Court Opinion

ID: 9765422
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:02:27.271878+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:09.841404
License: Public Domain

*230COLE, Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
The Court today affirms its dicta in Lodowski v. State, 302 Md. 691, 490 A.2d 1228 (1985) regarding victim impact statements and holds that there is no constitutional defect in the use of this evidence in capital sentencing proceedings. I vehemently disagree, and for the reasons stated in my opinion in Lodowski, I dissent.
Because of the importance of the constitutional issues involved, I shall restate in part what I said in Lodowski to show that the portion of Md.Code (1957, 1982 Repl. Vol., 1985 Cumm.Supp.), Art. 41, § 124(d) authorizing the use of victim impact statements in capital sentencing proceedings is unconstitutional and that the admission of victim impact evidence in this case violated the eighth and fourteenth amendments of the United States Constitution.
I prefaced my opinion in Lodowski with several observations which I shall reiterate. First I do not object to the use of relevant victim impact evidence from the victim in non-capital sentencing proceedings. Such evidence can be valuable in sentencing proceedings, and when “coupled with active victim participation, acts to restore and increase confidence in the criminal justice system.” 302 Md. at 754, 490 A.2d at 1260. My objection here is to the use of impact statements from the family of the victim in capital sentencing proceedings. I sympathize with the families of victims of heinous crimes and I realize that these persons suffer immense pain and untold emotional trauma. Nevertheless, “the court’s paramount duty is to preserve the integrity and fundamental fairness of the criminal justice system guaranteed to every citizen under our federal and state constitutions.” Id.
I
In Lodowski, I reviewed the Supreme Court decisions delineating the constitutional boundaries of capital sentencing procedures. I shall not repeat this analysis here, but I must stress that my discussion in Lodowski makes clear *231that the eighth and fourteenth amendments require two basic safeguards in capital sentencing proceedings: (1) the death penalty must “not be imposed under sentencing procedures that create[] a substantial risk that it [will] be inflicted in an arbitrary and capricious manner,” Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 188, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 2932, 49 L.Ed.2d 859, 883 (1976) (Stewart, J., joined by Powell and Stevens, JJ.); and (2) capital sentencing procedures must “guide[] and focus[ ] the jury’s objective consideration of the particularized circumstances of the individual offense and the individual offender.” Jurek. v. Texas, 428 U.S. 262, 273-74, 96 S.Ct. 2950, 2957, 49 L.Ed.2d 929, 939 (Stevens, J., joined by Stewart and Powell, JJ.) (emphasis supplied); see also Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. 242, 259, 96 S.Ct. 2960, 2970, 49 L.Ed.2d 913, 927 (1976) (Powell, J., joined by Stewart and Stevens, JJ.). These principles form the constitutional foundation for modern death penalty statutes, and it is in light of these precepts that the use of victim impact evidence must be examined.
The use of victim impact statements in capital sentencing proceedings in Maryland is authorized by Art. 41, § 124(d), which provides:
(d) In any case which the death penalty is requested under Article 27, § 412, a presentence investigation, including a victim impact statement, shall be completed by the Division of Parole and Probation, and shall be considered by the court or jury before whom the separate sentencing proceeding is conducted under Art. 27, § 413. [Emphasis supplied.]
Section 124(c)(3) describes the victim impact statement itself. It states:
(3) A victim impact statement shall:
(i) Identify the victim of the offense;
(ii) Itemize any economic loss suffered by the victim as a result of the offense;
*232(iii) Identify any physical injury sufferd by the victim as a result of the offense along with its seriousness and permanence;
(iv) Describe any change in the victim’s personal welfare or familial relationships as a result of the offense;
(v) Identify any request for psychological services initiated by the victim or the victim’s family as a result of the offense; and
(vi) Contain any other information related to the impact of the offense upon the victim or the victim’s family that the court requires.
I believe that the language providing for the use of victim impact statements in capital sentencing proceedings cannot withstand constitutional scrutiny under the eighth and fourteenth amendment principles set forth ante. As I stated in Lodowski,
At a constitutional minimum, evidence introduced at a capital sentencing proceeding must be relevant as to whether the accused’s life be taken or spared. The information must be relevant, of course, to avoid the arbitrary and capricious infliction of the death penalty. In light of this standard, several portions of § 124(c)(3) pass muster. For instance, the identity of the victim (e.g., police officer) is often relevant, see § 124(c)(3)(i), as is other information that goes to the character of the defendant and the circumstances of the offense, see § 124(c)(3)(vi).
