Criminal Law: Death Penalty – Guilty Plea – Jury Sentencing

Where a defendant, who pleaded guilty to rape and murder, sought habeas relief reducing his death sentence to life imprisonment, the petition is denied because the record showed that the defendant purposefully and strategically sought to avoid jury sentencing even though he knew the judge could impose death and the state would seek death, and his strategic jury waiver was not invalidated by subsequent case law that clarified the Sixth Amendment right for capital defendants to be sentenced by a jury, nor was he entitled to retroactive Sixth Amendment jury sentencing.

Cases apply

Dissenting opinion by Stith, J.: “I agree with Mr. Taylor that the principles set out in Ring, Blakely and Whitfield apply here….

“Now that the United States Supreme Court has held that there is a separate Sixth Amendment right to have the jury find the facts at sentencing… it would violate equal protection principles to apply this Sixth Amendment right to those denied a jury determination of punishment due to a jury dead-lock but not those so denied it because they pleaded guilty. Further, the United States Supreme Court has clarified that one cannot knowingly and intelligently waive a right that has not yet been recognized…

“Finally, even were Mr. Taylor able to waive a right he did not know he had, and even were this Court’s holding that he did not waive his right to a jury determination of facts on prior appeal not law of the case, as a factual matter he did not affirmatively waive or even know he could have had a right to a jury trial on the issue of sentence. The guilty plea transcript shows merely that he knew that by pleading guilty he would not be afforded a jury trial on punishment, not that he affirmatively wanted to avoid a jury trial on punishment or knew that he could have requested a jury trial on punishment.”

Petition for writ of habeas corpus denied.

State ex rel. Michael Anthony Taylor v. Steele (MLW No. 62251/Case No. SC90925 – 72 pages) (Supreme Court of Missouri, Russell, J.; Price, C.J., Breckenridge and Fischer, JJ., concur; Stith, J., dissents in separate opinion filed; Teitelman and Wolff, JJ., concur in opinion of Stith, J.) Original proceeding in habeas corpus (Robert W. Lundt, St. Louis; Matthew B. Larsen, Los Angeles; and Robert P. LoBue, Adam Blumenkrantz and Muhammed Faridi, New York, for petitioner) (Stephen D. Hawke, Jefferson City, for the state).

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