Court Opinion

ID: 9430265
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:29:23.093765+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:23.977574
License: Public Domain

Chief Justice Burger,
concurring.
Although I see no need for remanding for further findings in the State’s courts, I join the Court’s opinion. It is true that the Mississippi Supreme Court did not have Enmund’s *393findings explicitly in mind when it reviewed the sentence of death imposed on respondent Bullock, because the Mississippi courts had completed their review before Enmund was decided. Nevertheless, the Mississippi Supreme Court’s opinion makes it clear that Enmund’s concerns have been fully satisfied in this case.
In rejecting respondent’s claim that there was insufficient evidence to support his capital murder conviction because he “was an unwilling participant in the robbery-homicide,” that court explicitly found “[t]he evidence is overwhelming that appellant was present, aiding and assisting in the assault upon, and slaying of, Dickson.” Bullock v. State, 391 So. 2d 601, 606 (1980) (emphasis added), cert. denied, 452 U. S. 931 (1981). That court further rejected a claim that the death penalty was disproportionate to sentences imposed in similar cases, after again finding that “[t]he evidence is overwhelming that appellant was an active participant in the assault and homicide committed upon Mark Dickson.” 391 So. 2d, at 614.
Surely these statements reflect a conclusion of the state court that respondent actively participated in the actual killing, which is far more than Enmund requires. In these circumstances, I see no need to expend finite judicial resources by remanding and calling for the Mississippi Supreme Court to tell us what it has already made clear, i. e., that respondent’s culpability more than satisfies any proportionality concerns dictated by Enmund.