State v. Whitfield

• Decision Date: 17 June 2003
• Docket Number: No. SC 77067.,SC 77067.
• Citation: 107 S.W.3d 253
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Joseph WHITFIELD, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

107 S.W.3d 253

STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Joseph WHITFIELD, Appellant.

No. SC 77067.

Supreme Court of Missouri, En Banc.

June 17, 2003.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Charles M. Rogers, Cheryl A. Pilate, Kansas City, C. John Pleban, St. Louis, for appellant.

Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Atty. Gen., Stephen D. Hawke, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for respendent.

ON MOTION TO RECALL MANDATE

LAURA DENVIR STITH, Judge.

In 1994, a jury convicted Joseph Whitfield of first-degree murder, but could not agree on punishment during the penalty phase, voting 11 to 1 in favor of life imprisonment.¹ The judge then undertook the four-step process required by section 565.030.4² for determining punishment. He found the presence of statutory and non-statutory aggravating circumstances, determined these circumstances warranted death, considered whether there were mitigating circumstances and found they did not outweigh the circumstances in aggravation, and decided under all the circumstances to impose a death sentence. This Court affirmed the convictions and sentences and denied post-conviction relief. State v. Whitfield, 939 S.W.2d 361 (Mo. banc 1997), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 831, 118 S.Ct. 97, 139 L.Ed.2d 52 (1997).³

Last year, in Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002), the United States Supreme Court held that the Sixth Amendment entitles "[c]apital defendants ... to a jury determination of any fact on which the legislature conditions an increase in their maximum punishment." Ring, 536 U.S. at 589, 122 S.Ct. 2428. Mr. Whitfield contends his right under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, as set out in Ring, was violated because the judge rather than the jury made the factual determinations on which his eligibility for the death sentence was predicated. This Court agrees.

Section 565.030.4 requires that the trier of fact engage in a four-step process in determining whether a death sentence shall be imposed. As discussed below, the first three of these steps require factual findings be made in order to render the defendant eligible for the death penalty. Here, the jury deadlocked, and, as required by section 565.030.4, the judge rather than the jury made the requisite factual findings for imposition of a sentence of death. This violated Mr. Whitfield's right to have a jury determine the facts rendering him eligible for death.

This Court therefore recalls its mandate affirming his conviction and applies Ring to invalidate his sentence of death because there is a conflict between this Court's affirmance of a court-imposed death sentence on Mr. Whitfield's direct appeal and the constitutional principles set out in Ring, under the test set forth in Linkletter v. Walker, 381 U.S. 618, 85 S.Ct. 1731, 14 L.Ed.2d 601 (1965), and Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 18 L.Ed.2d 1199 (1967). Under section 565.040, the only possible sentence is life imprisonment. Accordingly, the Court's mandate is recalled, the sentence of death is reversed, and this Court sets aside the sentence of death and resentences the defendant to life imprisonment without eligibility for probation, parole, or release except by act of the Governor.

I. MISSOURI CAPITAL DEFENDANTS ARE ENTITLED TO HAVE A JURY DETERMINE THE FACTS RENDERING THEM ELIGIBLE FOR THE DEATH PENALTY UNDER SECTION 565.030.4

A. Ring Entitles a Capital Defendant to a Jury Determination of the Facts on

Which Eligibility for a Death Sentence is Predicated.

In Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), decided three years after this Court affirmed Mr. Whitfield's conviction and sentence, the United States Supreme Court held that the Sixth Amendment does not permit a defendant to be "expose[d] ... to a penalty exceeding the maximum he would receive if punished according to the facts reflected in the jury verdict alone." Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 483, 120 S.Ct. 2348.

Numerous courts and commentators thereafter suggested that the principles underlying Apprendi were inconsistent with the principles underlying the Supreme Court's decision in Walton v. Arizona, 497 U.S. 639, 110 S.Ct. 3047, 111 L.Ed.2d 511 (1990), that a judge could determine the aggravating facts necessary to impose the death penalty once a jury convicted defendant of first-degree murder. They were correct.

Two years later, the Supreme Court applied the principles underlying Apprendi to the capital sentencing setting. The Court reasoned that, "[c]apital defendants, no less than non-capital defendants, ... are entitled to a jury determination of any fact on which the legislature conditions an increase in their maximum punishment." Ring, 536 U.S. at 589, 122 S.Ct. 2428.⁴ Further, it found that Arizona's practice of labeling aggravating circumstances as sentencing factors rather than as elements of the offense of capital murder was a matter of form over substance and that, under Arizona's statutory scheme, "Arizona's enumerated aggravating factors operate as the functional equivalent of an element of a greater offense.'" Id. at 609, 122 S.Ct. 2428, quoting, Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 494, n. 19, 120 S.Ct. 2348.

