Court Opinion

ID: 9620531
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:43:36.296173+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:51.458028
License: Public Domain

Gunter, Justice,
concurring specially.
I concur in the court’s judgment in this case, but since I do so for different reasons, I deem it appropriate to set forth those reasons.
It is my view that Georgia’s current statutory provisions that permit the imposition of the death penalty in certain specified cases are in violation of the Georgia Constitution. See my separate opinions in Coley v. State, *561231 Ga. 829 (204 SE2d 612) (1974); Street v. State, 237 Ga. 307, and Duhart v. State, 237 Ga. 426.
Additionally, it is my view that the constitutional principle of double jeopardy is applicable to the sentencing phase of a trial under Georgia’s current statutory provisions that permit the imposition or non-imposition of the death penalty by a jury. Under this state’s procedure, one convicted of murder has a statutory right to have the convicting jury determine which of the two sentences provided by law shall be imposed. If the jury declines to impose either sentence, the lesser of the two must be imposed by the court, and the impaneling of a new jury for the determination of which of the two sentences should be imposed violates the double jeopardy provision and the due process provision contained in the Federal Constitution. See my dissenting opinions in Cameron v. Caldwell, 232 Ga. 611 (208 SE2d 441) (1974); Wood v. State, 234 Ga. 758 (218 SE2d 47) (1975); Orvis v. State, 237 Ga. 6 (226 SE2d 570), and Riley v. State, 237 Ga. 124 (226 SE2d 922).