Court Opinion

ID: 9429393
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:26:38.503297+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:19.325912
License: Public Domain

Justice Stevens,
concurring in the judgment.
In my opinion the application to vacate the stay raises a serious question about the propriety of the prosecutor’s argument to the jury at the sentencing phase of respondent’s trial. In that argument the prosecutor sought to minimize the jury's responsibility for imposing a death sentence by implying that the verdict was merely a threshold determination that would be corrected by the appellate courts if it were not the proper sentence for this offender. I quote some of that argument:
*53“I want to read you some laws because something they [the defense] said, don’t sentence this man to death, don’t kill this man. You see, you have the last word on the verdict, and it but, by far you don’t have the last word on it if you return it. The Louisiana Supreme Court has enacted a series of statutes that I want to read to you. What happens if you return a death penalty in this case. Because the law that’s set up is very exacting, detailed and complicated procedure for a review of this court, the Louisiana Supreme Court, and other courts before any death penalty can be imposed. The law states, 905.9, Review on Appeal, The Supreme Court of Louisiana shall review of every sentence of death to determine if it is excessive. The Court, by rule, shall establish such procedures as necessary to satisfy constitutional criteria for review. And, then the statute, they enact it. See, not necessarily, it’s mandatory that the Supreme Court review it. There’s seven judges on the Supreme Court. The highest judges in this state. For it to be upheld, four of them will have to approve it. Well, what do they review? They state that every sentence of death shall be reviewed by this court to determine if it is excessive, and in determining whether the sentence is excessive, the court shall determine. A. Whether the sentence was imposed under the influence of passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factors. If they decide it was, they can reverse it and order a life sentence to be imposed. Whether the evidence supports the jury’s findings of a statutory aggravating circumstance. If they find it didn’t, they can reverse it and order a life sentence. Where the sentence is disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases considering both the crime and the defendant. If they don’t think the crime was heinous enough, they can reverse it and order a life sentence. If they don’t think this defendant — if they think the crime was hei*54nous enough and the statutory circumstances were proved but they don’t think it ought to be applied to this defendant, they can reverse it and order a life sentence. Whenever the death penalty is imposed, a verbation [sic] transcript of the sentence hearing along with the record required on appeal shall be transferred to the Court. They review everything that went on in this trial.. . . And there is a total and complete investigation done on the defendant to determine whether or not they will let your decision to impose the death penalty stand. And only then does it make it through the Louisiana State Supreme Court, and the defendant has a right, if he wishes — I’m not saying that it’s granted in every case. It could be denied. It could be appealed all the way through the United States Supreme Court.
“But more important, what is this verdict going to mean? You see, you represent a certain segment of our society, law abiding people, raising families, working for a living, not robbing stores. You’re the people that set the standards in this community. The Justices of the Supreme Court will review, and determine their decision whether or not if you decide to give him the death penalty, whether or not you were correct or not, but you see, — it use [sic] to be one.” Tr. 290-292, 296 (emphasis supplied).
In my view, this argument encouraged the jury to err on the side of imposing the death sentence in order to “send a message” since such an error would be corrected on appeal (while a life sentence could not). I do not believe that argument accurately described the function of appellate review in Louisiana. The Louisiana Supreme Court does not review “everything” that occurred during the trial. If it finds that one aggravating factor supported the jury’s verdict, it will not consider the defendant’s claim that the jury improperly *55relied upon other aggravating factors in reaching its verdict. See State v. James, 431 So. 2d 399, 405-406 (La.), cert. denied, post, p. 908. That rule was applied by the Louisiana Supreme Court in this very case. See State v. Williams, 383 So. 2d 369, 374 (La. 1980), cert. denied, 449 U. S. 1103 (1981). While that limitation on appellate review is constitutionally permissible in the context of Louisiana's death penalty statute, see Zant v. Stephens, 462 U. S. 862 (1983), given the state-law premises of Louisiana’s capital punishment scheme, see James, supra, at 406, it certainly is a more limited form of appellate review than that described by the prosecutor.
In my opinion, the argument was prejudicial to the accused, both because it appears to have misstated the law and because it may have led the jury to discount its grave responsibility in determining the defendant’s fate. A prosecutor should never invite a jury to err because the error may be corrected on appeal. That is especially true when the death penalty is at stake.
Nevertheless, because the essence of this issue was raised in prior proceedings questioning the competency of trial counsel — who failed to object to the argument when it was made — the Court is justified in applying a strict standard of review to this second federal habeas corpus application. See Sanders v. United States, 373 U. S. 1, 15-17 (1963). I do not find an adequate justification for respondent’s failure to raise this argument in his earlier federal habeas action. Since respondent did raise the related argument of ineffectiveness of counsel, he was no doubt aware of this argument and may have deliberately chosen not to raise it in the first habeas corpus petition. See Barefoot v. Estelle, 463 U. S. 880, 895 (1983); Rose v. Lundy, 455 U. S. 509, 520-521 (1982) (plurality opinion); Fay v. Noia, 372 U. S. 391, 438-440 (1963); Townsend v. Sain, 372 U. S. 293, 317 (1963). Moreover, since competent counsel failed to object to the argument at the trial itself, thereby failing to avail himself of the usual *56procedure for challenging this type of constitutional error, I question whether it can be said that this trial was fundamentally unfair. See Rose v. Lundy, supra, at 543, and n. 8 (Stevens, J., dissenting). Accordingly, though not without misgivings, I concur in the Court's decision to vacate the stay.