Court Opinion

ID: 9850578
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:59:33.136746+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:39.685418
License: Public Domain

CORCORAN, Justice,
specially concurring:
I concur in affirming the judgment of conviction and the sentence of death, but write separately because I do not believe this court must or should conduct a comparative proportionality review before it affirms a death sentence.
Comparative proportionality review refers to the practice of comparing the defendant’s sentence with the punishment imposed on others convicted of the same crime. This type of appellate review has nothing to do with traditional requirements under the eighth amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment,3 and is not mandated by the Arizona Constitution, death penalty statutes, or procedural rules. It is strictly a judicial invention by which this court assumes authority to modify an otherwise appropriate death penalty in an attempt to ensure that defendants in similar cases receive similar sentences.
My purpose in writing is not to criticize the court’s ultimate objective or, as Justice Feldman’s special concurrence submits, to argue that we should never check our capital sentencing procedures for “resulting aberrations.” Rather, I write to suggest that, in light of other and more effective safeguards, we need not conduct a comparative proportionality review to promote the “evenhanded, rational, and consistent” application of Arizona’s death penalty. Jurek v. Texas, 428 U.S. 262, 276, 96 S.Ct. 2950, 2958, 49 L.Ed.2d 929 (1976). In fact, the erratic and protean proportionality reviews performed by this court do little to enhance consistency, and may even result in the freakish reduction of the death penalty. So long as arbitrary and capricious sentencing is the touchstone under constitutional analysis, see Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 188, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 2932, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976) (Stewart, J., Powell, J., and Stevens, J., announcing judgment of the court), we are no more justified in exercising unbridled discretion to reduce to life than to wantonly require death. Comparative proportionality review, therefore, serves no principled purpose and should be discontinued.
I. Federal Proportionality Requirements
Historically, the eighth amendment merely ensured that the severity of the crime justified the severity of the sentence; it did not guarantee that a given defendant’s sentence matched sentences imposed on others for similar crimes. See Pulley v. Harris, 465 U.S. 37, 43 & n. 6, 104 S.Ct. 871, 875-76 & n. 6, 79 L.Ed.2d 29 (1984). Legislatures and appellate courts rarely examined proportionality in a comparative sense until after the Supreme Court’s decision in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972), which held that the death penalty, in light of its uniqueness and severity, could not be imposed under sentencing procedures that created a substantial risk of “arbitrary and capricious” decision-making. See Gregg, 428 U.S. at 188, 96 S.Ct. at 2932. In so doing, Fur-man merged traditional eighth amendment analysis with notions of fundamental fairness underlying due process, see State v. Ramseur, 106 N.J. 123, 349, 524 A.2d 188, 303 (1987), and ultimately required the overhaul of many existing capital-sentencing statutes to prevent the wanton and freakish imposition of death sentences. See Pulley, 465 U.S. at 44, 104 S.Ct. at 876.
As part of an effort to comply with Fur-man, many states endorsed cross-case appellate review demonstrating that similarly situated defendants received the same sentences. See, e.g., Gregg, 428 U.S. at 198, *51896 S.Ct. at 2937 (Georgia statute required comparative proportionality review); Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. 242, 250-51, 259, 96 S.Ct. 2960, 2966, 2969-70, 49 L.Ed.2d 913 (1976) (Florida appellate court performs a proportionality review despite the absence of a statutory requirement). This practice became so commonplace, in fact, that some defendants demanded comparative sentence review as a matter of constitutional right. See, e.g., Pulley, 465 U.S. at 39-40, 104 S.Ct. at 874 (defendant challenged the California capital punishment statute because it failed to require the state supreme court to perform a comparative proportionality review).
