United States v. Sampson

148 F. Supp. 3d 127, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161707, 2015 WL 7761058
District Court, D. Massachusetts·Decided December 2, 2015·No. Cr. No. 01-10384-MLW·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER REGARDING AMENDMENT OF OCTOBER 28, 2015 DECISION

MARK L. WOLF, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

On October 28, 2015, the court denied twenty-five of defendant Gary Sampson’s motions seeking to preclude, on constitutional grounds, the death penalty as a sentencing option in this case. See Memorandum and Order (the “Constitutional Decision”) (Docket No. 2097). On November 10, 2015, defendant Gary Lee Sampson filed a Motion for Clarification and/or Reconsideration of the Constitutional Decision. See Docket No. 2109 (the “Clarification Motion”). Sampson also filed a supporting Memorandum, See Docket No. 2109-1 (the “Clarification Memorandum”). Arguing that “[a]- mistake in apprehension found its way into the Court’s opinion due to less than perfect citation work by the defense,”. Sampson clarifies the evidence on which he was relying, some of which was not in the .record, and provides, new sources for his arguments regarding the frequency with which juries have imposed death sentences in recent decades. Clarification Memorandum at 5. Sampson has not argued that the court made any legal error. Rather, he seeks to correct, clarify, and supplement the sources for his factual assertions. On November 30, 2015, the government opposed reconsideration and reversal of the Constitutional Decision, but did not oppose amending it to reflect more accurately the statistics concerning jury verdicts on which Sampson relies.

For the reasons explained below, the Constitutional Decision is being withdrawn and an amended version, reflecting minimal alterations that do not affect the legal analysis or conclusions, is being entered with this Order. See Docket No. 2114 (the “Amended Constitutional Decision”).

I. BACKGROUND

On August 4, 2014, Sampson filed a Motion to Preclude the Death Penalty as a Violation of the Eighth Amendment as Evidenced by Evolving Standards of Decency. See Docket No. 1456 (the “Evolving Standards Motion”); see also Recer Declaration in Support of Evolving Standards Motion (the “Recer Deck”) (Docket No. 1558). Sampson argued that the death penalty is contrary to evolving standards of [129]*129decency and asked the court to preclude it as a potential sentence in this case. Among other things, Sampson argued that juries have, in recent years, imposed death sentences less often than in the past. Specifically, Sampson argued that “79 new death sentences in 2012 and 2013” is “less than a quarter of the number of death sentences in 1994 (330).” Recer Deck, ¶13.

The government’s opposition to Sampson’s Evolving Standards Motion did not address this evidence. See Docket No. 1590. Arguing that Sampson’s constitutional arguments were foreclosed by Supreme Court precedent, the government contended that Sampson’s evidence did not “raise [] a question of fact that may entitle Sampson to relief in this court.” Id. at 12.

In the Constitutional Decision, the court stated -that “Sampson’s characterization of the statistics concerning 'the number of defendants sentenced to death annually is not reliable.” Constitutional Decision at 28. The court noted that “[t]he 830 death sentences Sampson attributes to 1994 appear in his source material as the total for 1992, 1993, and 1994.” Id. at 29-29 (citing Ü.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Capital Punishment, 2012 — Statistical Tables, at 18 t.15 (Docket No. 1558-20) (the “DOJ 2012 Statistics”)). A total of 330 death sentences was not included elsewhere in the DOJ 2012 Statistics.

The court also found that Sampson’s statement that “[t]here were 79 new death sentences in 2012 and 2013,” Recer Deck at 6,-was supported by “neither' of his sources,” Constitutional Decision at 29. The court noted that the two sources Sampson cited in support of that statement “indicate[d] that either 78 or 82 death sentences were imposed in 2012, and another 83 were imposed in 2013.” Id. (citing DOJ 2012 Statistics at 18 t.15, and Death Penalty Information Center, Death Sentences in the United States (the “DPIC Statistics”)).

In his Clarification Memorandum, Sampson provides further context and additional sources for his arguments concerning the--frequency with which jurors have imposed the death penalty. Sampson states that the statistic that there were 330 death sentences imposed in 1994 was “accurately reported from a different spreadsheet published by the [Bureau of Justice Statistics] ..,, [ ] which was not cited or included as an exhibit.”. Clarification Memorandum at 3. Sampson has now provided that spreadsheet. See Docket No. 2109-3. Sampson notes that the DOJ 2012 Statistics include a similar statistic, 315, for the number of death sentences imposed in 1994. See id. at 2-3 (citing DOJ 2012 Statistics, at 19 t.16). Sampson explains that he did not intend to refer to table 15 of the DOJ 2012 Statistics, in which 330 appeared as the number of. defendants sentenced between 1992 and 1994 who were still on death row on December 31, 2012. Rather, he intended to rely on the total number of defendants sentenced to death in 1994, .regardless of whether they were still alive and under a sentence of death on December 31, 2012.

Sampson also explains his sources for the statement that “[t]here were 79 new death sentences in 2012 and 2013.” Recer Deck at 6. Table 15 of the DOJ 2012 Statistics, on which the 330 number discussed earlier appears, lists 78 as the total number of prisoners, who were sentenced to death in 2012 and still on death row on December 31, 2012, but Table 16 lists 79 as the total number of death sentences imposed in 2012. Sampson further states that the DPIC Statistics cited in the Recer Declaration now show that. 82 death sentences were imposed in 2012 and 83 were imposed in 2013,- but “[a]t the time the Recer Declaration was prepared in September 2014, DPIC reported 79 sentences [130]*130in 2012 and 2013.” Clarification Memo, at 3-4. This online source was not submitted as an exhibit to the Recer Declaration.

Sampson also discusses a new Bureau of Justice Statistics Report, Capital Punishment, 2013. See Docket No. 2109-4 (the “DOJ 2013 Statistics”). The updated statistics in that report show that 311 new death sentences were imposed in 1994, 82 new death sentences were imposed in 2012, and 83 new death sentences were imposed in 2013.

In its November 30, 2015 response to Sampson’s Clarification Motion, the government stated that it did not oppose the motion “[t]o the extent Sampson merely seeks clarification of the statistics this Court relied upon in reaching its decision.” Docket No. 2110 at 1. However, the government opposed reconsideration' and reversal of the Constitutional Decision. Id. Arguing that Sampson had not met “the demanding standard for reconsideration,” the government stated that the differences in the statistics were “insubstantial” and that “jury verdicts are' not the paramount factor” in an evolving standards of decency analysis. Docket No; 2110 at '2-3. “[E]ven accepting Sampson’s' adjusted facts as true,” the government concluded, “he is not entitled to relief.” Id. at 3.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

- “[District courts have the inherent authority to reconsider their interlocutory orders outside the sentencing context.” United States v. Bravo-Fernandez, 790 F.3d 41, 61 n. 14 (1st Cir.2015). The First Circuit has articulated a three-part test to be employed by district courts in deciding motions to reconsider.

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United States v. Sampson, 148 F. Supp. 3d 127, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161707, 2015 WL 7761058 (D. Mass. 2015).

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