Court Opinion

ID: 9788609
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:12:36.843661+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:06.232126
License: Public Domain

JOHNSON, P.J.,
Specially Concurring.
¶ 1 When the legislature changed the law to allow life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, it did so to give juries an option between two extremes — that is between death and life. A life sentence with the possibility of parole could be considered a short term of imprisonment for a very very serious crime. This third option seems to work well. But, if a jury believes or is lead to believe that life imprisonment without the possibility of parole does in fact not mean that a person would be incarcerated for the rest of his or her life, that third option is rendered meaningless. A jury is more likely to vote for the death penalty rather than life imprisonment to ensure the defendant never gets out of prison if the jury believes “without the possibility of parole” does not mean anything. Accordingly, jurors should not be advised about the inner workings of the Pardon and Parole Board or the power of the Governor as it relates to any form of clemency-
¶ 2 With this in mind, I address the issue in this case about who started the questions relating to credits and clemency. As noted above, clemency should never have been mentioned and when it was, the judge should have admonished the jury that that was beyond the jury’s consideration. Such an admonishment should be given sua sponte when there is no objection. While lawyers *1105are the first who should object when they consider a question or testimony to be out of line or objectionable, the trial judge also has the responsibility, even without objection, to monitor a death penalty case to see that prejudicial error does not occur. I believe a trial judge should sua sponte control this line of objectionable questioning.
¶ 3 The dissent claims the error in this case was invited by the defense, but that is not the way I read the record provided. The prosecutor was the first to bring up the matter of earned credits during his cross-examination of Department of Corrections employee Emma Watts. (Tr.III 556-557) On redirect, the defense attorney asked Watts whether a person serving life without parole got out of prison; Watts responded “No, you don’t.” (Tr.III 560).
¶ 4 I interpret this line of questioning relating to earned credits, which lead into questions concerning clemency, as beginning with the prosecutor’s cross-examination of Watts. In response, defense counsel properly pointed out persons sentenced to life without the possibility of parole could earn credits but did not get out of jail.
¶ 5 Following Watts’ testimony, the scenario worsened. Defense counsel, on direct examination, asked the next witness Sharon McCoy, “[i]f a man or woman is serving a sentence of life without parole they don’t get out do they?” She responded, “No.” The cross-examination of this witness was the coup de grace. The prosecutor asked McCoy if she was familiar with “the term commutation,” asked what commutation was, who had the power to make that recommendation, and what prisoners were eligible for commutation. This line of questioning clearly revealed to the jury that commutation can happen even when a person is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. (Tr.III 568-572) Thus, by the prosecutor’s questions, the jury was basically told a person who gets life imprisonment without the possibility of parole can still be released from prison.
¶ 6 In this case, neither the attorneys nor the trial judge acted appropriately when it allowed the jury to hear evidence relating to matters of credits, parole, and commutation. The trial judge tried diligently to properly instruct the jury about matters of commutation, but this instruction likely improperly influenced the jury’s decision to render a death sentence. This may be inferred from the short amount of time it took the jury to return a penalty of death after the trial judge’s statements about commutation and clemency were put on the record. The trial judge’s statements about the process were accurate but should not under any circumstances have been given to the jury. The prosecutors and defense counsel were seasoned attorneys and should never have put the trial court into the position they did.
¶ 7 I continue to firmly believe that juries should not be told of the inner workings of the Pardon and Parole Board, the power of the Governor to commute sentences, or other administrative executive matters which might affect a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. This is not information a jury needs. Approved uniform jury instructions give jurors the information they need to set punishment and those instructions should be followed.
¶ 8 Based upon the foregoing, I specially concur in the opinion of the majority.