Court Opinion

ID: 9682220
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 08:07:55.957057+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:38.117375
License: Public Domain

Robert L. Brown, Justice, concurring. I write because I believe the issue relating to the extent and kind of victim-impact evidence presented in this case presents a close question. Alfred Muldoon, Lonnie Muldoon’s brother, provided narration for a silent videotape that was almost 14 minutes in length and contained approximately 160 photographs that essentially spanned the entire life of the victim. More than 60 of these photographs were images of the victim at various stages of his life, including photographs of him as a toddler with his family, various school pictures, and photographs with his wife and two sons. Approximately 40 pictures were dedicated to his older son, Robbie, and followed his growth from infancy to adulthood, and approximately 30 photographs traced the development of his younger son, Tony Joe, from infancy to his growth into a young man. The remaining images ranged from family events, such as Thanksgiving dinner, to the victim’s involvement with various aspects of the carnival business. The General Assembly has provided an openended standard that evidence relevant to sentencing may include victim-impact evidence or statements and has not limited the introduction of this evidence to capital murder cases. See Ark. Code Ann. § 16-97-103 (Supp. 1995). But that statute neither provides guidelines nor criteria for what might fall under the aegis of this victim-impact evidence. Clearly, the court may receive testimony from “the victim’s family to those close to that person who were profoundly impacted by his death.” Nooner v. State, 322 Ark. 87, 109, 907 S.W.2d 677, 688-89 (1995), cert. denied, 116 S. Ct. 1436 (1996). However, in only one capital case has this court been required to discuss in detail the content of victim-impact evidence properly admitted during the penalty phase. See Kemp v. State, 324 Ark. 178, 919 S.W.2d 943 (1996) (discussing the testimony of the relatives of two of the three murder victims), cert. denied, 117 S. Ct. 436 (1996). The seminal case in this area is Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808 (1991). Payne was a 6-3 decision in which the Court overruled past precedent and held that the Eighth Amendment did not erect a perse bar against states allowing for the admission of victim-impact evidence. In that case, Chief Justice Rehnquist, writing for the majority, made the following statements: As a general matter, however, victim impact evidence is not offered to encourage comparative judgments of this kind - for instance, that the killer of a hardworking, devoted parent deserves the death penalty, but that the murderer of a reprobate does not. It is designed to show instead each victim’s “uniqueness as an individual human being,” whatever the jury might think the loss to the community resulting from his death might be. 501 U.S. at 823 (emphasis in original). Victim impact evidence is simply another form or method of informing the sentencing authority about the specific harm caused by the crime in question, evidence of a general type long considered by sentencing authorities. We think the Booth Court [Booth v. Maryland, 482 U.S. 496 (1987)] was wrong in stating that this kind of evidence leads to the arbitrary imposition of the death penalty. In the majority of cases, and in this case, victim impact evidence serves entirely legitimate purposes. In the event that evidence is introduced that is so unduly prejudicial that it renders the trial fundamentally unfair, the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment provides a mechanism for relief. (Citing authority.) 501 U.S. at 825. A State may legitimately conclude that evidence about the victim and about the impact of the murder on the victim’s family is relevant to the jury’s decision as to whether or not the death penalty should be imposed. There is no reason to treat such evidence differendy than other relevant evidence is treated. 501 U.S. at 827. In a concurring opinion joined by Justices White and Kennedy, Justice O’Connor wrote: A State may decide also that the jury should see “a quick glimpse of the life petitioner chose to extinguish,” (citing authority), to remind the jury that the person whose life was taken was a unique human being. . . . Certainly there is no strong societal consensus that a jury may not take into account the loss suffered by a victim’s family or that a murder victim must remain a faceless stranger at the penalty phase of a capital trial. Just the opposite is true. Most States have enacted legislation enabling judges and juries to consider victim impact evidence. 501 U.S. at 830-31 (O’Connor, J., concurring). The Eighth Amendment does not prohibit a State from choosing to admit evidence concerning a murder victim’s personal characteristics or the impact of the crime on the victim’s family and community. 501 U.S. at 832-33 (O’Connor, J., concurring).