Court Opinion

ID: 9530075
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:57:10.108634+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:27:59.681206
License: Public Domain

JOHNSON, Justice,
concurring and concurring specially.
I concur in all of the Court’s opinion. I write only to explain the basis for my concurrence in part IV, which concerns the proportionality of the death penalty.
For reference I refer to the appendix to my opinion in State v. Card, No. 130 (Idaho filed Sept. 20, 1991), in which I summarized the cases I compared there pursuant to I.C. § 19-2827(c)(3) and the decisions of this *10Court, considering both the crime and the defendant.
The cases I find most similar to this one so far as the crime is concerned are:
1. State v. Scroggins, 110 Idaho 380, 716 P.2d 1152 (1985), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 989, 107 S.Ct. 582, 93 L.Ed.2d 585 (1986) (death penalty overturned by this Court as disproportionate).
2. State v. Beam, 109 Idaho 616, 710 P.2d 526 (1985), cert. denied, 476 U.S. 1153, 106 S.Ct. 2260, 90 L.Ed.2d 704 (1986) and 489 U.S. 1073, 109 S.Ct. 1360, 103 L.Ed.2d 827 (1989) (death penalty imposed).
3. State v. Paradis, 106 Idaho 117, 676 P.2d 31 (1983), cert. denied, 468 U.S. 1220, 104 S.Ct. 3592, 82 L.Ed.2d 888 (1984) (death penalty imposed).
4. State v. Gibson, 106 Idaho 54, 675 P.2d 33 (1983), cert. denied, 468 U.S. 1220, 104 S.Ct. 3592, 82 L.Ed.2d 888 (1984) (death penalty imposed).
5. State v. Needs, 99 Idaho 883, 591 P.2d 130 (1979) (life sentence imposed).
On the basis of this comparison of these cases in which the crime was similar to the murder in this case, I find the death sentence imposed on Leavitt was not excessive or disproportionate.
The cases I find most similar to this one so far as the defendant is concerned are:
1. State v. Stuart, 110 Idaho 163, 715 P.2d 833 (1985) (death penalty imposed).
2. State v. Aragon, 107 Idaho 358, 690 P.2d 293 (1984) (death penalty imposed).
On the basis of this comparison of these cases in which the characteristics of the defendant were similar, I find the death sentence imposed on Leavitt was not excessive or disproportionate.