court erred when it refused to submit the (f)(1) mitigating circumstance where the defendant’s criminal record consisted primarily of nonviolent crimes against property. See, e.g., State v. Fletcher, 348 N.C. 292, 326-27, 500 S.E.2d 668, 688 (1998) (holding that the trial court erred by not submitting the (f)(1) mitigating circumstance, even though the defendant did not request it, where the “defendant had a history of stealing since he was a child and . . . had been convicted of. . . two counts of felonious breaking and entering, three counts of felonious larceny, felonious possession of stolen property, misdemeanor breaking and *575entering, five counts of misdemeanor larceny, and assault on a female”), cert. denied, — U.S. —, 143 L. Ed. 2d 113 (1999).
In this case, defendant had a lengthy criminal record primarily consisting of incidents involving alcohol and/or drug abuse, petty theft from his father, driving offenses, and one conviction for assault on a female.
In each case cited above, as well as numerous other cases decided by this Court, we have held that a reasonable juror could, in the face of the evidence, conclude that the defendant’s criminal history — although substantial — was not significant to such a degree as to tilt the scale in favor of imposing a death sentence and thus could have mitigating value. However, here, where defendant requested submission of the (f)(1) mitigating circumstance, the majority holds that the trial court did not err in its decision to deny defendant’s request to submit the (f)(1) mitigating circumstance. This simply is inconsistent with the Court’s long line of cases explaining when the (f)(1) mitigating circumstance should and should not be given to the jury for consideration.
At a minimum, defendant and his counsel felt that defendant’s criminal history had the potential for being a mitigating circumstance in the jury’s deliberation over life or death. Furthermore, defendant’s criminal history was devoid, with one exception for assault, of any crimes of violence toward the person. Defendant’s increased substance abuse problems in the years prior to the murder and his practice of stealing money from his father’s wallet simply are not the kind of egregious criminal acts that would warrant a refusal to submit the (f)(1) mitigating circumstance, particularly in light of defendant’s request for its submission. Therefore, I dissent and would grant defendant a new sentencing hearing.