Court Opinion

ID: 9848523
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:21:30.024545+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:18:22.338727
License: Public Domain

HUNSTEIN, Presiding Justice,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
While I concur fully in the majority’s opinion herein as to Divisions 1, 2 (a), and 3,1 cannot agree with the majority’s determination that the statutory aggravating circumstance set forth in OCGA § 17-10-30 (b) (8) does not require a finding of victim status scienter. Thus, as discussed below, I respectfully dissent to the majority’s holding in Division 2 (b).
As the majority observes, “[t]he determination of what mental state is required in those criminal statutes where no culpable mental state is expressly designated is a matter of statutory construction. [Cit.]” Maj. Op. at 167. In its effort to glean the Legislature’s intent in enacting OCGA § 17-10-30 (b) (8), the majority adopts the mode of analysis propounded by the State, comparing the absence of the word “knowingly” in the (b) (8) statutory aggravating circumstance to that word’s inclusion in the criminal statutes defining aggravated assault and aggravated battery against a peace officer, see OCGA §§ 16-5-21 (c) and 16-5-24 (c), as well as in the statutory aggravating circumstance set forth in OCGA § 17-10-30 (b) (3). While I agree that this apparent contrast is worthy of note, I do not accept it as dispositive.1 Rather, I find considerably more persuasive the legislative history reflecting the purpose of the enactment of the statutory aggravating circumstances as well as the rules of statutory construction specifically applicable to penal statutes, which together lead me to reject the majority’s conclusion.
In determining the Legislature’s intent with respect to the (b) (8) statutory aggravating circumstance, “ ‘it is appropriate for the court to look to the old law and the evil which the legislature sought *178to correct in enacting the new law and the remedy provided therefor.’ [Cit.]” State v. Mulkey, 252 Ga. 201, 204 (2) (312 SE2d 601) (1984).2 Accordingly, it is noteworthy that OCGA § 17-10-30 was enacted in 1973, see Ga. L. 1973, pp. 159, 163-165, § 3, in the aftermath of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U. S. 238 (92 SC 2726, 33 LE2d 346) (1972), which had invalidated the Georgia death penalty statutes then in effect. In an effort to reinstate the death penalty in Georgia
[i]n the wake of Furman, Georgians legislature] amended its capital punishment statute ... to narrow the class of murderers subject to capital punishment by specifying 10 [now 11] statutory aggravating circumstances, one of which must be found by the jury to exist beyond a reasonable doubt before a death sentence can ever be imposed.
(Citations and footnote omitted.) Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U. S. 153, 196-197 (IV) (B) (96 SC 2909, 49 LE2d 859) (1976). Thus, the legislative intent was to focus the death penalty with greater precision in order to, as the majority puts it, “ensure that [the revised death penalty statute] would withstand future constitutional attack.” Maj. Op. at 169.3
Part of the method of narrowing the death penalty statute was to explicitly “require the jury to consider the circumstances of the crime and the criminal before it recommend[ed] sentence.” (Emphasis supplied.) Gregg, supra, 428 U. S. at 197 (IV) (B). Indeed, in recognition of the oft-quoted maxim that “death is different,” see Maj. Op. at 168, “the Georgia death penalty statute is crafted to narrow the class of murderers who may receive the death penalty to the most culpable.” (Emphasis supplied.) Gibson v. Turpin, 270 Ga. 855, 859, n. 3 (1) (513 SE2d 186) (1999). See also Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U. S. 304, 319 (IV) (122 SC 2242, 153 LE2d 335) (2002) (death penalty must be limited to offenders who commit “a narrow category of the most serious crimes” and whose extreme culpability makes *179them “the most deserving of execution”); California v. Brown, 479 U. S. 538, 545 (107 SC 837, 93 LE2d 934) (1987) (O’Connor, J., concurring) (observing the “emphasis on culpability in sentencing decisions [that] has long been reflected in Anglo-American jurisprudence”).
