Court Opinion

ID: 9650073
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 15:23:01.940316+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:17.895227
License: Public Domain

HANDLER, Justice,
concurring.
This is a shocking capital-murder case. The Court, in a comprehensive, thorough and soundly reasoned opinion, reverses the defendant’s murder conviction and death sentence. I concur.
The majority concludes that defendant is not death eligible because the evidence is insufficient to enable a jury to determine beyond a reasonable doubt that the death of the victim was the result of any homicidal act of the defendant committed “by her own conduct” as required under N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-3c. See ante at 301-03. The Court reiterates the interpretation of this statutory requirement adopted in our recent decision of State v. Gerald, 113 N.J. 40, 93-100 (1988), where we ruled that in order to satisfy the “own conduct” requirement of N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-3c, the State had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant’s conduct was the direct and immediate cause of death. Ante at 299.
In this case, the Court has examined the record to determine whether the evidence “is sufficient to establish that Moore actively and directly participated in the homicidal act, i.e., in the infliction of the injuries that caused the victim’s death.” Ante at 301-02. The Court concludes, as noted, that the evidence is insufficient to meet this requirement. I agree, although I do not subscribe to the Court’s characterization of this requirement as “ ‘merely a triggering device for the death *311penalty phase at the trial,’ ” ante at 300 (quoting State v. Gerald, supra, 113 N.J. at 99). Rather, I believe this requirement is most appropriately regarded as an “element” of the crime of capital murder that serves both to define capital murder and to differentiate it from a murder conviction thus narrowing the class of murders that are death-eligible. The element of murder entailing the actor’s “own conduct” is one that separates murder from capital murder. It must be established by the State by proof beyond a reasonable doubt and should be determined by the jury in the guilt phase of the trial. See State v. Gerald, supra, 113 N.J. at 146-47. (Handler, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). I am satisfied that for this reason, the defendant’s capital murder conviction must be reversed.
I also concur in the reasóns advanced by the Court for reversing the defendant’s murder conviction. In particular, I agree with the Court’s assessment of trial error with respect to the failure to properly and clearly instruct the jury on “diminished capacity” as an affirmative defense negating the culpable state of mind necessary to charge purposeful or knowing murder. As noted by the Court, the trial court here limited the evidence of defendant’s mental disease or defect solely to the defense of insanity. Ante at 283-88.
The Court also correctly rules that the evidence was sufficient to require the charge of aggravated manslaughter and manslaughter, N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-4a, b, and that the trial court erred in failing to give such an instruction. Ante at 288-89. The Court recognizes the relevance of diminished capacity evidence to the manslaughter offense. It states that “the trial court should have instructed the jury that if they did not find knowing or purposeful conduct, they should then appraise the evidence to determine whether defendant was guilty of manslaughter.” Id. at 289. I would add that while the evidence of diminished capacity itself might not justify an instruction to the jury that it could, if believed, reduce murder to aggravated or ordinary manslaughter, it was nonetheless relevant evidence *312as bearing on the manslaughter charge. It should thus have been the subject of an instruction to the jury that would clarify the difference between its consideration of diminished capacity as an affirmative defense to murder and its consideration as generally probative evidence relating to the manslaughter charge. See State v. Zola, 112 N.J. 384, 443 (1988) (Handler, J., concurring in part, and dissenting in part).
The Court determines correctly that there was reversible error in the penalty phase of the trial. The major irremediable error, conceded by the State, relates to the improper instruction on the weighing of aggravating and mitigating factors. Ante at 303. I express, however, serious reservations concerning the Court’s conclusion that the substitution of an alternate juror on the penalty phase was not cognizable as error, or in any event, was not plain error warranting a reversal. Ante at 305-07. In my opinion, we should not weigh or distinguish the gravity of an error in terms of whether the error is initially noted on appeal as plain error or initially noted by defense counsel at the trial level. State v. Bey I, 112 N.J. 45, 118 (1988) (Handler, J., concurring). Such a distinction would distract and encumber the Court in exercising its constitutional and statutory responsibility in determining capital causes on direct appeal pursuant to an enhanced standard of review.
I hesitate, however, to stigmatize the substitution of the alternate juror in this case as reversible error. I am cognizant of the 1985 amendment of the death penalty statute, N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-3c(l), cited by the Court, ante at 306, which authorizes such substitution. Nevertheless, I think it is unrealistic, and potentially unfair and prejudicial, to consider the penalty phase of the trial as truly bifurcated and separate from the guilt phase. There surely is no such division; rather, the entire capital murder prosecution is a continuum, with the evidence adduced at the guilt phase routinely admitted at the penalty phase. The substitution of a new juror raises the spectre of *313“mixed” deliberations that may not capture the essence of the kind of jury deliberations that result in unanimous verdicts. See State v. Trent, 79 N.J. 251, 256 (1979); State v. Corsaro, 107 N.J. 839 (1987). If, therefore, such substitution occurs in the penalty phase, the Court should carefully instruct both the substitute juror and the original jurors concerning the need to reconsider and reassess the evidence bearing on guilt, accepting the fact that defendant has been found guilty of intentional murder. See State v. Ingenito, 87 N.J. 204 (1981). Consequently, the substitution in this case poses a genuine concern that should be carefully addressed.
Finally, I am constrained to state that I continue to adhere to my belief, expressed in State v. Bey II, 112 N.J. 123, 188-90 (1988) (Handler, J., dissenting); State v. Koedatich, 112 N.J. 225, 383 (1988) (Handler, J., dissenting); State v. Ramseur, 106 N.J. 123, 343 (1987) (Handler, J., dissenting), that the death penalty statute as enacted and applied in New Jersey violates constitutional and fundamental fairness standards. Therefore, I would also vote to reverse the death penalty on these grounds;
For reversal and remandment — Chief Justice WILENTZ and Justices CLIFFORD, POLLOCK, O’HERN, GARIBALDI and STEIN — 6.
Concurring in result — Justice .HANDLER — 1.