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Written with the help of AI | Legally Reviewed by Balrina Ahluwalia, Esq. | Last updated August 16, 2024
In McKinney v. Arizona, the Supreme Court addressed the procedure for remedying Eddings errors.
“Eddings errors” is a term used in sentencing for capital cases, those where the death penalty is on the table. The term refers to a court’s failure to consider all relevant mitigating evidence presented by a defendant. Such errors violate the constitutional requirement established in Eddings v. Oklahoma (1982). The Eddings Court established that sentencers must consider all relevant mitigating evidence in capital cases, including any aspect of a defendant's character or record.
In 1993, Arizona sentenced James McKinney to death for two murders. The Ninth Circuit later found an Eddings error in his case. The sentencing judge hadn't considered all mitigating evidence.
Instead of holding a new sentencing hearing with a jury, the Arizona Supreme Court reweighed the aggravating and mitigating circumstances and upheld McKinney’s death sentence.
McKinney challenged the ruling. He claimed he should have a jury resentencing under Ring v. Arizona (2002). Ring requires juries, not judges, to find aggravating circumstances in death penalty cases.
The Supreme Court ultimately heard the case.
The Court ruled in favor of Arizona. It explained that Clemons v. Mississippi (1990) permits a state appellate court to reweigh factors to fix an Eddings error. A jury doesn’t have to do this. The Court also determined that Ring doesn't apply retroactively to cases like McKinney's that were already final on direct review when Ring was decided in 2002.
Accordingly, the Court affirmed the Arizona Supreme Court decision, allowing McKinney's death sentence to stand.
The McKinney ruling clarified procedures for correcting certain errors in death penalty cases. It gave states more flexibility to fix Eddings errors without full resentencing hearings. The decision also limited the reach of Ring v. Arizona, potentially affecting many old death penalty cases across the country.
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An Arizona jury convicted petitioner James McKinney of two counts of first-degree murder. The trial judge found aggravating circumstances for both murders, weighed the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, and sentenced McKinney to death. Nearly 20 years later, the Ninth Circuit held on habeas review that the Arizona courts violated Eddings v. Oklahoma,
Held: A Clemons reweighing is a permissible remedy for an Eddings error, and when an Eddings error is found on collateral review, a state appellate court may conduct a Clemons reweighing on collateral review. McKinney's argument that a jury must resentence him does not square with Clemons, where the Court held that a reweighing of the aggravating and mitigating evidence may be conducted by an appellate court.
245 Ariz. 225, 426 P. 3d 1204, affirmed.
Kavanaugh, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch, JJ., joined. Ginsburg, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan, JJ., joined.
Opinion of the Court
589 U. S. ____ (2020)
NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the preliminary print of the United States Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press.
No. 18-1109
JAMES ERIN McKINNEY, PETITIONER v. ARIZONA
on writ of certiorari to the supreme court of arizona
[February 25, 2020]
Justice Kavanaugh delivered the opinion of the Court.
Over a 4-week span in early 1991, James McKinney and his half brother, Charles Hedlund, burglarized five residences in the Phoenix, Arizona, area. During one of the burglaries, McKinney and Hedlund beat and repeatedly stabbed Christine Mertens. McKinney then shot Mertens in the back of the head, fatally wounding her. In another burglary, McKinney and Hedlund killed Jim McClain by shooting him in the back of the head with a sawed-off rifle.
In 1992, an Arizona jury convicted McKinney of two counts of first-degree murder. Under this Court's precedents, a defendant convicted of murder is eligible for a death sentence if at least one aggravating circumstance is found. See Tuilaepa v. California,
The trial judge then weighed the aggravating and mitigating circumstances and sentenced McKinney to death for both murders. In 1996, the Arizona Supreme Court affirmed McKinney's death sentences.
Nearly 20 years later, on federal habeas corpus review, an en banc panel of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided by a 6 to 5 vote that, in sentencing McKinney, the Arizona courts had failed to properly consider McKinney's posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and had thereby run afoul of this Court's decision in Eddings v. Oklahoma,
McKinney's case then returned to the Arizona Supreme Court. In that court, McKinney argued that he was entitled to resentencing by a jury. By contrast, the State asked that the Arizona Supreme Court itself conduct a reweighing of the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, as permitted by Clemons v. Mississippi,
McKinney petitioned for certiorari in this Court. Because of the importance of the case to capital sentencing in Arizona, we granted certiorari. 587 U. S. ___ (2019).
