Court Opinion

ID: 9782588
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 18:59:18.555847+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:35:06.242860
License: Public Domain

STRUBHAR, J.,
CONCURS IN RESULTS:
«[ 1 Based on the doctrine of stare decisis, I concur in the results reached by the Court in this case. I continue to believe that First Degree Murder By Child Abuse is and should be a specific intent crime as I expressed in Fairchild v. State, 1998 OK CR 47, 965 P.2d 891, 408 (Lane, J. dissenting joined by Strubhar, V.P.J.), opinion withdrawn and rehearing granted, 1999 OK CR 80, 992 P.2d 349, followed by opinion on rehearing, 1999 OK CR 49, 998 P.2d 611 (Strubhar, P.J. dissenting). I further maintain that a culpability assessment, i.e. a finding of intentional harm, must be made at some point in the process for the death penalty to be constitutionally sound in capital child abuse murder cases even if the defendant is the actual killer. See Tison v. Arizona, 481 U.S. 137, 107 S.Ct. 1676, 95 L.Ed.2d 127 (1987); Enmund v. Florida, 458 U.S. 782, 102 S.Ct. 3368, 73 L.Ed.2d 1140 (1982). However, I yield to the majority here and agree that Steven Lynn Abshier's death sentence is valid based on the culpability assessment performed by the Court regardless of whether he committed or permitted the child abuse that led to Ashley Nicole Abshier's death.