Court Opinion

ID: 9735569
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 18:24:11.164219+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:27:00.042315
License: Public Domain

BOEHM, Justice,
dissenting.
I concur in the majority’s conclusion that the trial court erred in receiving the heartrending testimony ably described in the majority opinion. However, I respectfully dissent from the majority’s imposition of the sentence in this case. I do so not because I disagree with the result reached by the majority, based on the information available to me. Rather, I dissent because I do not believe it is customary for this or any appellate court to originate a sentence as opposed to reviewing and revising a sentence imposed by the trial court. There may be circumstances where that action is appropriate, but this is not one of them.
In this case the trial court sentenced the defendant after procedural error that requires setting that sentence aside. As appellate judges, we can certainly suppose that an error-free sentencing hearing will produce the same result the trial court reached before and the majority reaches here. There is great force to the desire to bring serious criminal proceedings — and certainly death penalty proceedings — to a prompt resolution, *1067one way or the other. Moreover, I am very sympathetic to the concern for eliminating the need for the victim’s survivors to revisit these horrible events either in the press or in the courtroom. However, for the reasons set forth below, I would remand for a new sentencing hearing.
Article VII, § 4 of the Constitution of our State gives this Court “the power ... to review and revise the sentence imposed” in any criminal appeal. This provision, in my view, does not suggest that we should initiate sentences. Rather it presupposes a validly imposed sentence that we may review and revise. Whether we should frequently exercise that power, and if so what standards we are to apply, are much debated issues. Indeed, the appropriate role of appellate courts in sentencing has generated controversy across the nation. Few, if any, states seek to impose sentences in the first instance by courts that have not seen the evidence and the human beings involved at first hand.
A second aspect of this case leads me to the conclusion that a remand is appropriate. Neither the State nor the defendant briefed the issue of the appropriate disposition if this Court determined that error occurred in the sentencing phase. Under these circumstances I do not believe that our appellate review power should be exercised to deprive the defendant of an opportunity to replead his ease against the death penalty in a trial court proceeding conducted in conformity with governing law.
In sum, I would remand, recognizing that there is a distinct possibility that the result directed by the majority would nonetheless ultimately come to pass, attended only by delay and pain for all concerned. In the end, however, we are dealing with an issue, literally, of life or death. I know the majority views this matter with the same gravity as I do. I simply disagree as to the proper balance to strike among these competing considerations.