Furman and its progeny, however, did not “establish proportionality review as a constitutional requirement.” Pulley, 465 U.S. at 45, 104 S.Ct. at 876; accord Walton v. Arizona, — U.S.-,-, 110 S.Ct. 3047, 3058, 111 L.Ed.2d 511 (1990) (proportionality review not required under Arizona’s sentencing scheme); State v. Serna, 163 Ariz. 260, 269, 787 P.2d 1056, 1065 (1990) (proportionality review not mandated by the United States Constitution). As the Supreme Court explained,
[T]hat some [state] schemes providing proportionality review are constitutional does not mean that such review is indispensable. We take statutes as we find them. To endorse the statute as a whole is not to say that anything different is unacceptable. As was said in Gregg, “[w]e do not intend to suggest that ... any sentencing system constructed along these general lines would inevitably satisfy the concerns of Furman, for each distinct system must be examined on an individual basis.” 428 U.S. at 195, 96 S.Ct. at 2935 (footnote omitted).
Pulley, 465 U.S. at 44-45, 104 S.Ct. at 876. The disparate results criticized in Furman, to be sure, resulted from “statutes vesting unguided sentencing discretion in juries and trial judges,” Pulley, 465 U.S. at 44, 104 S.Ct. at 876 (emphasis added),4 not from defective judicial review on appeal.
Furman is best satisfied, therefore, not by any specific type of appellate review, but by carefully drafted statutes coupled with precise application ensuring that the sentencing authority at a bifurcated proceeding receives “adequate information and guidance” and focuses “on the particularized circumstances of the crime and the defendant.” Gregg, 428 U.S. at 195, 199, 96 S.Ct. at 2935, 2937 (emphasis added); see also McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279, 307, 107 S.Ct. 1756, 1775, 95 L.Ed.2d 262 (1987). If the sentencing authority concentrates sufficiently “on the particularized nature of the crime and the particularized characteristics of the individual defendant,” Gregg, 428 U.S. at 206, 96 S.Ct. at 2941, an appellate court “lawfully may presume,” without regard to comparative proportionality, that death sentences are not wantonly or freakishly imposed. Walton, — U.S. at-, 110 S.Ct. at 3058; McCleskey, 481 U.S. at 308, 107 S.Ct. at 1775.
In Jurek, for example, the Court sustained the Texas death statute primarily because of the limitations placed on the jury’s sentencing discretion. 428 U.S. at 276, 96 S.Ct. at 2958. The Court manifested little concern for appellate practices. See Pulley, 465 U.S. at 49-50, 104 S.Ct. at 878-79. Neither the state statute, as in Georgia {Gregg), nor state case law, as in Florida {Proffitt), required the Texas Supreme Court to make a comparative proportionality inquiry. Id. at 48, 104 S.Ct. at 878. The Texas statute required only some sort of prompt or automatic “judicial review of the jury’s decision in a court with statewide jurisdiction.” Id. at 49, 104 S.Ct. at 878. The Supreme Court later relied on Jurek to sustain California’s death penalty statutes and procedures, which were similarly silent as to a comparative proportionality requirement. Id. at 50-51, 104 S.Ct. at 879. Jurek, therefore, illustrates the established rationale behind the Supreme Court’s refusal to require comparative proportionality review under Furman: so long as a state’s capital sentencing procedures are sufficiently tailored and guided, *519defendants “cannot prove a constitutional violation by demonstrating that other defendants who may be similarly situated did not receive the death penalty.” McCleskey, 481 U.S. at 306-07, 107 S.Ct. at 1775 (emphasis in original).
In theory, then, comparative proportionality review is premised on the faulty notion that the United States Constitution requires total uniformity in capital sentencing. Our federal constitution, however,
is not offended by inconsistency in results based on the objective circumstances of the crime. Numerous legitimate factors may influence the outcome of a trial and a defendant’s ultimate sentence, even though they may be irrelevant to his actual guilt. If sufficient evidence to link a suspect to a crime cannot be found, he will not be charged. The capability of the responsible law enforcement agency can vary widely. Also, the strength of the available evidence remains a variable throughout the criminal justice process and may influence a prosecutor’s decision to offer a plea bargain or to go to trial. Witness availability, credibility, and memory also influence the results of prosecutions. Finally, sentencing in state courts is generally discretionary, so a defendant’s ultimate sentence necessarily will vary according to the judgment of the sentencing authority. The foregoing factors necessarily exist in varying degrees throughout our criminal justice system.
