Court Opinion

ID: 9536021
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 06:53:23.838707+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:33:25.794588
License: Public Domain

MARTONE, Justice,
dissenting in part.
I join the court in affirming the judgment of conviction and sentence of death but, unlike the majority, I believe that murder is a crime of violence. Because its conclusion cannot be sound, the court should reexamine its premises to find where the defect in reasoning lies. I conclude that the court’s decision and dicta in State v. Fierro, 166 Ariz. 539, 549, 804 P.2d 72, 82 (1991), are plainly wrong. Fierro is a serious departure from the statute it purports to construe.
We first examine the majority’s analysis. To begin with, not even the defendant argues that second degree murder is not a crime of violence. He only argues that his second degree murder conviction was not a “previous” conviction within the meaning of § 13-703(F)(2). After concluding that Hedlund was previously convicted within the meaning of the statute, the majority sua sponte imposes upon itself the duty to decide whether that conviction involved the use or threat of violence on another person. Ante, at 581, 917 P.2d 1228.1
*588The majority uses the following syllogism. Its major premise is that a crime that can be committed with a culpable mental state of reckless cannot be a crime of violence within the meaning of § 13-703(F)(2). It relies upon Fierro. Its minor premise is that second degree murder can be committed with the culpable mental state of reckless. AR.S. § 13-1104(A)(3). Therefore, it concludes that second degree murder is not a crime of violence.
The court’s major premise is false. The legislature did not limit the application of AR.S. § 13-703(F)(2) to crimes with any particular culpable mental state. Subsection (F)(2) reads as follows:
the defendant was previously convicted of a felony in the United States involving the use or threat of violence on another person.
Note that the statute does not include the words “intentionally,” “knowingly,” “recklessly,” or “negligently.” Culpable mental state is simply not relevant under this statute. If the crime involves the use or threat of violence on a person, it qualifies.
Our cases were once consistent with the plain meaning of the statute. In State v. Arnett, 119 Ariz. 38, 51, 579 P.2d 542, 555 (1978), in construing the word “violence,” we turned to the dictionary. We said that violence was the “exertion of any physical force so as to injure or abuse.” Id. We made no reference to any culpable mental state. We just gave the statute its plain meaning. In State v. Watson, 120 Ariz. 441, 448, 586 P.2d 1253,1260 (1978), we said that robbery was a crime of violence because “fear of force is an element of robbery and that conviction of robbery presumes that such fear was present.” In State v. Romanosky, 162 Ariz. 217, 227, 782 P.2d 693, 703 (1989), we said “[i]f either force or fear is a required element of the crime for which the defendant was previously convicted, it is conclusively presumed that the conviction encompassed force or fear.” We said nothing about culpable mental state. We said the same as recently as State v. Spencer, 176 Ariz. 36, 43, 859 P.2d 146, 153 (1993).
From whence then did this engrafting of culpable mental state on an otherwise plain statute come? Turn to State v. Fierro, 166 Ariz. 539, 804 P.2d 72 (1991). It quotes the Arnett definition of violence, but then departs from it with the now infamous sentence, “[i]n determining whether a defendant’s prior convictions under § 13-703(F)(2) warrant aggravating a life sentence to death, only those felony convictions in which force was employed or threatened with the intent to injure or abuse will be considered in aggravation.” Id. at 549, 804 P.2d at 82 (emphasis added). This sentence was followed by a cf. cite to State v. Lopez, 163 Ariz. 108, 114, 786 P.2d 959, 965 (1990). The use of the cf. cite is a frank acknowledgement that there is no clear support for the proposition. “Cf.” means that the “[cjited authority supports a proposition different from the main proposition but sufficiently analogous to lend support. Literally, ‘cf’ means ‘compare.’ ” The Blue Book: A Uniform System of Citation at 23 (15th ed.1991) (emphasis in original). Lopez only held that under an alternative definition of resisting arrest, the offense could be committed without the use or threat of violence. There was no discussion of culpable mental state and certainly no reference to “with intent to.”
Fierro went on to hold that because in Texas aggravated assault and robbery could be committed with a culpable mental state of less than intent (there reckless), those crimes did not satisfy § 13-703(F)(2). Fierro, 166 Ariz. at 549, 804 P.2d at 82.
Fierro thus defined the (F)(2) factor almost out of existence. This was so because under State v. Gillies, 135 Ariz. 500, 662 P.2d 1007 (1983), the court held that the prior conviction must have been for a felony which by its statutory definition involves violence or the threat of violence. Id. at 511, 662 P.2d at 1018. One could not look at the specific facts of the case.
When you add Fierro to Gillies, the result is absurdity. For example, one is forced to reach the quite remarkable proposition that first degree murder is not a crime of violence. Under A.R.S. § 13-1105(A), first degree murder is committed if “[ijntending or knowing that his conduct will cause death, such person causes the death of another with *589premeditation.” Under the majority’s analysis, because first degree murder can be committed “knowingly,” and without intent, first degree murder would not constitute a crime of violence.2 For the same reason, second degree murder would not be a crime of violence. See A.R.S. § 13-1104. Manslaughter would not be a crime of violence. See A.R.S. § 13-1103. Aggravated assault would not be a crime of violence. See A.R.S. § 13-1204. Assault would not be a crime of violence. See A.R.S. § 13-1203. Sexual Assault would not be a crime of violence. State v. Bible, 175 Ariz. 549, 604, 858 P.2d 1152, 1207 (1993); see A.R.S. § 13-1406. Sexual Abuse would not be a crime of violence. See A.R.S. § 13-1404. And yet attempted murder and attempted assault would be crimes of violence because “intent” is an element of the offense of attempt. See A.R.S. § 13-1001.
When a court reaches remarkable conclusions such as these, we have a choice. We can accept absurd results or we can go back and reevaluate our premises. I would simply acknowledge Fierro as insupportable error, acknowledge our distraction in post-Fierro cases, including my own opinion in State v. Walden, 183 Ariz. 595, 616-18, 905 P.2d 974, 995-97 (1995), acknowledge that its application to second degree murder and first degree murder is absurd, and hold that murder is simply a crime of violence. Those who have profited by Fierro in the past will suffer no harm. Those who do not profit by it in present and future cases are entitled to no benefit from it. Instead, the court says it must narrow the class of defendants who are death eligible. Ante, at 581, 917 P.2d at 1228. But it is the statute that narrows the class. The court ends up eliminating the narrowing factor.
I fear that the court’s refusal to acknowledge our prior error will simply open the floodgates of Rule 32 petitions in those many cases in which the (F)(2) factor was upheld without any consideration of culpable mental state. This is especially regrettable in light of the repeal of the old (F)(2) factor and the substitution of the new and improved “serious offense” (F)(2) factor. A.R.S. § 13-703(F)(2), amended by Laws 1993, Ch. 153, § 1.
The soundness of legal reasoning gives law its legitimacy. Unsound results flow from unsound reasoning. Not even the defendant took the position that second degree murder was not a crime of violence. Advocacy, after all, has its limits. I respectfully dissent from that part of the opinion that concludes that murder is not a crime of violence.

. Our independent review extends to "the facts that establish the presence or absence of aggravating and mitigating circumstances.” State v. Richmond, 114 Ariz. 186, 196, 560 P.2d 41, 51 (1976) (emphasis added). It does not extend to a consideration of legal issues not raised by the parties at trial and on appeal. State v. Stuard, 176 Ariz 589, 611, 863 P.2d 881, 903 (1993) (Martone, J., dissenting). We take the case as we find it.

. The majority’s attempt to limit Fierro's damage at the point of "reckless” has no support in Fierro or our cases.