Other information called for by § 124(c), however, would rarely, if ever, be relevant in a capital sentencing proceeding. In particular, psychological services requested by the victim’s family as a result of the offense are irrelevant. See § 124(c)(3)(v). In addition, it is difficult to see the relévance of whether the victim suffered any economic loss as a result of the offense, unless of course the victim was murdered during the course of a robbery or similarly economically-motivated crime. See § 124(c)(3)(h). Section 124(c)(3)(iii), which deals with the *233identification of any physical injury suffered by the victim as a result of the crime along with its seriousness and permanence, seems superfluous in a capital case for obvious reasons. Lastly, any changes in the victim’s familial relationships as a result of the offense are irrelevant to the sentencing decision. See § 124(c)(3)(iv). Otherwise, a factor in imposing the death penalty would always be whether the victim died leaving a family. Few factors could be as irrelevant and arbitrary as those called for in §§ 124(c)(3)(h), 124(c)(3)(iii), 124(c)(3)(iv), and 124(c)(3)(v).
302 Md. at 764, n. 6, 490 A.2d 1228, n. 6.
This type of evidence, then, interjects into the capital sentencing proceedings that same uncertainty and subjectivity decried by the Supreme Court in Gregg, Profitt and Jurek. What can be a more arbitrary factor in the decision to sentence a defendant to death than the words of the victim’s family, which vary greatly from case to case, depending upon the ability of the family member to express his grief, or even worse depending upon whether the victim has family at all? In more practical terms, a killer of a person with an educated family would be put to death, whereas in a crime of similar circumstances, the killer of a person with an uneducated family or one without a family would be spared. This result cannot be countenanced, if only upon the realization that lives cannot be compared as to their respective worth.
As I see it, the ultimate crime is the taking of a life, and there can be no further measurement as to the value of the life taken. The proper focus in the capital sentencing procedure must be upon the circumstances “of the individual offense and the individual offender,” Jurek v. Texas, supra, 428 U.S. at 273-74, 96 S.Ct. at 2957, 49 L.Ed.2d at 939 (Stevens, J., joined by Stewart & Powell, JJ.), and not upon the particular victim’s family.
In support of its holding that there is no per se constitutional error in the use of victim impact statements in capital proceedings, the Court quotes the following from Trimble v. State, 300 Md. 387, 425, 478 A.2d 1143, 1155 (1984):
*234“The death penalty is said to serve two principal social purposes: retribution and deterrence of capital crimes by prospective offenders.
“In part, capital punishment is an expression of society’s moral outrage at particularly offensive conduct. This function may be unappealing to many, but it is essential in an ordered society that asks its citizens to rely on legal processes rather than self-help to vindicate their wrongs.” [Quoting Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 183, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 2929-30, 49 L.Ed.2d 859, 880 (1976) (opinion announcing judgment) (footnotes omitted).]
In quoting this passage from Trimble, which is an exact quote from Gregg v. Georgia, the majority fails to note that Gregg also stands for the proposition that society’s outrage at criminal acts and its need for retribution must be tempered by objectivity in the determination of whether a person is to be put to death. The Gregg plurality recognized that our moral outrage at offensive conduct may not be vented in an arbitrary and capricious manner. Gregg v. Georgia, supra, 428 U.S. at 188, 96 S.Ct. at 2932, 49 L.Ed. at 883 (Stewart, J., joined by Powell and Stevens, JJ.). Integral to the “legal process” on which our citizens must rely is the guarantee that the process will be fair and that our laws will be applied uniformly. Because victim impact evidence robs a capital sentencing proceeding of fairness and uniformity, its use cannot justifiably be sanctioned.
II
Putting aside the constitutionality of the statute itself, it is clear in this case that the victim impact evidence is unconstitutional. I stated in Lodowski that:
Time and again, the Supreme Court has emphasized that the sentencer’s discretion in a capital proceeding must be channeled and guided by clear, specific, and objective standards. See, e.g., Barclay v. Florida, supra, 463 U.S. [939] at 949, 103 S.Ct. [3418] at 3424, 77 L.Ed.2d [1134] at 1144; Godfrey v. Georgia, supra, 446 U.S. [420] *235at 428, 100 S.Ct. [1759] at 1764-65, 64 L.Ed. [398] at 406; Woodson v. North Carolina, supra, 428 U.S. [280] at 303, 96 S.Ct. [2978] at 2990-91, 49 L.Ed.2d [944] at 960. Evidence that has the effect of arousing the passion and prejudice of the sentencer does not satisfy this constitutional standard. Similarly, evidence irrelevant to the sentencing decision has no place in a capital sentencing proceeding.
302 Md. at 764-65, 490 A.2d at 1265-66. As in Lodowski, a review of the victim impact statement in this case clearly demonstrates these points.