McCleskey, 481 U.S. at 307 n. 28, 107 S.Ct. at 1775 n. 28 (emphasis added).
II. Arizona Proportionality Requirements
Arizona, like Florida (Proffitt), adopted comparative proportionality review strictly by judicial decree. In a line of post-F’wrman cases beginning with State v. Richmond, this court stated that it could not conduct a "meaningful appellate review of each death sentence” without determining whether the sentence of death is disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases. 114 Ariz. 186, 196, 560 P.2d 41, 51 (1976), cert. denied, 433 U.S. 915, 97 S.Ct. 2988, 53 L.Ed.2d 1101 (1977); State v. McCall, 160 Ariz. 119, 131, 770 P.2d 1165, 1177 (1989), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 110 S.Ct. 3289, 111 L.Ed.2d 798 (1990); State v. Beaty, 158 Ariz. 232, 247-48, 762 P.2d 519, 534-35 (1988), cert. denied, 491 U.S. 910, 109 S.Ct. 3200, 105 L.Ed.2d 708 (1989); State v. Gretzler, 135 Ariz. 42, 58, 659 P.2d 1, 17, cert. denied, 461 U.S. 971, 103 S.Ct. 2444, 77 L.Ed.2d 1327 (1983). The only authority cited by the Richmond court in support of this rule was the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Gregg, which upheld a statutory capital sentencing scheme providing for proportionality. 428 U.S. at 198, 96 S.Ct. at 2937. The Supreme Court in Gregg, however, did not hold that comparative proportionality was required under federal law, but only by Georgia’s death penalty statutes. Id.; see also Pulley, 465 U.S. at 46, 104 S.Ct. at 877 (“Court of Appeals erred in concluding that Gregg required proportionality review.”).
In Arizona, neither our statutes nor official court rules require or empower this court to conduct an inter-case proportionality review. A.R.S. § 13-4031 and rule 31.-2(b), Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure, provide for an automatic appeal to this court when a defendant is sentenced to death, but they do not specify what form our appellate review should take. Similarly, the Arizona Constitution does not provide any alternative basis for comparative proportionality review. As this court recently noted in State v. Bartlett,
Article 2, § 15 of the Arizona Constitution is identically worded to its federal counterpart prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. The framers of the Arizona Constitution, “in a rare case of using the federal Constitution as a model,” adopted the federal wording “cruel and unusual punishment” over the committee’s proposed wording that neither “cruel nor unusual punishment” should be permitted.
This deliberate adoption of the federal wording expressed the framers’ intent to give legislators wide discretion in imposing methods of capital punishment.
*520164 Ariz. 229, 240-41, 792 P.2d 692, 703-04 (1990) (emphasis in original), judgment vacated on other grounds, — U.S.-, 111 S.Ct. 2880, 115 L.Ed.2d 1046 (1991).
Bartlett suggests that the Arizona and federal constitutions provide coterminous protection against cruel and unusual punishment. Absent a ruling by this court interpreting article 2, § 15 of the Arizona Constitution more broadly than its federal counterpart, I do not believe a defendant may assert, and this court cannot conclude that a defendant has, a separate right to comparative proportionality review on state constitutional grounds.
III. Arguments Against Proportionality Review
This court occasionally endorses comparative proportionality analysis as if it were the ultimate fail-safe against errant death penalties and, therefore, an essential element of the state’s death penalty scheme. I believe, however, that comparative proportionality review inappropriately adds an unnecessary and uncertain test to the state’s sentencing procedures. Also, because the court compares death sentences in both an inconsistent and incomplete manner, comparative proportionality review lacks the capacity to eradicate the systemic arbitrariness it seemingly seeks to prevent.
