U.S. v. Cooper
| Decision Date | 14 April 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. Crim. 99-0266(JHG).,Crim. 99-0266(JHG). |
| Citation | 91 F.Supp.2d 90 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, v. Carl COOPER, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Columbia |
Steven R. Kiersh, Washington, DC, Francis Darron Carter, Washington, DC, for Carl Cooper, defendant.
Kenneth Leonard Wainstein, Mary Incontro, U.S. Atty's Office, Washington, DC, for U.S.
The 48-count indictment charging defendant, Carl Cooper ("Cooper"), with various racketeering acts of robbery, murder, conspiracy and firearms offenses was filed on August 4, 1999, and a jury trial has been scheduled for May 2, 2000. The government is seeking the death penalty pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §§ 924(c)(1) and 924(j) for three counts of murder in the course of using a firearm during a crime of violence. Cooper has filed several motions (one of which is an omnibus motion addressing approximately 25 issues) attacking the government's decision to pursue the death penalty, as well as the constitutionality of the Federal Death Penalty Act ("FDPA"), 18 U.S.C. § 3591, et seq., both facially and as applied to him.1 Addressed in this Memorandum Opinion and Order are: (1) Cooper's Motion to Compel Disclosure of the United States Attorney's Initial Recommendation to the Attorney General Regarding Decision to Seek the Death Penalty; (2) Defendant's Motion to Strike Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty for a Violation of 18 U.S.C. § 3593 and for Discovery and Issuance of Subpoenas; (3) Defendant's Motion to Strike Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty as Violative of the Fifth and Eighth Amendments and for Discovery and Issuance of Subpoenas; and (4) Cooper's Motion to Preclude the Death Penalty; to Dismiss the Government's Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty; to Strike Aggravating Factors; and to Request an Evidentiary Hearing on the Sufficiency of the Statutory and Nonstatutory Aggravating Circumstances Alleged by the Government. The first three motions are all denied in their entirety. The fourth motion is denied for the most part, however, the government is ordered to modify the notice of intent in certain respects as indicated in this Memorandum Opinion and Order, and the Court has already scheduled a hearing on the issues left open concerning the government's use of unadjudicated criminal conduct and obstruction of justice evidence.
The FDPA specifies the procedure to be followed before a defendant may be sentenced to death. At the outset, if the government elects to pursue the death penalty for any death-eligible offense, it must file with the Court and serve on the defendant within a "reasonable time before trial" a notice of intent setting forth, among other things, "the aggravating factor or factors that the government, if the defendant is convicted, proposes to prove as justifying a sentence of death." 18 U.S.C. § 3583. The government filed such a notice in this case on February 14, 2000.
Once the notice is filed and a defendant is subsequently convicted of a capital offense, the case proceeds to sentencing. Under the FDPA, a sentencing hearing is conducted either before the jury that determined the defendant's guilt, or before a jury impaneled for the purpose of the sentencing hearing if "(a) the defendant was convicted upon a plea of guilty; (b) the defendant was convicted after a trial before the court sitting without a jury; (c) the jury that determined the defendant's guilt was discharged for good cause; or (d) after initial imposition of a sentence under this section, reconsideration of the sentence under this section is necessary." 18 U.S.C. § 3593(b). The sentence may be determined by the Court alone only upon request of the defendant with the government's consent. See id.
The FDPA contains several steps the jury (or the Court if the statutory requirements are met) must go through before a sentence of death can be imposed on a defendant who is found guilty of a capital crime. First, the government must prove the defendant had the requisite intent to commit the capital offense. The jury must unanimously find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did at least one of the following:
(A) intentionally killed the victim;
(B) intentionally inflicted serious bodily injury that resulted in the death of the victim;
(C) intentionally participated in an act, contemplating that the life of a person would be taken or intending that lethal force would be used in connection with a person, other than one of the participants in the offense, and the victim died as a direct result of the act; or
(D) intentionally and specifically engaged in an act of violence, knowing that the act created a grave risk of death to a person, other than one of the participants in the offense, such that participation in the act constituted a reckless disregard for human life and the victim died as a direct result of the act.