The issue in this case is narrow. McKinney contends that after the Ninth Circuit identified an Eddings error, the Arizona Supreme Court could not itself reweigh the aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Rather, according to McKinney, a jury must resentence him.
McKinney's argument does not square with this Court's decision in Clemons. In Clemons, a Mississippi jury sentenced the defendant to death based in part on two aggravating circumstances. After the Mississippi Supreme Court determined that one of the aggravators was unconstitutionally vague, the defendant argued that he was entitled to resentencing before a jury so that the jury could properly weigh the permissible aggravating and mitigating evidence. This Court disagreed. The Court concluded that the Mississippi Supreme Court could itself reweigh the permissible aggravating and mitigating evidence.
McKinney contends that Clemons does not apply here. He raises two basic arguments.
First, McKinney maintains that Clemons involved an improperly considered aggravating circumstance, whereas his case involves what the Ninth Circuit said was an improperly ignored mitigating circumstance. But the Court's analysis in Clemons hinged on its assessment of appellate courts' ability to weigh aggravating and mitigating evidence, not on any unique effect of aggravators as distinct from mitigators. After noting that the "primary concern in the Eighth Amendment context has been that the sentencing decision be based on the facts and circumstances of the defendant, his background, and his crime," the Court explained that nothing "inherent in the process of appellate reweighing is inconsistent" with that objective. Id., at 748. Indeed, the Court explicitly rejected the argument that "appellate courts are unable to fully consider and give effect to the mitigating evidence presented by defendants at the sentencing phase in a capital case." Ibid. And the Court concluded that a state appellate court may uphold the death sentence after a "reweighing of the aggravating and mitigating evidence." Id., at 741.
In deciding whether a particular defendant warrants a death sentence in light of the mix of aggravating and mitigating circumstances, there is no meaningful difference for purposes of appellate reweighing between subtracting an aggravator from one side of the scale and adding a mitigator to the other side. Both involve weighing, and the Court's decision in Clemons ruled that appellate tribunals may perform a "reweighing of the aggravating and mitigating evidence." Ibid. In short, a Clemons reweighing is a permissible remedy for an Eddings error.
Second, the Court decided Clemons back in 1990, and McKinney argues that Clemons is no longer good law in the wake of this Court's decisions in Ring v. Arizona,
In Ring, this Court held that capital defendants "are entitled to a jury determination of any fact on which the legislature conditions an increase in their maximum punishment"--in particular, the finding of an aggravating circumstance.
Under Ring and Hurst, a jury must find the aggravating circumstance that makes the defendant death eligible. But importantly, in a capital sentencing proceeding just as in an ordinary sentencing proceeding, a jury (as opposed to a judge) is not constitutionally required to weigh the aggravating and mitigating circumstances or to make the ultimate sentencing decision within the relevant sentencing range. In Apprendi v. New Jersey,
In short, Ring and Hurst did not require jury weighing of aggravating and mitigating circumstances, and Ring and Hurst did not overrule Clemons so as to prohibit appellate reweighing of aggravating and mitigating circumstances.
In addition to those two arguments about Clemons, McKinney advances an additional argument based on Ring and Hurst. This argument focuses not on the weighing of aggravators and mitigators, but rather on the Arizona trial court's initial 1993 finding of the aggravating circumstances that made McKinney eligible for the death penalty. McKinney points out that a jury did not find the aggravating circumstances, as is now required by Ring and Hurst.
The hurdle is that McKinney's case became final on direct review in 1996, long before Ring and Hurst. Ring and Hurst do not apply retroactively on collateral review. See Schriro v. Summerlin,
McKinney says, however, that this case has a twist. He asserts that the Arizona Supreme Court's 2018 decision reweighing the aggravators and mitigators constituted a reopening of direct review. Because this case (as McKinney sees it) is again on direct review, McKinney argues that he should receive the benefit of Ring and Hurst--namely, a jury resentencing with a jury determination of aggravating circumstances.