A. Safeguards Under Arizona’s Sentencing Scheme
While sentencing procedures in other states may give rise to a need for comparative proportionality review as “an additional safeguard against arbitrary or capricious sentencing,” Pulley, 465 U.S. at 45, 104 S.Ct. at 877, Arizona’s capital-sentencing scheme does not. Our death statute applies only to defendants found guilty of first-degree murder as defined under state law, and permits the death penalty only when the sentencing judge, during a separate sentencing hearing, finds that at least one of the 10 statutory aggravating circumstances is present and that no mitigating circumstances • warrant leniency. A.R.S. § 13-703(AHQ, (E)-(G); Gretzler, 135 Ariz. at 54, 659 P.2d at 13 (statute prohibits a death sentence when none of the aggravating circumstances are found). Decisions by this court give substance to the operative terms of the death statute and provide sufficient sentencing guidance to presume that death sentences in Arizona meet constitutional requirements. Walton, — U.S. at -, 110 S.Ct. at 3057-58.
Limiting definitions placed on aggravating circumstances, for example, circumscribe the sentencer’s discretion within narrow parameters to insure that the death penalty is not arbitrarily, capriciously, or freakishly imposed. See, e.g., Walton, — U.S. at-, 110 S.Ct. at 3058 (definition given to the “especially cruel” aggravating factor gives meaningful sentencing guidance). With respect to possible mitigating circumstances, the sentencing judge “must consider any aspect of defendant’s character or record and any circumstances of the offense relevant to determining whether the death sentence should not be imposed.” McCall, 160 Ariz. at 131, 770 P.2d at 1177, citing Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978). Taken together, these procedures strike the requisite balance “between the need for flexibility in order to afford individualized decision-making essential in capital cases, and the need for appropriate standards to prevent the arbitrariness that accompanies unbridled discretion.” State v. Mata, 125 Ariz. 233, 242, 609 P.2d 48, 57, cert. denied, 449 U.S. 938, 101 S.Ct. 338, 66 L.Ed.2d 161 (1980).
Further, our review of death cases goes the second constitutional mile without the aid of comparative proportionality analysis. Although the Supreme Court does not require any specific or heightened standard of appellate review in capital cases, Proffitt, 428 U.S. at 258, 96 S.Ct. at 2969,5 we undertake an extensive, independent re*521view of each death sentence handed down under Arizona law. As explained in State v. Watson, “[a] finding merely that the imposition of the death penalty by the trial court was ‘factually supported’ or ‘justified by the evidence’ ” is not the appellate treatment that the death penalty warrants. 129 Ariz. 60, 63, 628 P.2d 943, 946 (1981). We must determine for ourselves, based upon an independent review of the entire record, whether “we believe that the death penalty should be imposed.” Id.
This independent review includes a painstaking search of the entire record for error, an examination of the facts that establish the presence or absence of aggravating and mitigating circumstances, and a separate determination of whether the latter circumstances outweigh the former when both are present. Richmond, 114 Ariz. at 196, 560 P.2d at 51; see, e.g., State v. Rockwell, 161 Ariz. 5, 15-16, 775 P.2d 1069, 1079-80 (1989) (death sentence reduced because mitigating evidence questioned the propriety of the penalty); State v. Prince, 160 Ariz. 268, 275-76, 772 P.2d 1121, 1128-29 (1989) (sentence reduced to life because state failed to prove an aggravating circumstance); State v. Mauro, 159 Ariz. 186, 207-08, 766 P.2d 59, 80-81 (1988) (sentence reduced to life because defendant’s mental impairment was a substantial mitigating factor); Watson, 129 Ariz. at 64, 628 P.2d at 947 (death sentence set aside because mitigating circumstances outweighed aggravating circumstances). To provide yet another screen in cases posing any doubt whether the death penalty should be imposed, this court has resolved such doubt “in favor of a life sentence.” Rockwell, 161 Ariz. at 16, 775 P.2d at 1080; State v. Valencia, 132 Ariz. 248, 250, 645 P.2d 239, 241 (1982).