Bearing in mind the legislative purpose of winnowing the class of death penalty-eligible offenders to that subset thereof who exhibit enhanced culpability, such enhanced culpability could be manifested in (b) (8) only through the inclusion of a knowledge element. Clearly, a defendant who knowingly murders a peace officer or other public servant designated in the (b) (8) statutory aggravating circumstance is more culpable than one who does not know the status of his victim. Without such knowledge, there is nothing to distinguish the defendant who murders a victim who by happenstance was such a public servant from the defendant who murders any other victim, and thus nothing to specifically justify imposition of the ultimate punishment. See Livingston v. State, 264 Ga. 402, 404 (1) (b) & n. 5 (444 SE2d 748) (1994) (recognizing that “it would be constitutionally impermissible for a jury to base its death penalty recommendation [solely] on the victim’s class or wealth” and that a victim’s “social status is not relevant to the evenhanded administration of justice”). This notion is further supported by the fact that the other ten statutory aggravating circumstances set forth in OCGA § 17-10-30 (b) all appear to require an element in addition to murder of which the defendant, either expressly or impliedly, must have had knowledge.4
*180Thus, contrary to the majority’s suggestion that inferring a knowledge element in the (b) (8) statutory aggravating circumstance would be tantamount to a “ ‘usurpation of] the legislature’s role,’ ” see Maj. Op. at 169 (quoting Gibson, supra, 270 Ga. at 859-860 (1)), my proposed construction merely endeavors to give effect to the legislative purpose of the statutory aggravating circumstances, namely, to sufficiently narrow the applicability of the amended death penalty statute so as to address the constitutional infirmities identified in Furman, supra. See Miller, supra, 260 Ga. at 673-674 (inferring mens rea requirement in criminal statute so as to insulate it from First Amendment overbreadth challenge). In addition, though the majority decries the possibility under my proposed construction that the death penalty would be precluded in cases involving the murder of undercover officers or officials enforcing an unpopular law, it makes no effort to explain why such crimes inherently suggest more culpability than any other murder so as to warrant the penalty of death.5 I cannot conclude that, without a victim status scienter element, the (b) (8) statutory aggravating circumstance provides a “principled way to distinguish” between cases deserving of the death penalty and other murder cases. Godfrey v. Georgia, 446 U. S. 420, 433 (100 SC 1759, 64 LE2d 398) (1980).
Finally, but no less significantly,
[i]t has always been the law that criminal statutes must be strictly construed against the state . . . [and that], where a statute imposing the penalty for commission of a criminal offense is capable of two constructions, such statute should be construed as imposing the lesser penalty.
(Citations and punctuation omitted.) Bankston v. State, 258 Ga. 188, 190 (367 SE2d 36) (1988). Even accepting arguendo the majority’s conclusion that the mere omission of the word “knowingly” is dispositive proof of the Legislature’s intent not to require victim status scienter in OCGA § 17-10-30 (b) (8), it is difficult to contend that the statute could not reasonably be construed in the manner I propose. The fact of these plausible alternative constructions should *181be sufficient in and of itself to persuade this Court to err on the side of caution, particularly where the Court’s determination may well mean the difference between life and death.
Decided July 14, 2008.
Jeffrey L. Grube, for appellant (case no. S08A0427).
Howard Z. Simms, District Attorney, Graham A. Thorpe, Kimberly S. Schwartz, Laura J. Murphree, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, Sabrina D. Graham, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
For the foregoing reasons, I respectfully dissent to the majority’s holding in Division 2 (b).
I am authorized to state that Chief Justice Sears joins in this concurrence in part and dissent in part.

