Jimmie Wayne Jeffers v. Samuel A. Lewis, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Donald Wawrzaszek, Superintendent, Arizona State Prison

974 F.2d 1075, 92 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7509, 92 Daily Journal DAR 12484, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 20879, 1992 WL 210467
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedAugust 31, 1992
Docket86-1840
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 974 F.2d 1075 (Jimmie Wayne Jeffers v. Samuel A. Lewis, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Donald Wawrzaszek, Superintendent, Arizona State Prison) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Jimmie Wayne Jeffers v. Samuel A. Lewis, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Donald Wawrzaszek, Superintendent, Arizona State Prison, 974 F.2d 1075, 92 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7509, 92 Daily Journal DAR 12484, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 20879, 1992 WL 210467 (9th Cir. 1992).

Opinions

PREGERSON, Circuit Judge:

Jeffers was convicted of murder in Arizona state court and sentenced to death. After the Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence, Jeffers petitioned the United States District Court for a writ of habeas corpus. The writ was denied, 627 F.Supp. 1334, and Jeffers appealed to this court. With regard to the issues raised by Jeffers’s conviction, we affirmed the district court’s decision to deny the writ. But we reversed the district court’s decision to deny the writ with regard to the sentence of death. Jeffers v. Ricketts, 832 F.2d 476 (9th Cir.1987). The Supreme Court then reversed our ruling on the sentence, Lewis v. Jeffers, 497 U.S. 764, 110 S.Ct. 3092, 111 L.Ed.2d 606 (1990), and returned this case to us for resolution of the issues we did not consider earlier. Now, after considering these remaining issues regarding the constitutionality of the sentence of death, we again reverse the district court and remand for issuance of the writ.

I

The Arizona capital sentencing statute requires the state trial court to preside over an evidentiary hearing on the existence of aggravating and mitigating factors. The trial court is required to make findings on the existence of any aggravating factors listed in the statute. If the trial court finds any aggravating factors, it must then make findings on the existence of mitigating factors. The final step requires the trial court to impose a sentence of death if it determines that there are no mitigating factors sufficiently substantial to call for leniency.

At the time Jeffers was sentenced in 1980, the statute listed five specific mitigating factors. Ariz.Rev.Stat. 13-703(G)(1)~ (5). It also had been amended to include a general catch-all provision which made it clear, in accordance with the Supreme Court’s decision in Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978), that the list of mitigating factors was not exclusive. Thus, the amended statute provides that mitigating circumstances include “any factors proffered by the defendant or the state which are relevant in determining whether to impose a sentence less than death, including any aspect of the defendant’s character, propensities or record and any of the circumstances of the offense_” Ariz.Rev.Stat. § 13-703(G). In this opinion, we use the label “nonstatutory” mitigating factors to refer to mitigating factors that are not specifically enumerated in subsections (G)(1)-(G)(5), but are nevertheless included in the broad catch-all provision required by Lockett.

The trial court sentenced Jeffers to death on the basis of two aggravating circumstances. First, the sentencing court found that, while committing the crime, Jeffers knowingly created a grave risk of death to another person in addition to the victim. Ariz.Rev.Stat. § 13-703(F)(3). Second, the trial court found that Jeffers committed the crime in a manner that was “especially heinous, cruel and depraved.” Ariz.Rev. Stat. § 13-703(F)(6).

The Arizona Supreme Court held that the “grave risk of death” aggravating circumstance did not apply to the facts of the case. State v. Jeffers, 135 Ariz. 404, 661 P.2d 1105, 1129-30, cert. denied, 464 U.S. 865, 104 S.Ct. 199, 78 L.Ed.2d 174 (1983). The Arizona Supreme Court also held that the murder was not especially cruel but affirmed the finding that it was especially heinous and depraved. 661 P.2d at 1130-31. The Arizona Supreme Court thus reversed the finding of one aggravating circumstance and modified the finding on the second. Nevertheless, instead of remanding the case to the trial court for resentenc-ing, the Arizona Supreme Court affirmed Jeffers’s sentence of death.

In part II, we explain that the Arizona courts failed to consider adequately certain mitigating evidence advanced by Jeffers. [1078]*1078In part III, we discuss the consequences of the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling that the sentencing court relied on an invalid aggravating factor. We conclude that the Arizona Supreme Court upheld the sentence of death without carefully reweighing the mitigating evidence in light of the one remaining aggravating factor. The sentence of death therefore cannot stand.

II

Jeffers argues that the sentencing court in this case failed to consider adequately certain mitigating evidence. In mitigation, Jeffers introduced evidence of heroin addiction, of heroin use and alcohol intoxication at the time of the murder. He presented the history of his stormy love-hate relationship with the victim, including evidence that she had provoked him by informing on him to the police. In addition, Jeffers introduced evidence that he continued to deny involvement in the murder when he spoke with a psychiatrist while under the influence of sodium amytal.

We conclude that the sentencing court failed to consider adequately Jeffers’s evidence in mitigation. We further conclude that the sentencing court’s error was not cured by the Arizona Supreme Court’s review of Jeffers’s sentence. Under our decision in Smith v. McCormick, 914 F.2d 1153 (9th Cir.1990), the sentence of death cannot stand.

A

In considering the evidence that Jeffers was a heroin addict and was under the influence of heroin and alcohol at the time of the murder, the sentencing court inquired whether the evidence satisfied the first specific mitigating circumstance described in the statute. See Ariz.Rev.Stat. § 13-703(G)(1). Subsection (G)(1) provides that there is a mitigating circumstance if “[t]he defendant’s capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law was significantly impaired, but not so impaired as to constitute a defense to prosecution.” Id. Applying the standard of that statutory mitigating circumstance, the sentencing court declined to find that Jef-fers was “significantly impaired” in his ability to conform to the law or to understand that his actions were wrong. The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the sentencing court’s conclusion that the statutory mitigating circumstance of significant impairment was not proved. State v. Jeffers, 135 Ariz. 404, 661 P.2d 1105, 1132 (1983).

The sentencing court, however, did not consider the evidence of addiction and intoxication as a wowstatutory mitigating circumstance. Such consideration is mandated under the holding of Smith v. McCormick, 914 F.2d 1153 (9th Cir.1990). In Smith, the Montana courts erred by rejecting mitigating evidence of mental impairment simply because it did not rise to a level substantial enough to satisfy the wording of Montana’s statutory mitigating circumstance.

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974 F.2d 1075, 92 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7509, 92 Daily Journal DAR 12484, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 20879, 1992 WL 210467, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jimmie-wayne-jeffers-v-samuel-a-lewis-director-arizona-department-of-ca9-1992.