The value of comparative proportionality review, proponents say, is that it compels the court to coordinate its actions with prior decisions in similar cases, thereby fostering uniform results. The independent review referenced above, however, already focuses the court’s attention on prior, comparable cases. Section 13-703(F), for example, simply lists the 10 possible aggravating circumstances applicable to any given case. To determine the exact meaning and parameters of a particular aggravating circumstance, we must look at previous cases to see how the court interpreted § 13-703(F) in light of similar facts. See, e.g., Gretzler, 135 Ariz. at 50-53, 659 P.2d at 9-12 (court held that the statutory phrase “especially heinous, cruel, or depraved” has been construed in a constitutionally narrow fashion and examined its application in individual cases). The court employs the same strategy to review mitigating circumstances under § 13-703(G). See, e.g., Rockwell, 161 Ariz. at 15, 775 P.2d at 1079 (prior cases helped determine whether a defendant’s age may be a substantial and relevant mitigating factor). By verifying that certain aggravating or mitigating circumstances apply only to cases involving similar facts, our independent review performs an appropriate comparative function.
Moreover, because of the wide range of mitigating evidence a defendant may proffer, see McCall, 160 Ariz. at 131, 770 P.2d at 1177, this court occasionally weighs leniency afforded other defendants as a mitigating factor. Leniency granted to an accomplice under a plea agreement, for example, “does not in itself prevent the imposition of the death penalty,” State v. Marlow, 163 Ariz. 65, 72, 786 P.2d 395, 402 (1989) (emphasis added), but we will consider such leniency “along with other mitigating circumstances in determining whether to impose the death penalty.” State v. Lambright, 138 Ariz. 63, 76, 673 P.2d 1, 14 (1983) (emphasis added), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 892, 105 S.Ct. 267, 83 L.Ed.2d 203 (1984).
In my opinion, comparative proportionality review serves little, if any, purpose that is not already accomplished by way of Arizona’s narrowly construed death statute and our independent review of the statutory aggravating and mitigating circumstances in each case. A sufficiently narrow death statute alone “insures that the death penalty will only be imposed for the most serious crimes [and] ... that [it] will only be imposed for the same type of offenses which occur under the same types of *522circumstances.” Jurek, 428 U.S. at 270, 96 S.Ct. at 2955 (emphasis added); see also Gregg, 428 U.S. at 206-07, 96 S.Ct. at 2941 (jury is unable to impose a freakish death sentence if “it is always circumscribed by the legislative guidelines”). Once this court evaluates the sentencing judge’s compliance with the state’s death statutes and then performs a separate review to provide' added protection against arbitrariness and caprice, comparative proportionality review becomes an empty ritual. See Walton, — U.S. at-, 110 S.Ct. at 3058 (comparative proportionality review by the Arizona Supreme Court is not required because the death statute is construed “in a manner that furnishes sufficient guidance to the sentencer”); Pulley, 465 U.S. at 49, 104 S.Ct. at 878-79 (comparative proportionality review by the Texas Supreme Court is constitutionally superfluous).
B. Defects in Proportionality Review
The argument that a comparative proportionality review acts as a check against the random and arbitrary imposition of the death penalty also assumes, necessarily, that the comparative review mechanism itself is not freakishly applied or inherently arbitrary. Such is not the case with the proportionality reviews conducted by this court.
First, the court’s application of comparative proportionality analysis is by no means a model of regularity. The court frequently purports to compare a defendant’s death sentence with penalties imposed for similar crimes, but its analysis is simply a “cursory or rubber-stamp” type of review. Proffitt, 428 U.S. at 259, 96 S.Ct. at 2969; see, e.g., State v. Moorman, 154 Ariz. 578, 587, 744 P.2d 679, 688 (1987) (death sentence is proportional because the “facts speak for themselves” here); State v. Gerlaugh, 135 Ariz. 89, 90, 659 P.2d 642, 643 (1983) (this court believed that "no useful purpose would be served in comparing, discussing or citing other homicide cases”); Mata, 125 Ariz. at 242, 609 P.2d at 57 (court cited no cases in ruling defendant’s death sentence not excessive).