But the premise of that argument is wrong because the Arizona Supreme Court's reweighing of the aggravating and mitigating circumstances occurred on collateral review, not direct review. In conducting the reweighing, the Arizona Supreme Court explained that it was conducting an independent review in a collateral proceeding. The court cited its prior decision in State v. Styers, 227 Ariz. 186, 254 P. 3d 1132 (2011), which concluded that Arizona could conduct such an independent review in a collateral proceeding. See also Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. §13-755 (2010); State v. Hedlund, 245 Ariz. 467, 470-471, 431 P. 3d 181, 184-185 (2018). Under these circumstances, we may not second-guess the Arizona Supreme Court's characterization of state law. See Mullaney v. Wilbur,
McKinney responds that the state label of collateral review cannot control the finality question; that a Clemons reweighing is a sentencing proceeding; and that a Clemons reweighing therefore may occur only on direct review (or on reopening of direct review). But Clemons itself, over a vigorous dissent, stated that an appellate reweighing is not a sentencing proceeding that must be conducted by a jury. See
* * *
This Court's precedents establish that state appellate courts may conduct a Clemons reweighing of aggravating and mitigating circumstances, and may do so in collateral proceedings as appropriate and provided under state law. We affirm the judgment of the Arizona Supreme Court.
It is so ordered.
Ginsburg, J., dissenting
589 U. S. ____ (2020)
No. 18-1109
JAMES ERIN McKINNEY, PETITIONER v. ARIZONA
on writ of certiorari to the supreme court of arizona
[February 25, 2020]
Justice Ginsburg, with whom Justice Breyer, Justice Sotomayor, and Justice Kagan join, dissenting.
Petitioner James Erin McKinney, convicted in Arizona of two counts of first-degree murder, was sentenced to death in 1993. At that time, Arizona assigned capital sentencing to trial judges. To impose a death sentence, the judge had to find at least one aggravating circumstance and "no mitigating circumstances sufficiently substantial to call for leniency." Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. §13-703(E) (1993). In 2002, in Ring v. Arizona,
The Constitution, this Court has determined, requires the application of new rules of constitutional law to cases on direct review. Griffith v. Kentucky,
I
Upon the imposition of a death sentence in Arizona, a defendant's appeal bypasses the intermediate appellate court and moves directly from the trial court to the Arizona Supreme Court. See Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. §13-4031 (2010).4 The statute governing such an appeal, §13-755, instructs: "The supreme court shall review all death sentences. On review, the supreme court shall independently review the trial court's findings of aggravation and mitigation and the propriety of the death sentence." §13-755(A).5 Independent review under §13-755 entails "review[ing] the entire record" without deference to the factfinder, to determine, de novo, "whether a capital sentence is not only legally correct, but also appropriate." State v. Roseberry, 237 Ariz. 507, 509-510, 353 P. 3d 847, 849-850 (2015). In 1996, the Arizona Supreme Court reviewed McKinney's sentences under the foregoing scheme and affirmed the trial court's dispositions.
McKinney then sought a writ of habeas corpus in federal court. In 2015, the en banc United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concluded that the Arizona Supreme Court, when it independently reviewed McKinney's sentences in 1996, committed constitutional error. Specifically, the state court, in violation of Eddings v. Oklahoma,
The State thereupon asked the Arizona Supreme Court to "conduct a new independent review of McKinney's death sentence" "to cure any error in [the prior] independent review." App. 389. Granting the State's motion in 2018, Arizona's highest court again did as the independent-review statute instructs. See supra, at 3. Specifically, the court first determined that "no reasonable doubt" existed "as to the aggravating circumstances found by the trial court." 245 Ariz. 225, 227, 426 P. 3d 1204, 1206 (2018). It then noted that "McKinney [had] proved several mitigating circumstances," including "PTSD . . . caused by the abuse and trauma he experienced as a child." Ibid. "Given the aggravating circumstances," however, the court "conclude[d] that McKinney's mitigating evidence [wa]s not sufficiently substantial to warrant leniency." Ibid. It therefore "affirm[ed] McKinney's death sentences" for a second time. Id., at 229, 426 P. 3d, at 1208.
II
A
Beyond doubt, the Arizona Supreme Court engaged in direct review in 1996. A defendant's first opportunity to appeal his conviction and sentence is the archetype of direct review. See Brecht v. Abrahamson,
The Arizona Supreme Court's 2018 proceeding was essentially a replay of the initial direct review proceeding. The State's request for "a new independent review," App. 389 (emphasis added), asked the Arizona Supreme Court to resume and redo direct review, this time in accord with Eddings. See Webster's Third New International Dictionary 1522 (2002) ("new": "beginning or appearing as the recurrence, resumption, or repetition of a previous act or thing"). The Arizona Supreme Court proceeded accordingly. That court retained for its "new independent review" the docket number earlier assigned to its initial review, App. 1, 6-11, and docket entries show that the original 1996 appeal was "Reinstated," id., at 1. In its 2018 review, the Arizona Supreme Court "examine[d] 'the trial court's findings of aggravation and mitigation and the propriety of the death sentence' " afresh, treating that court's 1996 decision as though it never issued. 245 Ariz., at 227, 426 P. 3d, at 1206 (quoting §13-755). See also supra, at 4.
