Court Opinion

ID: 9632533
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 11:18:20.12022+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:08:17.820250
License: Public Domain

HAYS, Justice.
It has come to our attention that in our opinion filed October 19, 1982, 134 Ariz. 164, 654 P.2d 800, we failed to set forth our independent review of the evidence regarding aggravating and mitigating circumstances. None of the issues raised by counsel on appeal concerned the penalty imposed but we, nevertheless, have an obligation to examine the aggravating and mitigating circumstances to determine if the evidence supports the imposition of the death penalty. State v. Richmond, 114 Ariz. 186, 560 P.2d 41, cert. denied, 433 U.S. 915, 97 S.Ct. 2988, 53 L.Ed.2d 1011 (1976).
The trial court in its special verdict found the following aggravating circumstances:
1. That appellant has been convicted of an offense for which, under Arizona law, a sentence of life was imposable;
2. That appellant committed this offense in expectation of the receipt of something of value;
3. That appellant committed the offense in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner.
The court further found that the fact that the appellant was 19 years of age at the time of the commission of the offense might be considered a mitigating circumstance, and further found no other mitigating circumstances were presented to the court nor were they present in the record.
In our independent review, we find that the findings of the trial court are fully supported by an abundance of evidence. It would serve no useful purpose to reiterate the horrible details of the “especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner” in which the murder was accomplished.
We find no mitigating circumstances in the record which could outweigh the aggravating circumstances; this includes the age of appellant.
There is one final matter which we must address as indicated by the following quotation from State v. Richmond, supra:
*90“[This court must determine] whether the sentences of death are excessive or disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases, considering both the crime and the defendant....”
114 Ariz. at 196, 560 P.2d at 51.
It is obvious that the evidence in this case takes it far beyond the norm in homicides. The imposition of the death penalty here cannot be characterized as an arbitrary and capricious imposition of that penalty. As this case appears to be an example of the most extreme factual situations with virtually no mitigation, no useful purpose would be served in comparing, discussing or citing other homicide cases.
We affirm the imposition of the death penalty.
HOLOHAN, C.J., GORDON, V.C.J., and FELDMAN, J., concur.