In other situations the court either forgets or ignores its self-imposed proportionality review requirement. In State v. Arnett, for example, we reviewed defendant’s death sentence on three separate occasions and failed each time to perform a formal proportionality review. 158 Ariz. 15, 760 P.2d 1064 (1988); 125 Ariz. 201, 608 P.2d 778 (1980); 119 Ariz. 38, 579 P.2d 542 (1978); see also State v. Greenawalt, 128 Ariz. 150, 624 P.2d 828 (no formal proportionality review), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 882, 102 S.Ct. 364, 70 L.Ed.2d 191 (1981); State v. Bishop, 127 Ariz. 531, 622 P.2d 478 (1980) (same); State v. Ceja, 115 Ariz. 413, 565 P.2d 1274 (same), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 975, 98 S.Ct. 533, 54 L.Ed.2d 467 (1977); State v. Knapp, 114 Ariz. 531, 562 P.2d 704 (1977) (same), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 908, 98 S.Ct. 1458, 55 L.Ed.2d 500 (1978). If the fair application of our state’s death penalty depends in any way on inter-case sentence comparison, this court should have honored its own proportionality review requirement as a matter of practice as well as theory.
Second, the scope of the court’s proportionality inquiry varies from case to case. Because Richmond did not define or describe the “similar cases” to which a given death sentence should be compared, see 114 Ariz. at 196, 560 P.2d at 51, the court employs different standards in different cases to assess the similarity of sentences. The most common technique is to compare a death case with cases from this and other jurisdictions in which the death penalty was imposed, including cases in which the sentence was either reversed or reduced on appeal. See, e.g., State v. Amaya-Ruiz, 166 Ariz. 152, 179, 800 P.2d 1260, 1287 (1990), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 111 S.Ct. 2044, 114 L.Ed.2d 129 (1991). This court, however, frequently modifies its approach and excludes similar cases from other jurisdictions. See, e.g., State v. Comer, 165 Ariz. 413, 429-30, 799 P.2d 333, 349-50 (1990), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 111 S.Ct. 1404, 113 L.Ed.2d 460 (1991); State v. Wallace, 160 Ariz. 424, 428, 773 P.2d 983, 987 (1989), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 110 S.Ct. 1513, 108 L.Ed.2d 649 (1990); State v. LaGrand, 153 Ariz. 21, 37, 734 P.2d 563, 579, cert. denied, 484 U.S. 872, 108 S.Ct. *523207, 98 L.Ed.2d 158 (1987); State v. Hensley, 142 Ariz. 598, 604, 691 P.2d 689, 695 (1984). We have yet to explain why one defendant is entitled to a more extensive comparative proportionality review than that afforded to another.
By far the most serious defect in the scope of our proportionality review, however, is the court’s unwillingness to include all first-degree murder cases. In State v. Ortiz, this court stated that it would consider all cases “where the death penalty could be imposed” so that the death penalty is not applied arbitrarily or capriciously. 131 Ariz. 195, 207, 639 P.2d 1020, 1032 (1981) (emphasis added), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 984, 102 S.Ct. 2259, 72 L.Ed.2d 863 (1982) . In practice, however, we consider only those cases in which the court affirmed or vacated a death sentence on appeal. See State v. LaGrand, 152 Ariz. 483, 490, 733 P.2d 1066, 1073 (true proportionality review does not require an examination of particular types of cases), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 872, 108 S.Ct. 206, 98 L.Ed.2d 157 (1987).
