Court Opinion

ID: 9734049
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:23:53.180814+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:45.323522
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE SIMON, concurring in part and dissenting in part: I dissent from the imposition of the death sentence for the reasons set forth in my dissent in People v. Lewis (1981), 88 Ill. 2d 129, 179 (Simon, J., dissenting). I also dissent from the majority’s holding that the death penalty statute (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, par. 9 — 1) covers defendants such as Luis Ruiz who are convicted of murder under the theory of accountability. My judgment is that the intent of the legislature and the plain language of the statute restrict the scope of the death penalty to defendants who kill or who actually possess the intent required for murder, and exclude from its coverage those individuals who are convicted of murder under a theory which does not require that they do the killing and under which “intent” to kill may be imputed. The death penalty provisions appear in subsections (b) and (c) of the murder statute, which is section 9 — 1 of the Criminal Code of 1961 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, par. 9— 1(b), (c).) Subsection (a) of the statute, to which the next two subsections refer, does not mention accountability or imputed intent other than through felony murder, and in fact states clearly that “[a] person who kills an individual without lawful justification commits murder if, in performing the acts which cause the death ***.” (Emphasis added.) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, par. 9 — 1(a).) The crime of murder by accountability is not defined in section 9 — 1, or anywhere specifically in the Criminal Code of 1961; instead, it derives from sections 5 — 1, 5 — 2 and 5 — 3 of the Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, pars. 5 — 1, 5 — 2, 5 — 3) by applying those sections in conjunction with the murder statute. The placement of the death penalty provisions within the murder statute rather than as a separate section, combined with the introductory language of the murder statute which I have quoted, suggests that the death penalty was never meant to be imposed on a person who committed none of the acts which caused the victim’s death and who can be convicted of murder only by means of accountability. This conclusion is bolstered by the wording of the statutory sections involved. Subsection (b) of our murder statute sets forth eight aggravating factors the presence of which will permit the death penalty to be imposed. Except for the fifth factor, which involves the hiring of another to perform a murder, only one of the factors enumerated allows death for a murder in which the defendant did not personally do the killing. The sixth aggravating factor, which pertains to felony murder, is the only one which could even remotely involve a defendant who, like Ruiz, neither “performed] the acts which cause[d] the death” nor was convicted on a theory of murder which requires the actual, as opposed to the imputed, intent to kill. Yet that factor is specifically limited in its application to cases where “the murdered individual was actually killed by the defendant and not by another party to the crime or simply as a consequence of the crime” (emphasis added) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, par. 9 — 1(b)(6)(a)), regardless of the nature of the underlying felony, or even the extent of the defendant’s involvement in that felony or the intensity of his intention that the victim should die. It is significant that the third aggravating factor, which pertains to murders of two or more individuals, requires that the defendant have the “intent to kill more than one person” or that the deaths result from “separate premeditated acts” (emphasis added) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, par. 9 — 1(b)(3)), neither of which conditions is met where the theory under which defendant was convicted permits his intent to be imputed. Not one aggravating factor pertains to defendants like Ruiz who do not do the actual killing and who must be prosecuted for murder under a theory such as accountability which allows the element of murderous intent to be supplied vicariously. The fact that the legislature specifically rejected or modified more inclusive forms of factors (6) and (3) in enacting the limiting provisos I have mentioned is strong evidence that it intended not to countenance so broad an application of the death penalty. See 1 H.R.J., 80th Ill. Gen. Ass’y at 316-18 (1977) (factor (6)); 1 Legislative Synopsis & Dig., 80th Ill. Gen. Ass’y, at 955 (1977) (factor (3)). The majority attempts to demonstrate a contrary intent by pointing to one of the mitigating factors set forth in subsection (c) of the murder statute. Its reasoning is that there would be no need to provide that absence during the commission of the acts causing death may be considered in mitigation (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, par. 9 — 1(c)(5)) if accountability were not a basis for the imposition of the death penalty. This argument assumes that a defendant who is absent during the commission of the fatal acts cannot be charged with murder directly under the provision of the murder statute without resorting to accountability theories. I question the soundness of this assumption. As I have noted, one who solicits the killing of a victim does not do the actual killing; he need not be at the scene of the crime. Yet I see no reason why he cannot be prosecuted directly for murder. His intent to kill is real and need not be imputed; the act of soliciting another to perform the murder may well qualify as an “[act] which causefs] the death” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, par. 9 — 1(a)). In fact, as I have also noted above, the murder statute specifically allows the death penalty to be imposed on one who solicits the murder of another. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, par. 9 — 1(b)(5).) I fail to see why the mitigating factor relied on by the majority cannot apply to such a person, or why the factor must be construed as applying to persons merely accountable for the murderous acts of others in order to have meaning. This court should not permit a person to be sentenced to death when all that it can determine is that there is a strong possibility, or even a probability, that the death penalty statute applies to his conduct. Our practice has been to interpret criminal statutes and punishment-enhancing provisions with lenity, and to resolve each and every ambiguity in the reach of such provisions in favor of the defendant. (See, e.g., People v. Hobbs (1981), 86 Ill. 2d 242; People v. Haron (1981), 85 Ill. 2d 261, 277-78; People v. Lund (1943), 382 Ill. 213, 215-16.) This practice should be followed with particular rigor in interpreting the death penalty statute, not only because of its severity but also because of its irrevocability. In this case the statute does not extend on its face to the grounds on which the defendant was convicted of murder, and further inquiry into the various aggravating and mitigating factors leaves room for considerable doubt as to whether the statute was ever intended to extend to those grounds. My interpretation is that such an intent did not exist. To the extent that this interpretation is disputable all doubts should be resolved in favor of the defendant. And inasmuch as the majority’s attempt to make the death provision cover accountability cases depends on a labored construction of a mitigating factor which is probably not obvious to most laymen, the court should at the very least have given careful consideration to Ruiz’ claim that the indictment did not sufficiently inform him that the death penalty would be sought, rather than dismissing it in two brief sentences as it did. Traditionally, the courts of this State have adhered to the maxim that “[t]he degree of activity or participation in a crime should receive attention in fixing the sentence” (People v. Colone (1978), 56 Ill. App. 3d 1018, 1022; see People v. Viser (1975), 62 Ill. 2d 568, 586-87; People v. Morris (1969), 43 Ill. 2d 124, 131; People v. Parish (1980), 82 Ill. App. 3d 1028, 1033-34; People v. Mikel (1979), 73 Ill. App. 3d 21, 32). Accountable accomplices have generally-been given lesser sentences than principal perpetrators in accordance with this maxim, even though both are guilty of the crime. (See, e.g., People v. Parish (1980), 82 Ill. App. 3d 1028 (affirming disparate sentences because appellant was the principal perpetrator); People v. Mikel (1979), 73 Ill. App. 3d 21 (same); People v. Colone (1978), 56 Ill. App. 3d 1018 (reducing appellant’s sentence because he was merely an accountable accomplice).) The evidence in this case shows that Ruiz not only did not stab any of the victims but specifically refused to do so. He had every right to expect, as a constitutional matter (Enmund v. Florida (1982), 458 U.S. 782, 73 L. Ed. 2d 1140, 102 S. Ct. 3368) if not as a matter of prosecutorial choice, jury discretion (Woodson v. North Carolina (1976), 428 U.S. 280, 49 L. Ed. 2d 944, 96 S. Ct. 2978; Gregg v. Georgia (1976), 428 U.S. 153, 49 L. Ed. 2d 859, 96 S. Ct. 2909) or statutory interpretation that this refusal would make some difference in the punishment he would receive. While Ruiz may not have been a “doormat” (People v. Gleckler (1980), 82 Ill. 2d 145, 164), neither was he a principal in the three murders for which the death penalty is being sought. I respectfully suggest that the majority should have considered this at greater length, both in exercising review of the sentence imposed in this case and in deciding whether the legislature, in enacting a capital punishment statute silent on its face regarding accountability, really intended to allow infliction of the ultimate penalty upon anyone but ultimate murderers. I would reverse the death sentence and remand for resentencing.