Agent Michelle Swann prepared a victim impact statement through interviews with the victims’ son, daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter. Agent Swann writes of the victims’ son that he:
saw his parents alive for the last time on May 18th. They were having their lawn manicured and were excited about the onset of spring. He called them on the phone that evening and received no answer. He had made arrangements to pick Mr. Bronstein up on May 20th. They were both to be ushers in a granddaughter’s wedding and were going to pick up their tuxedos. When he arrived at the house on May 20th he noticed that his parents’ car wasn’t there. A neighbor told him she hadn’t seen the car in several days and he knew something was wrong. He went to this [sic] parents’ house and found them murdered. He called his sister crying and told her to come right over because something terrible had happened and their parents were both dead.
* * * * * *
The victims’ son states that he can only think of his parents in the context of how he found them that day, and he can feel their fear and horror. It was 4:00 p.m. when he discovered their bodies and this stands out in his mind. He is always aware of when 4:00 p.m. comes each day, even when he is not near a clock. He also wakes up at 4:00 a.m. each morning. The victims’ son states that he suffers from a lack of sleep. He is unable to drive on *236the streets that pass near his parents’ home. He also avoids driving past his father’s favorite restaurant, the supermarket where his parents shopped, etc. He is constantly reminded of his parents. He sees his father coming out of synagogues, sees his parents’ car, and feels very sad whenever he sees old people. The victims’ son feels that his parents were not killed, but were butchered like animals. He doesn’t think anyone should be able to do something like that and get away with it. He is very angry and wishes he could sleep and not feel so depressed all the time. He is fearful for the first time in his life, putting all the lights on and checking the locks frequently. His children are scared for him and concerned for his health. They phone him several times a day. At the same time he takes a fearful approach to the whereabouts of his children. He also calls his sister every day. He states that he is frightened by his own reaction of what he would do if someone hurt him or a family member. He doesn’t know if he’ll ever be the same again.
As with the testimony of Fletcher’s widow in Lodowski, the testimony of the Bronsteins’ son, however deserving of sympathy,
does not channel and guide the sentencer’s discretion in a constitutionally permissible manner. By appealing to the passions and prejudices of the sentencing authority, the above quoted passage[ ] represents] an “arbitrary factor” in the decisional process. In my view, it is arbitrary to base a decision as to whether an accused should live or die on the basis of subjective impressions a [family member] has of the crime____ Predicating the death penalty decision on this type of evidence propels us full force to the pr e-Furman era of the arbitrary imposition of capital punishment.
302 Md. at 766, 490 A.2d at 1266.
The portion of the victim impact statement dealing with the impact of the victims’ deaths upon their daughter and her husband further demonstrates this conclusion:
*237The victims’ daughter and her husband didn’t eat dinner for three days following the discovery of Mr. and Mrs. Bronstein’s bodies. They cried together every day for four months and she still cries every day. She states that she doesn’t sleep through a single night and thinks a part of her died too when her parents were killed. She reports that she doesn’t find much joy in anything and her powers of concentration aren’t good. She feels as if her brain is on overload. The victims’ daughter relates that she had to clean out her parents’ house and it took several weeks. She saw the bloody carpet, knowing that her parents had been there, and she felt like getting down on the rug and holding her mother. She wonders how this could have happened to her family because they’re just ordinary people. The victims’ daughter reports that she had become noticeably withdrawn and depressed at work and is now making an effort to be more outgoing. She notes that she is so emotionally tired because she doesn’t sleep at night, that she has a tendency to fall asleep when she attends social events such as dinner parties or the symphony. The victims’ daughter states that wherever she goes she sees and hears her parents. This happens every day. She cannot look at kitchen knives without being reminded of the murders and she is never away from it. She states that she can’t watch movies with bodies or stabbings in it. She can’t tolerate any reminder of violence. The victims’ daughter relates that she used to be very trusting, but is not any longer. When the doorbell rings she tells her husband not to answer it. She is very suspicious of people and was never that way before.
The victims’ daughter attended the defendant’s trial and that of the co-defendant because she felt someone should be there to represent her parents. She had never been told the exact details of her parents’ death and had to listen to the medical examiner’s report. After a certain point, her mind blocked out and she stopped hearing. She states that her parents were stabbed repeatedly with *238viciousness and she could never forgive anyone for killing them that way. She can’t believe that anybody could do that to someone. The victims’ daughter states that animals wouldn’t do this. They didn’t have to kill because there was no one to stop them from looting. Her father would have given them anything. The murders show the viciousness of the killer’s anger. She doesn’t feel that the people who did this could ever be rehabilitated and she doesn’t want them to be able to do this again or put another family through this. She feels that the lives of her family members will never be the same again.