Renewal of direct review cannot sensibly be characterized as anything other than direct review. The Arizona Supreme Court's 2018 proceeding retread ground traversed in 1996; the two proceedings differed only in that the court's 2018 review was free of Eddings error. If, as the State does not contest, the court's 1996 review ranked as review direct in character, so, too, did its 2018 do-over.7
B
The State urges that the Arizona Supreme Court's decision in State v. Styers, 227 Ariz. 186, 254 P. 3d 1132 (2011), compels a different classification of that court's 2018 proceeding. In Styers, as here, the Arizona Supreme Court conducted a new independent review to correct Eddings error in its previous decision affirming the defendant's death sentence. 227 Ariz., at 187, 254 P. 3d, at 1133. The Arizona Supreme Court regarded its second look in Styers as a collateral review for retroactivity purposes, id., at 187-188, and n. 1, 254 P. 3d, at 1133-1134, and n. 1, and followed suit in its 2018 renewed examination in this case, 245 Ariz., at 226-227, 426 P. 3d, at 1205-1206. This Court, the State maintains, is bound by that state-law classification. Brief for Respondent 22-25. The State's argument should be unavailing. Whether the Constitution requires the application of law now in force is a question of federal constitutional law, not an issue subject to state governance. See Griffith,
C
The Court does not today hold that the classification a state supreme court assigns to a proceeding is inevitably dispositive of a retroactivity question of the kind this case presents. See ante, at 7, n. *. Instead, the Court looks first to the State's classification of a proceeding, and then asks whether the character of the proceeding warrants the classification. See ante, at 6-7 (review was "akin to harmless-error review," which may be conducted on collateral review).
Accepting "collateral" as a fit description of the 2018 Arizona Supreme Court review proceeding, the Court relies on Clemons v. Mississippi, a decision holding that appellate courts can reweigh aggravating and mitigating factors as a form of "harmless-error analysis" when the factfinder "relied in part on an invalid aggravating circumstance."
* * *
Dissenting in Styers, then-Justice Hurwitz explained:
"[I]ndependent review is the paradigm of direct review--we determine, de novo, whether the trial court, on the facts before it, properly sentenced the defendant to death. Thus, what the State sought in this case--and what the Court has granted--is a new direct review of the death sentence, designed to obviate a constitutional error occurring in the original appeal." 227 Ariz., at 191, 254 P. 3d, at 1137 (internal quotation marks omitted).
Exactly right. Because Ring controls post 2002 direct review proceedings, I would apply that precedent here and reverse the judgment of the Arizona Supreme Court.
*Moreover, the District Court's conditional writ in this case merely required Arizona to correct a purported Eddings error. As we have explained, an Eddings error may be remedied on appeal or on collateral review. Our holding here does not suggest that a State, by use of a collateral label, may conduct a new trial proceeding in violation of current constitutional standards.
McKinney's primary argument rests on Ring. See Brief for Petitioner 19-33. Curiously, the Court devotes most of its opinion, ante, at 2-5, to McKinney's alternative argument: that Eddings error cannot be corrected by an appellate court. Brief for Petitioner 33-47 (discussing Eddings v. Oklahoma,
"[S]ubstantive" rules--"rules according constitutional protection to an actor's primary conduct" or "placing a certain class of individuals beyond the State's power to punish" in a particular manner--apply on collateral review. Penry v. Lynaugh,
Direct review immediately challenges a conviction; collateral review, occurring after a completed appeal, "is secondary and limited." Brecht v. Abrahamson,
"Arizona's capital sentencing statutes were reorganized and renumbered in 2008." State v. Chappell, 225 Ariz. 229, 234, n. 3, 236 P. 3d 1176, 1181, n. 3 (2010). This opinion cites a statute's current version when materially identical to the text in effect at the relevant time.
Section 13-755 remains in effect for crimes committed before August 1, 2002. State v. Morris, 215 Ariz. 324, 340, 160 P. 3d 203, 219 (2007).
In Eddings, the sentencing judge and appellate court found mitigating evidence about the defendant's "family history" irrelevant as a matter of law.
Further, the reason new rules do not apply on collateral review--namely, that "considerations of finality" weigh heavily when "trials and appeals conformed to then-existing constitutional standards," Teague v. Lane,
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No. 18-1109
Argued: December 11, 2019
Decided: February 25, 2020
Court: United States Supreme Court
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