“[T]he court excludes from the pool of potentially similar cases to be considered for comparative purposes any first-degree murder case in which the defendant originally received only a life sentence.” Pulaski, Capital Sentencing in Arizona: A Critical Evaluation, 1984 Ariz.St.L.J. 1, 51; see, e.g., Amaya-Ruiz, 166 Ariz. at 179, 800 P.2d at 1287 (citing no first-degree murder cases in which defendant initially received a life sentence); Comer, 165 Ariz. at 429-30, 799 P.2d at 349-50 (same). One observer concludes that doing so essentially skews the outcome of any proportionality review in favor of the death sentence. If the pool “is made up only of cases in which the defendants’ sentences are death, the death penalty under review will naturally be found comparatively proportionate.” Note, Criminal Procedure: Comparative Proportionality Review of Death Sentences: Is it a Meaningful Safeguard in Oklahoma?, 38 Okla.L.Rev. 267, 278 (1985) . Even in its best dress, therefore, our form of comparative proportionality review cannot possibly provide what its label suggests—a fair proportionality assessment.
Despite the many problems associated with comparative proportionality review, the majority insists on its continued use, arguing that it is better to improve the court’s procedures and employ every method available to reduce our errors. That argument, however, asks this court to fix a procedure that simply cannot be fixed. No matter how skilled the court becomes at comparing “similar cases,” comparative proportionality review will never fulfill its intended purpose because it seeks an impossible result—complete uniformity at the end of a process that is constitutionally required under Furman to provide an individualized assessment of each defendant.
Moreover, I believe comparative proportionality review simply invites appellate error by permitting this court to modify death sentences deemed otherwise appropriate by our independent review, thereby giving birth to a new class of mercy-eligible defendants whose ranks we have no way of specifying in advance. This power to reduce to life requires comparisons with records not presently before the court and opens the door to the deliberation of inappropriate sentencing factors such as sentiment, conjecture, sympathy, passion, prejudice, public opinion, or public feeling. California v. Brown, 479 U.S. 538, 543, 107 S.Ct. 837, 840, 93 L.Ed.2d 934 (1987) (sentencing authority should not focus on extraneous emotional factors); see also Beaty, 158 Ariz. at 247, 762 P.2d at 534 (discussing the need to reduce the “human element” in the imposition of the death penalty).
If the sentencing judge has no right to engage in such speculation or to consider his or her own subjective belief as to the appropriateness of a penalty, we have no greater authority to do so on appeal. Narrowly tailored and individualized sentencing is the hallmark of a constitutional death penalty scheme under our present jurisprudence. By expanding the range of permissible discretion on appeal, however, we move our sentencing procedures farther away from the constitutional mark and risk *524the same unguided, emotional results denounced since Furman. Thus, with all due respect to the majority, comparative proportionality review does not “recognize our own fallibility,” but compounds it by adding a subjective variable.
IV. Conclusion
I commend the majority’s attempt to provide death-eligible defendants with extra-constitutional protection against the arbitrary and capricious application of this state’s most severe punishment. Nevertheless, like all other reforms carried to an extreme, the appellate procedures in this area are themselves in need of reform. In the almost 15 years since Richmond, we have had ample opportunity to determine whether comparative proportionality review is a worthwhile and effective endeav- or. We know now through experience and logic that it fails in both respects. Therefore, until we are required by federal or state constitutional authority or Arizona statute to establish a comparative sentence mechanism and this court adopts adequate guidelines for its application, I believe we should abandon comparative proportionality review.

. The eighth amendment applies to the states through the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution. See Pulley v. Harris, 465 U.S. 37, 43-44, 104 S.Ct. 871, 876, 79 L.Ed.2d 29 (1984).

. See also Pulley, 465 U.S. at 55, 104 S.Ct. at 881-82 (Stevens, J., concurring in part and concurring in the judgment) (arbitrary results were also caused by permitting death sentences in broad classes of offenses),

. See also Pulley, 465 U.S. at 53, 104 S.Ct. at 880-81 (thoughtful appellate review is adequate in California); Barefoot v. Estelle, 463 U.S. 880, 892-95, 103 S.Ct. 3383, 3394-95, 77 L.Ed.2d 1090 (1983) (permitting "expedited" review of death sentences so that decisions are "not delayed by the weight of other business"); Jurek, 428 U.S. at 276, 96 S.Ct. at 2958 ("prompt” appellate review is sufficient in Texas).