As I said in Lodowski, “the punishment of death, unique in its severity and irrevocability, see Gregg v. Georgia, supra, 428 U.S. at 187, 96 S.Ct. at 2931, 49 L.Ed.2d at 882, should not turn upon these considerations.” 302 Md. at 767, 490 A.2d at 1267.
Agent Swann also reports the following concerning the victims’ grandchildren:
Since the Jewish religion dictates that birth and marriage are more important than death, the granddaughter’s wedding had to proceed on May 22nd. She had been looking forward to it eagerly, but it was a sad occasion with people crying. The reception, which normally would have lasted for hours, was very brief. The next day, instead of going on her honeymoon, she attended her grandparents’ funerals; The victims’ son, who was an usher at the wedding, cannot remember being there or coming and going from his parents’ funeral the next day. The victims’ granddaughter, on the other hand, vividly remembers every detail of the days following her grandparents’ death. Perhaps she described the impact of the tragedy most eloquently when she stated that it was a completely devastating and life altering experience.
# * * * * *
The victims’ granddaughter states that unless you experience something like this you can’t understand how it feels. You are in a state of shock for several months and then a terrible depression sets in. You are so angry and feel such *239rage. She states that she only dwells on the image of their death when thinking of her grandparents. For a time she would become hysterical whenever she saw dead animals on the road. She is not able to drive near her grandparents’ house and will never be able to go into their neighborhood again. The victims’ granddaughter also has a tendency to turn on all the lights in her house. She goes into a panic if her husband is late coming home from work. She used to be an avid reader of murder mysteries, but will never be able to read them again. She has to turn off the radio or T.V. when reports of violence come on because they hit too close to home. When she gets a newspaper she reads the comics and throws the rest away. She states that it is the small everyday things that haunt her constantly and always will. She saw a counselor for several months but stopped because she felt no one could help her.
The victims’ granddaughter states that the whole thing has been very hard on her sister too. Her wedding anniversary will always be bittersweet and tainted by the memory of what happened to her grandparents. This year on her anniversary she and her husband quietly went out of town. The victims’ granddaughter finds that she is unable to look at her sister’s wedding pictures. She also has a picture of her grandparents, but had to put it away because it was too painful to look at it.
Again although deserving of much sympathy, the effect of the victims’ death upon their grandchildren is irrelevant to the sentencing process and serves only to arouse the passion and prejudice of the sentencer.
Ill
In its closing argument, the State referred to the victim impact statement and argued as follows:
Ladies and gentlemen, if they prove the one mitigating circumstance or if they prove two or ten or a hundred or *240two hundred or a thousand, nothing whatsoever about this man, about his background, about his feelings, about his emotions, about his moral capacity, could ever, in any way, outweigh the importance of what he did that day in May last year____ If you get to section three and you have to balance it, take this presentence report and read out loud what is entitled the victim impact statement. For ladies and gentlemen that is the ultimate dimension of the crime he has committed____ [Emphasis supplied.]
As I noted in Lodowski, however, the procedure for the determination of whether the defendant must be put to death under § 413 does not include the victim impact statement as one of the aggravating circumstances to be weighed against the mitigating circumstances:
Of the ten aggravating circumstances listed in § 413(d), none specifically provides for consideration of victim impact evidence. Moreover, § 413(d) does not contain a “catch-áll” similar to that set forth in the mitigating circumstances subsection (§ 413(g)) that would permit the sentencing authority to consider victim impact evidence. In the case sub judice, the sentencer did not consider the victim impact evidence as a mitigating circumstance. For obvious reasons, victim impact evidence would rarely, if ever, be considered as a mitigating circumstance. Thus, the sentencer necessarily must have considered that evidence as an aggravating circumstance without entering it into the formal statutory weighing process. Nowhere does § 413 permit the sentencing authority to weigh the mitigating and aggravating circumstances, then the victim impact evidence, at the time of sentencing. The imposition of the death penalty in this case therefore did not comport with the sentencing procedures contained in § 413.
302 Md. at 785-86, 430 A.2d at 1276.
Impact evidence from the victim’s family has but one purpose: “to exacerbate the aggravating circumstances es*241tablished by the prosecution.” Id. at 786, 490 A.2d at 1276. This type of evidence, however, has no place in a statutory weighing process which owes its very existence to the constitutional mandate that the death penalty must not be administered in an arbitrary or capricious manner.
In my view, victim impact evidence as was introduced in Booth’s death sentencing is constitutionally impermissible. While I concur in the judgment insofar as it upholds the guilty verdicts, I would vacate the sentence and remand for another sentencing proceeding which does not include such evidence.