Court Opinion

ID: 9845428
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:21:40.868479+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:07.361999
License: Public Domain

Hill, Justice,
concurring specially.
I concur in the judgment affirming the death penalty on the basis of the aggravating circumstance discussed in Division 3 of the opinion, but not on the basis of the aggravating circumstance described in Division 2, to wit: the Habersham murder of which the defendant was later acquitted.
Addendum.
(June 24, 1980)
(a) Subsequent to our decision in this case, but prior to transmittal of the remittitur to the trial court, the Supreme Court of the United States has decided Godfrey *880v. Georgia, 48 USLW 4541 (May 19, 1980). In that the appellant’s sentence of death rests partially1 upon Code § 27-2534.1 (b) (7), his senteñce must be reviewed in light of Godfrey.
Code Ann. § 27-2534.1 (b) (7) provides in pertinent part: "The offense of murder . . . was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture, depravity of mind, or an aggravated battery to the victim.” In Godfrey, the court found that § (b) (7) was unconstitutionally applied in that case. We find material differences between Godfrey and the case under review, which distinguish this murder from the murder in Godfrey and from other "ordinary” murders for which the death penalty is not appropriate.
In our opinion in this case, we held that the trial court’s finding beyond a reasonable doubt that the murder was outrageously and wantonly vile, horrible and inhuman in that it involved depravity of mind on the part of the defendant, was supported by the evidence. That evidence showed that appellant had had no quarrel with his victim. Rather the victim was killed simply because he had witnessed appellant’s previous murder and appellant was afraid he would testify against him. While pretending they were still friends, appellant lured the victim into a vulnerable position and then shot him in the head. Aside from laughing during the killing itself, appellant showed no remorse thereafter but instead bragged about the killing and said he would kill the other witnesses when he got out of jail. Appellant’s accomplice cut the victim’s throat and appellant then burned the *881body. A defendant who mutilates or seriously disfigures a victim’s body after death (cf. Code Ann. § 26-1305), may be found to have a depraved mind and such acts would be sufficient to show depravity of mind of the defendant within the meaning of the statute. (See Hance v. State, 245 Ga. 856, decided June 24, 1980, after the main opinion in this case.) Appellant’s actions in this case take this murder out of the category of "ordinary murders.”
(b) The trial judge also found the existence of statutory aggravating circumstance Code Ann. § 27-2534.1 (b) (2) in that the Hall County murder was committed in the course of another capital offense, the Habersham County murder.
Subsequent to our decision in this case, but prior to transmittal of the remittitur, to the trial court, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Standefer v. United States, 48 USLW 4634 (June 9, 1980). The following language from that case is relevant to our discussion in the main opinion of the effect of appellant’s subsequent acquittal of the first murder in Habersham County:
"This case does no more than manifest the simple, if discomforting, reality that 'different juries (may) reach different results under any criminal statute. That is one of the consequences of our jury system.’ Roth v. United States, 354 U. S. 476, 492 (1957). While symmetry of results may be intellectually satisfying, it is not required.” 48 USLW at 4638.

Judgment of affirmance of the death penalty adhered to.

All the Justices concur, except Hill, J., who concurs in the judgment and in part (a) of the Addendum.

The judge found the existence of two statutory aggravating circumstances, Code Ann. §§ 27-2534.1 (b) (2) and 27-2534.1 (b) (7). In Godfrey, the court was concerned with a sentence of death resting exclusively on § 27-2534.1 (b) (7). Godfrey v. Georgia, 48 USLW4541, n. 15. The other statutory aggravating circumstances are more "specific and measurable.” Godfrey v. Georgia, 48 USLW 4541, 4542, n. 2. Therefore, under our decisions, the death penalty, infra, may be upheld upon § 27-2534.1 (b) (2). Gates v. State, 244 Ga. 587 (261 SE2d 349) (1979); Burger v. State, 245 Ga. 458 (265 SE2d 796) (1980).