State v. Young
State v. Young
Dissenting Opinion
I respectfully dissent. In my opinion, refusal of Young’s request for a jury charge on parole eligibility violated his Eighth Amendment rights. I would reverse.
The trial judge allowed the jurors to be voir dired on their understanding of the term “life imprisonment.” The responses indicated few potential jurors, if any, understood the legal meaning of this phrase. Once the judge allowed this
Opinion of the Court
Appellant, Kevin Dean Young, was convicted of the murder of an Anderson elementary school principal and sentenced to death. This Court affirmed his murder conviction but reversed the sentence of death and remanded for resentencing. State v. Young, 305 S.C. 380, 409 S.E. (2d) 352 (1991) (Young I)).
This case consolidates the direct appeal of his resentencing with the mandatory review provisions of S.C. Code Ann. § 16-3-25 (1985).
We affirm.
ISSUES
The following issues are presented for our review:
1) Was the solicitor required, prior to resentencing, to serve a new notice of intent to seek the death penalty?
2) Where Young’s statement to police was determined to be voluntary and admissible in the guilt phase of his trial, was he entitled to relitigate the issue of its voluntariness at resentencing?
*36 3) Was Young entitled to a jury instruction that, if sentenced to life imprisonment, he would not be eligible for parole for thirty years?
4) Was Young entitled to an instruction on involuntary manslaughter?
I) NOTICE OF DEATH PENALTY
Prior to Young’s initial trial, the solicitor served a Notice of Intent to Seek Death Penalty (Notice). On appeal from that trial, this Court reversed and remanded for resentencing. Young I. The solicitor did not serve another Notice prior to resentencing; Young contends the failure to do so mandates reversal. We disagree.
S.C. Code Ann. § 16-3-26(A) (Cum. Supp. 1993) provides:
Whenever the solicitor seeks the death penalty he shall notify the defense attorney of his intention to seek such penalty at least thirty days prior to the trial of the case. At the request of the defense attorney, the defense attorney shall be excused from all other trial duties ten days prior to the term of court in which the trial is to be held.
There is no requirement of written notice in the statute. The order appointing counsel to a death penalty case is dated Feb. 11,1993, almost 4 months prior to resentencing. Clearly, counsel had sufficient notice.
Young cites State v. Rackley, 275 S.C. 402, 272 S.E. (2d) 33 (1980), for the proposition that the State forgoes the possibility of a death sentence when it fails to serve a Notice of Intent. Rackley is inapplicable here since the State did, in the initial proceeding, serve the Notice.
Moreover, further process and the institution of entirely new proceedings in the lower court are ordinarily unnecessary after remand. 5 CJS Appeal and Error § 978 (1993). Where defendants are arraigned and tried upon indictments for murder and thereafter granted a new trial on appeal, a second arraignment is not necessary and retrial upon the original indictments is sufficient. State v. Hewitt, 206 S.C. 409, 34 S.E. (2d) 764 (1945). See also State v. Davis, 267 S.C. 283, 227 S.E. (2d) 662 (1976); State v. Stewart, 26 S.C. 125, 1 S.E. 468 (1887).
II) VOLUNTARINESS OF STATEMENT
During the guilt phase of trial, Young challenged the admissibility of his statement to police in which he confessed to shooting the victim. After a Jackson v. Denno
At resentencing, Young did not suggest, as he does now, that he should be permitted to testify or present additional evidence before the jury to demonstrate that the statement was coerced. Accordingly, this issue is not preserved. State v. Meyers, 262 S.C. 222, 203 S.E. (2d) 678 (1974) (party may not raise ground not asserted below on appeal).
In any event, the resentencing court did not rule that Young could not present additional evidence concerning the circumstances of the statement; to the contrary, the court merely prohibited him from relitigating the issue of admissibility. This ruling was proper. State v. Truesdale, 301 S.C. 546, 393 S.E. (2d) 168 (1990) (defendant may not relitigate, at re-sentencing, admissibility of statement which has previously been determined admissible); State v. Stewart, 288 S.C. 232, 341 S.E. (2d) 789 (1986). See also S.C. Code § 16-3-25(E)(2) (1985) (introduction of any evidence properly admitted during the guilt or penalty phase of the previous trial permissible at resentencing).
Ill) PAROLE ELIGIBILITY
During voir dire, Young questioned numerous prospective jurors regarding their understanding of “life imprisonment.” A majority responded the term meant the defendant would spend the rest of his life in prison, or would be ineligible for
Young contends the jury’s knowledge that if sentenced to “life,” he would not be eligible for parole until service of thirty years is a factor which would have warranted imposition of a life sentence. Accordingly, he asserts the failure to so charge the jury violates the Eighth Amendment.
