Supreme Court held that a capital sentence is not valid "when the sentencing jury is led to believe that responsibility for determining the appropriateness of a death sentence rests not with the jury but with the appellate court which later reviews the case." 472 U.S. Thus the State would have us conclude that because an Indiana jury is not the sentencer, most of the responsibility does lie elsewhere. The State also argues that Caldwell only applies if the sentencer has been led to believe that the responsibility for determining the appropriateness of defendant's death lies elsewhere. The State claims that the statements during voir dire accurately reflected the jury's advisory role. Burris reminds us that his direct appeal was decided before Caldwell and did not consider whether conditioning made it less likely the jury would recommend life. He claims it is unconstitutional to allow the jury to believe the responsibility for sentencing the defendant to death lies elsewhere, citing Caldwell v. Brief for Defendant at 37.īurris contends that this jury conditioning violates his sixth, eighth and fourteenth amendment rights. Burris asserts that ten members of the jury heard 34 remarks of that kind, while two members of the jury heard such remarks four times. For example, the prosecutor asked if a juror understood that "the ultimate decision rests in Judge Tranberg and not in anybody else." Trial Record at 697. Otherwise, we affirm the denial of his post-conviction petition.īurris argues that his conviction is unsound because during voir dire the jury was repeatedly told that they would only recommend the death sentence to the judge and that the judge would make the final decision. We conclude that Burris did not receive effective assistance of counsel during the sentencing phase of his trial and we reverse the sentence of death. It requires the petitioner to establish that the evidence as a whole leads unmistakably to a decision in his favor. Our standard for reviewing the denial of a post-conviction petition does not allow us to weigh the evidence or judge the credibility of the witnesses. Whether Burris was convicted of a crime greater than the one defined in the instructions to the jury. Whether Burris was denied effective assistance of counsel. Whether the jury at Burris' trial was improperly conditioned under the rule put forth in Caldwell v. We have regrouped and restated the issues Burris raises on appeal: Judge Roy Jones, acting as special judge, denied Burris' petition for post-conviction relief. This Court affirmed the sentence on direct appeal. On December 5, 1980, the jury recommended Burris be sentenced to death and Judge John Tranberg followed their recommendation. Gary Burris was convicted of murder under Ind. *1069 Linda Wagoner, Fort Wayne, Ind., for appellant. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below). Gary BURRIS, Appellant (Defendant below),
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |