State v. Conner
| Decision Date | 04 February 1955 |
| Docket Number | No. 723,723 |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE, v. Robert S. CONNER. |
Atty. Gen. McMullan and Asst. Atty. Gen. Bruton, for the State.
Philip E. Lucas and Oren W. McClain, Winston Salem, for defendant, appellant.
After the jurors had deliberated upon the case for some time, they returned to the court room and, after informing the court they desired further information on a matter that had arisen, one of the jurors propounded this question: "Will the defendant be eligible for parole if he were given life imprisonment?" To the inquiry the court replied without further elaboration: "Gentlemen, I cannot answer that question."
For the court to have answered the question propounded by the jury so as to have given them the information sought would have been to tell them in substance that the defendant, if given life imprisonment, would be eligible for parole by virtue of the mandate of Article III, Section 6, of the Constitution of North Carolina, which vests in the governor the exclusive power to grant reprieves, commutations, and pardons, and that also by virtue of G.S. § 148-58 any prisoner serving a sentence for life "shall be eligible" for a hearing upon application for parole when he has served ten years of his sentence.
However, the presiding Judge properly refrained from so informing the jury of the defendant's eligibility for parole. This is so for the reason that eligibility for parole was not a relevant or proper factor for the jury to consider in arriving at its verdict.
Our statute, G.S. § 14-17, which fixes the death penalty for murder in the first degree, now by virtue of Chapter 299, Session Laws of 1949, contains a proviso which directs that "if at the time of rendering its verdict in open court, the jury shall so recommend, the punishment shall be imprisonment for life in the State's prison, and the court shall so instruct the jury."
The proviso by its express terms confers on the jury the discretionary right to mitigate the punishment from death to "imprisonment for life in the State's prison". The statute makes no reference, either expressly or by implication, to considerations of parole or eligibility therefor. Consequently, insofar as the jury is concerned, imprisonment for life means, as plainly stated in the statute, "imprisonment for life in the State's prison". As to this, it is to be kept in mind that the power to determine guilt and to assess punishment for crime are functions of the courts, whereas the power of parole is vested exclusively in another branch of the state government--the executive branch. Moreover, punishment is ordinarily assessed against a person convicted of crime on the basis of his acts and conduct prior to trial, whereas parole is determined mainly on the basis of subsequent acts and demeanor. Therefore, in determining guilt and in resolving the question of life imprisonment under the act of 1949, the question of what afterwards may happen to a prisoner by way of commutation, pardon, or parole is no concern of the jury. It is their duty to determine the question of guilt, and in case of guilt of murder in the first degree to determine whether or not the punishment shall be mitigated from death to "imprisonment for life in the State's prison". The determination of this question of mitigation of punishment should be made by the jury upon the basis of what to them seems just and proper in the exercise of their unbridled discretion, State v. McMillan, 233 N.C. 630, 65 S.E.2d 212, wholly uninfluenced by speculations as to what another arm of the government may do in the future by way of commutation, pardon, or parole.
The Judge's original instruction on the question of the right of the jury to recommend imprisonment for life was adequate as an original instruction. It was in accord with the language of the amendatory act of 1949 and these decisions construing and interpreting the statute: State v. McMillan, supra; State v. Marsh, 234 N.C. 101, 66 S.E.2d 684. This being so, when the jury returned and made inquiry as to eligibility for parole, it may well be that the Judge in telling the jurors he could not answer the question meant thereby to impart to them the idea that eligibility for parole was not a proper factor for them to consider and that they should dismiss it from their minds.
However, while such impression may have been deduced by the jury, it is more probable, we think, that they were left free to speculate on the question of eligibility for parole in arriving at their verdict and in resolving the question of mitigation of punishment. The form of the question indicates unmistakably that a recommendation of life imprisonment was under consideration and that it was being contemplated in the light of possible interference by parole. It is inferable that the jurors had sought without success to settle the question of eligibility for parole on the basis of their own knowledge of parole law and procedure. It is inferable also that there was a division of opinion as to whether the defendant, if given life imprisonment, would become eligible for parole and, if so, when and under what circumstances his eligibility would be determined. It is manifest, we think, that the Judge's response was insufficient to put an end to such speculations in the minds of the jurors. Rather, it would seem the jurors were left to continue to speculate and deliberate on the basis of their own lay information or misinformation concerning vital factors of parole in arriving at their verdict and in fixing the defendant's punishment as between death and life imprisonment. That the speculative factors which were calculated to weigh against recommending life imprisonment prevailed in the jury room is shown by the verdict, which consigned the defendant to death.
It may be conceded as an established rule of law that where, as here, a jury is required to determine a defendant's guilt and also to fix the punishment as between death and life imprisonment, to permit factors concerning the defendant's possible parole to be injected into the jurors' deliberations by argument of c...
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