Under the Eighth Amendment, States cannot limit the sentencer’s consideration of any relevant circumstance which could cause the jury to decline to impose the death penalty. Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808, 111 S.Ct. 2597, 115 L.Ed. (2d) 720 (1991); State v. Stewart, 288 S.C. 232, 341 S.E. (2d) 789 (1986). The United States Supreme Court has “deferred to the State’s choice of substantive factors relevant to the penalty determination.” California v. Ramos, 463 U.S. 992, 1001, 103 S.Ct. 3446, 3453, 77 L.Ed. (2d) 1171 (1983). Whether parole eligibility is relevant to the sentencing determination is a matter of state law. Id. In South Carolina, we have ruled that parole eligibility is not relevant to a jury’s sentencing considerations. State v. Torrence, 305 S.C. 45, 406 S.E. (2d) 315 (1991) (Justice Chandler concurring); State v. Davis, 306 S.C. 246, 411 S.E. (2d) 220 (1991). Accordingly, we find no Eighth Amendment violation.
Moreover, Young’s contention the jury may have found his thirty-year parole eligibility to warrant a sentence less than death is untenable. The record reveals that a majority of jurors polled who were seated on the jury believed that “life imprisonment” meant the defendant would never be released from prison or would be ineligible for parole. Nonetheless, the jury sentenced Young to death. Fur
Finally, there is no issue here regarding Young’s future dangerousness,
IV) INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE
Young asserts the trial court should have charged the jury on the elements of involuntary manslaughter as “mitigating evidence.” We disagree.
Young did not request a charge on involuntary manslaughter.
In any event, the evidence did not warrant a charge on involuntary manslaughter. According to Young’s version of events, his codefendant, Bell, grabbed the Victim’s necklace from around his neck. When the Victim “started” towards Bell, Young aimed the gun at the Victim’s head. Bell asked the Victim for his money and, after arguing back and forth, the Victim finally tossed his wallet towards Bell. The Victim “kind of swung” at Young and the gun just went off and shot
Involuntary manslaughter is either 1) the killing of another without malice and unintentionally, but while one is engaged in the commission of some unlawful act not amounting to a felony and not naturally tending to cause death or great bodily harm, or 2) the killing of another without malice and unintentionally but while engaged in the doing of a lawful act with a reckless disregard of the safety of others. Bozeman v. State, 307 S.C. 172, 414 S.E. (2d) 144 (1992); State v. McCall, 304 S.C. 465, 405 S.E. (2d) 414 (Ct. App. 1991).
Here, Young was engaged in the commission of armed robbery, a felony under § 16-1-10, at the time of the shooting. As such, he was not entitled to an involuntary manslaughter charge.
CONCLUSION
We have concluded the proportionality review pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. § 16-3-25 (1985). The sentence was not the result of passion, prejudice, or any other arbitrary factor; the evidence supports the finding of the aggravating circumstance; and the sentence is not disproportionate to that imposed in similar cases. State v. Bell, 305 S.C. 11, 406 S.E. (2d) 165, cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1038, 112 S.Ct. 888, 116 L.Ed. (2d) 791 (1991); State v. Green, 301 S.C. 347, 392 S.E. (2d) 157, cert. denied, 498 U.S. 881, 111 S.Ct. 229, 112 L.Ed. (2d) 183 (1990). The sentence of death is
Affirmed.
The details of the crime are set forth in that opinion.
378 U.S. 368, 84 S.Ct. 1774, 12 L.Ed. (2d) 908 (1964).
U.S. CONST, amend VIII.
Evidence was presented concerning Young’s character and his prior criminal record. Such evidence was, however, relevant in the sentencing phase without regard to future dangerousness. Simmons v. South Carolina. There was no contention that Young would one day be released from prison. In fact, counsel for Young stressed to the jury that Young would never be released.
The Simmons court expressed no opinion on the Eighth Amendment issue presented. 512 U.S. at —, 114 S.Ct. at —, 129 L.Ed. (2d) at 141, n. 4.
Additionally, Simmons is inapposite as it involves a defendant’s ineligibility for parole and not, as here, information the defendant would one day be released from prison.
In fact, counsel for Young specifically rejected the State’s contention that evidence the Victim swung at him might be mitigating.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The STATE, Respondent v. Kevin Dean YOUNG, Appellant
- Cited By
- 36 cases
- Status
- Published