State v. Payton

361 So. 2d 866
Supreme Court of Louisiana·Decided August 18, 1978·No. 62388·Published·Cited by 64 cases

Opinion

361 So.2d 866 (1978)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Aaron PAYTON and Byron G. Coulon.

No. 62388.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

June 30, 1978.
On Rehearing August 18, 1978.

*867 William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara A. Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., Louise S. Korns, Thomas Chester, Dennis J. Waldron, Asst. Dist. Attys., for plaintiff-appellant.

Jay C. Zainey, New Orleans, for Aaron M. Payton.

John Wilson Reed, New Orleans, for Byron Coulon.

DENNIS, Justice.

The ultimate issue raised in this review of criminal pre-trial proceedings is whether the merger of the existing capital murder sentence procedure, La. R.S. 14:30, La. C.Cr.P. art. 905 et seq., and the new second degree murder statute, La. R.S. 14:30.1(B), deprives a defendant of his right to a fair trial or exposes him to cruel and unusual punishment. The trial court refused to sustain defendant Byron Coulon's motion to quash but granted partial relief by declaring unconstitutional the new second degree murder statute, La. R.S. 14:30.1(B). The State appealed, La. Const. 1974, art. 5, § 5(D), contending that the legislature's combination of statutes pertaining to first degree murder, second degree murder and capital sentences does not offend any concept of fundamental fairness. Defendant Coulon sought writs, which we granted to review his complaint that the first degree murder death penalty should be judicially reprobated because the statutory scheme for its imposition fails to comply with the requirement of Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972), that standardless jury discretion be replaced by procedures guarding against arbitrary or capricious imposition of death sentences.

For the reasons hereinafter assigned we conclude that, as strictly construed in the light of governing fundamental principles, one aspect of the legislation must be declared invalid, but the remainder of the statutory design is severable and constitutionally tolerable. Although the legislative techniques employed in adding the new second degree murder offense to our law raise serious questions, we cannot upon this our first examination say that the entire enactment was so ill advised as to warrant judicial condemnation.

Before considering the issues presented it is necessary to understand the Louisiana statutory scheme for the imposition of the death penalty existing prior to the enactment of the new second degree murder law. In Roberts v. Louisiana, 428 U.S. 325, 96 S.Ct. 3001, 49 L.Ed.2d 974 (1976), the United States Supreme Court held that Louisiana legislation reinstituting the death penalty failed to provide a constitutionally adequate response to the rejection by Furman of unbridled jury discretion in the imposition of capital sentences. Because the statutes lacked standards to guide the jury in selecting those among first degree murderers who should receive the death penalty, thus plainly inviting the jurors to disregard their oaths and choose a verdict for a lesser offense whenever they felt the death penalty was inappropriate, the statutes failed to provide adequate safeguards against the arbitrary *868 and capricious imposition of death sentences. After the Roberts decision, the legislature in 1976 redefined first and second degree murder, provided specific procedures to be followed in determining the sentence to be imposed for a capital offense, and provided for mandatory review of death sentences by this Court.

The Louisiana statutory scheme, apparently modeled on the Georgia statutes which were upheld in Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976), defines first degree murder as a homicide committed with specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm. The penalty for the crime is death or life imprisonment without parole, probation or suspension of sentence in accordance with the recommendation of the jury. La. R.S. 14:30.

The capital defendant's guilt or innocence is determined in the traditional manner in the first stage of a bifurcated trial. The trial judge is required to instruct the jury as to the law applicable to the charged offense and to each lesser included offense. La. C.Cr.P. art. 803.

The lesser included offense of second degree murder was redefined in 1976 as a homicide committed when the offender is attempting or perpetrating any of certain enumerated felonies, even though he has no intent to kill.[1] The penalty for second degree murder was set at life imprisonment at hard labor without eligibility for parole, probation or suspension of sentence for a period of forty years. La. R.S. 14:30.1.

After a verdict of guilty to first degree murder, a sentencing hearing is conducted before the same jury. La. C.Cr.P. art. 905 et seq. The sentence will be life imprisonment unless the jury finds unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt at least one statutorily defined "aggravating circumstance."[2] The aggravating circumstances are:

"* * * (a) The offender was engaged in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, or armed robbery;
(b) The victim was a fireman or peace officer engaged in his lawful duties;
(c) The offender was previously convicted of an unrelated murder, aggravated rape, or aggravated kidnapping;
(d) The offender knowingly created a risk of death or great bodily harm to more than one person;
(e) The offender offered or has been offered or has given or received anything of value for the commission of the offense;
(f) The offender at the time of the commission of the offense was imprisoned after sentence for the commission of an unrelated forcible felony;
(g) The offense was committed in an especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner." La. C.Cr.P. art. 905.4.

Having found an aggravating circumstance, however, the jury is not required to impose the death penalty. Instead, it is merely authorized to impose it after considering evidence of "any mitigating circumstances."[3] Unless the jury determines unanimously *869 that the death penalty should be imposed, the defendant will be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, probation or suspension of sentence. In the event the jury imposes the death penalty, it must designate in writing the aggravating circumstance which it found to exist beyond a reasonable doubt.[4]

Review by this Court is provided for in every case in which the death penalty is imposed.[5] To assist it in deciding whether to sustain the death penalty this Court requires by rule that it be supplied, in every case, with a verbatim transcript of the sentencing hearing and a report from the trial judge in the form of a standard questionnaire.[6] In deciding whether the sentence of death is to be sustained in any given case, this Court shall determine if the sentence is "excessive."[7]

The questions presented in the instant case were created in 1977 when the legislature added a new, second definition of second degree murder:

"The killing of a human being when the offender has a specific intent to kill,

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State v. Payton, 361 So. 2d 866 (La. 1978).

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