 Indeed, as the majority is constrained to acknowledge, the two statutes regarding criminal offenses against police officers, which the majority finds so compelling, were enacted after the adoption of the (b) (8) statutory aggravating circumstance, see Ga. L. 1973, pp. 159, 163-165, § 3; Ga. L. 1976, pp. 543-544, §§ 1, 2, and they are thus hardly illuminating as to the Legislature’s intent at the time it enacted (b) (8). As to the differences in language between (b) (8) and (b) (3), I believe, as discussed below, that a broader look at all eleven statutory aggravating circumstances evidences the Legislature’s intent to require some element of mens rea as to each aggravating circumstance.
In addition, I note that inferring an intent element where a criminal statute is silent is not unprecedented in this Court. See, e.g., State v. Miller, 260 Ga. 669, 674 (2) (398 SE2d 547) (1990) (construing Anti-Mask Act as applying only where defendant “knows or reasonably should know that the conduct provokes a reasonable apprehension of intimidation, threats or violence”).

 In this regard, I would stress with particular interest the fact that we have in the past looked to the legislative history of a statute in construing an intent requirement even where the word “knowingly” appeared in the text of the statute in question. See Bundren v. State, 247 Ga. 180, 181 (2) (274 SE2d 455) (1981) (looking to history of statute regarding aggravated assault of a police officer to glean legislative intent as to whether knowledge was essential element of offense).

 See also Georgia Senate Journal, Regular Session 1973, pp. 505-506, Remarks of Senator Ward of the 39th District (“I oppose the position taken by the Senate in passing the bill (HB 12) to reinstate the death penalty in Georgia. ... In Furman v. Georgia . . . the Court declared that ‘the imposition and carrying out the death penalty [is unconstitutional].’ I ... have . . . doubts that the hill being voted upon today will withstand a constitutional attack . . . .”).

 Specifically, the statutory aggravating circumstances (b) (1) and (b) (11) involve a murder committed by a defendant with a prior conviction for a capital felony and for certain specified felonies, respectively. These two aggravating circumstances address the recidivist, who has been put on notice that he will he punished more harshly for subsequent offenses. The (b) (2) statutory aggravating circumstance involves the offense of murder during the commission of specified felonies and thus clearly requires an additional culpable mental state in the form of the felonious intent to kidnap, rob, rape, or the like. The (b) (3) statutory aggravating circumstance, “knowingly creating] a great risk of death ...” on its face requires knowledge. The (b) (4) statutory aggravating circumstance, committing the offense of murder for the purpose of receiving money, likewise, expressly involves intent. The (b) (5) statutory aggravating circumstance involves the murder of certain officers of the court “during or because of the exercise of [their] official duties.” The phrase “because of the exercise of . . . official duties” requires that the perpetrator know that the victim is the designated officer of the court and is performing an official act at the time of the murder. Although “during. . . the exercise of... official duties” is not as clear, given the nature of the duties of the officers of the court designated in the code section and the fact that they often perform their duties in the courtroom where their positions would he apparent, this statutory aggravating circumstance also appears to involve the element of knowledge. The (b) (6) aggravating circumstance is murder for profit or for hire, which on its face involves criminal intent. To establish the (b) (7) aggravating circumstance, the State must prove both that the murder was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible, or inhuman and that it involved some element of malice or intent evidenced through torture, depravity of mind, or aggravated battery to the victim. See West v. State, 252 Ga. 156, 161-162 (313 SE2d 67) (1984). Finally, the (b) (9) and (b) (10) aggravating circumstances involve murders committed to avoid a lawful arrest or by a person who has *180escaped from the lawful custody of a peace officer or lawful place of confinement, both of which plainly involve criminal intent.

 I note also that adoption of the majority’s position would give rise to the anomalous result that the more serious crime of murdering a peace officer with the possible punishment of life without parole or death would not require knowledge of the victim’s status, whereas the less serious crimes of aggravated assault on a peace officer and aggravated battery on a peace officer would require such knowledge of the victim’s status. See Stacey v. Caldwell, 186 Ga. App. 293, 295 (1) (367 SE2d 73) (1988) (stating that courts should not so construe a statute as will result in unreasonable consequences not contemplated by the Legislature).