Applying these principles, the Supreme Court invalidated Arizona's capital sentencing scheme because it permitted a judge, rather than a jury, to determine the presence of aggravating factors required by Arizona law for imposition of the death penalty following a jury adjudication of a defendant's guilt of first-degree murder. In so holding, it extended to the capital sentencing setting Apprendi's holding that "the Sixth Amendment does not permit a defendant to be `expose[d] ... to a penalty exceeding the maximum he would receive if punished according to the facts reflected in the jury verdict alone.'" Id. at 588-89, 120 S.Ct. 2348, quoting, Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 483, 120 S.Ct. 2348.

The Supreme Court held that not just a statutory aggravator, but every fact that the legislature requires be found before death may be imposed must be found by the jury. And, in determining which factors fall within this rule, Ring cautioned that, "the dispositive question ... `is one not of form, but of effect.'" Id. at 602, 122 S.Ct. 2428, quoting, Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 494, 120 S.Ct. 2348. "If a State makes an increase in a defendant's authorized punishment contingent on the finding of a fact, that fact — no matter how the State labels it must be found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt." Id. at 602, 122 S.Ct. 2428.

Because Mr. Ring did not argue that Arizona's sentencing scheme required the jury to make a factual finding as to mitigating factors, the Supreme Court declined to specifically address whether a jury was also required to determine whether mitigating factors were present that called for leniency. See Ring, 536 U.S. at 597, n. 4, 122 S.Ct. 2428. Instead, it set out the general principle that courts must use in applying Ring to determine whether a particular issue must be determined by the jury or can be determined by a judge, stating, "[c]apital defendants ... are entitled to a jury determination of any fact on which the legislature conditions an increase in their maximum punishment." Id. at 589, 122 S.Ct. 2428.

On remand, applying these principles, the Supreme Court of Arizona rejected the contention that the requirements that mitigating circumstances be considered and weighed against aggravators were not factual predicates for imposition of the death penalty. See State v. Ring, 204 Ariz. 534, 65 P.3d 915, 942-43 (2003) (Ring II). It held, therefore, that, even if the presence of a statutory aggravator was conceded or not contested, resentencing would be required unless the court found that the failure of the jury to make these factual findings was harmless on the particular facts of the case. Id.

B. Under Section 565.030.4 a Defendant is Eligible for the Death Penalty Only if the Jury Makes the Factual Determinations Set Out in Subdivisions 565.030.4(1), (2), and (3).

The State and Mr. Whitfield agree that, under Ring, a jury must determine all facts on which the legislature has predicated imposition of the death penalty. They also agree that sections 565.020 and 565.030 set out the requirements for imposition of the death penalty in Missouri. Section 565.020.2 provides that the punishment for first-degree murder shall be either death or imprisonment for life without eligibility for probation or parole. Sec. 565.020.2. Section 565.030.2 requires that, in cases in which the state seeks the death penalty, the case shall be tried in two phases. In the first phase, the jury shall determine guilt. Sec. 565.030.2. Section 565.030.4 then provides that, "[i]f the trier ... finds the defendant guilty of murder in the first-degree, a second stage of the trial shall proceed at which the only issue shall be the punishment to be assessed and declared." Sec. 565.030.4.

In the second, or "penalty" phase, the jury is required to be instructed to follow the four-step process set out in section 565.030.4:

The trier shall assess and declare the punishment at life imprisonment without eligibility for probation, parole, or release except by act of the governor:

(1) If the trier does not find beyond a reasonable doubt at least one of the statutory aggravating circumstances set out in subsection 2 of section 565.032; or

(2) If the trier does not find that the evidence in aggravation of punishment, including but not limited to evidence supporting the statutory aggravating circumstances listed in subsection 2 of section 565.032, warrants imposing the death sentence; or

(3) If the trier concludes that there is evidence in mitigation of punishment, including but not limited to evidence supporting the statutory mitigating circumstances listed in subsection 3 of section 565.032, which is sufficient to outweigh the evidence in aggravation of punishment found by the trier; or

(4) If the trier decides under all of the circumstances not to assess and declare the...