Court Opinion

ID: 9794252
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:02:06.608902+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:13:28.075498
License: Public Domain

SCHWARTZMAN, Judge Pro Tern.,
concurring specially.
I write to concur specially in Part II of the court’s opinion. Assuming that Instruction No. 24(a) was and is an incorrect or misleading statement of Idaho law, I find the giving of such instruction, when viewed in the light and context of all the other instructions, as well as the undisputed factual underpinnings giving rise to this case, is harmless error beyond any and all reasonable doubt. See Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986). Given the fact that the jury was properly instructed on the statutory definitions of Murder, Malice and Robbery, as well as the applicable burden of proof and elements of the crime, it is inconceivable that a jury could be mislead into a “presumption” that malice is established as a matter of law from the mere fact that an unlawful killing took place during the perpetration of the crime of robbery. Moreover, this instruction can be .analyzed *879as one where the predicate facts conclusively establish malice, so that no rational jury could find that the defendant committed the relevant criminal acts but did so without malice aforethought. It is also inconceivable, both as a matter of law and fact, that two innocent and helpless victims can be deliberately bludgeoned to death, one after the other, by another human being who somehow does not exhibit and possess the requisite criminal malice, either express or implied. The facts and reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom are so overpowering and conclusive as to constitute harmless error beyond any shadow of a doubt. See and compare Rose v. Clark, 478 U.S. 570, 106 S.Ct. 3101, 92 L.Ed.2d 460 (1986). In my opinion, Instruction 24(a) is merely superfluous; at the very worst, it simply permits the jury to infer malice from defendant’s conduct.
Finally, I write to concur specifically in Part IX of this Court’s opinion. The sentence imposed is directly proportional to and commensurate with the sentence imposed and affirmed in State v. Lankford, 113 Idaho 688 at 703, 704, 747 P.2d 710 at 725, 726 (1987). The facts of this case depict a journey into the “heart of darkness,” a descent into the soul of evil. The Judgment of Death is proportionate to the acts committed and is civilized society’s just and ultimate condemnation of the perpetrator of this evil.