18 U.S.C. § 3591(a)(2)(A)-(D).
Second, if the jury finds that the requisite intent exists (if it does not so find, the death penalty may not be imposed), it must then consider the statutory aggravating factors alleged by the government. There are sixteen statutory aggravating offenses for a crime involving homicide. See 18 U.S.C. § 3592(c). In this case, the government has noticed its intent to present two statutory aggravating factors to the jury: (1) the defendant committed the offense as consideration for the receipt, or in the expectation of the receipt, of anything of pecuniary value, see 18 U.S.C. § 3592(c)(8); and (2) the defendant intentionally killed more than one person in a single criminal episode, see 18 U.S.C. § 3592(c)(16). If the jury unanimously finds beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of one or more of the statutory aggravating factors, it then proceeds to the third step. If it does not so find, a sentence of death may not be imposed. See 18 U.S.C. § 3593(d).
If the jury finds the existence of at least one statutory aggravating factor, it then considers the statutory aggravating factor or factors, together with non-statutory aggravating factor(s) and mitigating factor(s). Non-statutory aggravating factors are defined as "any other aggravating factor for which notice has been provided." 18 U.S.C. § 3593(d). Any non-statutory aggravating factor must be found to exist beyond a reasonable doubt by a unanimous jury. See 18 U.S.C. § 3593(d) and (e). In this case, the government has identified in its notice of intent five non-statutory aggravating factors: (1) victim impact; (2) other criminal history; (3) obstruction of justice; (4) leadership role in the racketeering enterprise; and (5) future dangerousness.
Mitigating factors, for which the defendant bears the burden of proof, must be proved by a "preponderance of the information." See 18 U.S.C. § 3593(c). In addition, "a finding with respect to a mitigating factor may be made by 1 or more members of the jury, and any member of the jury who finds the existence of a mitigating factor may consider such factor established ... regardless of the number of jurors who concur." 18 U.S.C. § 3593(d). Jurors can consider "any mitigating factor," including the defendant's impaired capacity, duress, minor participation, the existence of other equally culpable defendants who will not be punished by death, the lack of a prior criminal record, any "severe mental or emotional disturbance," the consent of the victim, and any "factor in the defendant's background, record, or character or any other circumstance of the offense that mitigate against imposition of the death sentence." 18 U.S.C. § 3592(a).
After considering all of the aggravating (statutory and non-statutory) and mitigating factors, the jury decides whether "all the aggravating factor or factors found to exist sufficiently outweigh all the mitigating factor or factors found to exist to justify a sentence of death, or, in the absence of a mitigating factor, whether the aggravating factor or factors alone are sufficient to justify a sentence of death." 18 U.S.C. § 3593(e).
Cooper argues the FDPA is facially unconstitutional for a variety of reasons, all of which are addressed below.
The Supreme Court of the United States has held that in order to survive constitutional scrutiny, a death penalty statute must "genuinely narrow the class of persons eligible for the death penalty and must reasonably justify the imposition of a more severe sentence on the defendant compared to others found guilty of murder." Zant v. Stephens, 462 U.S. 862, 876, 103 S.Ct. 2733, 77 L.Ed.2d 235 (1983). The goal of narrowing the class of persons eligible can be accomplished at either the guilt phase or the sentencing phase of the trial: "[t]he legislature may itself narrow the definition of capital offenses, ... so that the jury finding of guilt responds to this concern, or the legislature may more broadly define capital offenses and provide for narrowing by jury findings of aggravating circumstances at the penalty phase." Lowenfield v. Phelps, 484 U.S. 231, 246, 108 S.Ct. 546, 98 L.Ed.2d 568 (1988).
Cooper argues the FDPA fails to narrow the class of persons eligible to receive the death penalty for two reasons. First, the requirement that the jury find an element of intent as set forth in section 3591(a)(2)(A)-(D) fails to distinguish a capital crime from other crimes involving an intentional killing. Second, the statutory aggravating factors are "so broad as to apply to essentially any of the vast range of federal offenses where death is provided by statute." Mot. at 24-25. Neither of these arguments is persuasive.
As Cooper points out, the Supreme Court of the United States has held that a defendant must have some level of intent before a sentence of death can be...
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