Court Opinion

ID: 9795613
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:32:18.928631+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:30:30.245988
License: Public Domain

CHAPEL, Judge,
concurs in part/dissents in part:
¶ 1 I concur in affirming the conviction in this case. However, rather than remanding this matter for a new sentencing trial, I would modify the sentence to life without parole for several reasons. First, two of the *746three aggravators found by the jury are not supported by the evidence, and the third ("continuing threat") is only minimally, at best, supported by the evidence. Second, of the four principals involved in this felony murder, this defendant is among the least culpable, and yet the other three (one of which is the shooter) have been sentenced to either life without parole or life. I am of the opinion that this Court, under its required mandatory sentence review of death sentences, is obligated under the federal and state constitutions and state statutes to prevent the arbitrary and capricious imposition of the death penalty. If among four people eligible for a death sentence for the same crime, only one receives the death sentence, and among the four, that person is less culpable than some of the others, then that death sentence must violate the Eighth Amendment prohibition against the arbitrary and capricious imposition of the death penalty. Finally, it is my belief that sending this case back for resentencing is simply a waste of judicial, prosecutorial, and defense resources.