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5-4-602. Capital murder charge — Trial procedure.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
5-4-602. Capital murder charge — Trial procedure.
The following procedures govern a trial of a person charged with capital murder:
(1) The jury shall first hear all evidence relevant to the charge and shall then retire to reach a verdict of guilt or innocence;
(2) If the defendant is found not guilty of the capital offense charged but guilty of a lesser included offense, the sentence shall be determined and imposed as provided by law;
(3)(A) If the defendant is found guilty of capital murder, the same jury shall sit again in order to:
(i) Hear additional evidence as provided by subdivisions (4) and (5) of this section; and
(ii) Determine the sentence in the manner provided by § 5-4-603.
(B) However, if the state waives the death penalty, stipulates that no aggravating circumstance exists, or stipulates that mitigating circumstances outweigh aggravating circumstances, then:
(i) A hearing under subdivision (3)(A) of this section is not required; and
(ii) The trial court shall sentence the defendant to life imprisonment without parole.
(C) If the defendant was less than eighteen (18) years of age at the time of the offense, then a hearing under subdivision (3)(A) of this section is not required;
(4)(A) If the defendant and the state are accorded an opportunity to rebut the evidence, in determining the sentence evidence may be presented to the jury as to any:
(i) Matter relating to an aggravating circumstance enumerated in § 5-4-604;
(ii) Mitigating circumstance; or
(iii) Other matter relevant to punishment, including, but not limited to, victim impact evidence.
(B)(i) Evidence as to any mitigating circumstance may be presented by either the state or the defendant regardless of the evidence's admissibility under the rules governing admission of
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 5-4-602
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. A text match is a research starting point; applicability is not established.
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Stable record: arkansas_code:legal_authorities:5-4-602
Source file: gov.ar.code.title.05.odt
Pages: Not recorded – Not recorded
Passage SHA-256: 377196a2d265e56ddf2ea74fb375fa662e525a7fc8cf368f0ef4cddf55d86655
Source location: content.xml paragraph 5879
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5-4-602. Capital murder charge — Trial procedure.
The following procedures govern a trial of a person charged with capital murder:
(1) The jury shall first hear all evidence relevant to the charge and shall then retire to reach a verdict of guilt or innocence;
(2) If the defendant is found not guilty of the capital offense charged but guilty of a lesser included offense, the sentence shall be determined and imposed as provided by law;
(3)(A) If the defendant is found guilty of capital murder, the same jury shall sit again in order to:
(i) Hear additional evidence as provided by subdivisions (4) and (5) of this section; and
(ii) Determine the sentence in the manner provided by § 5-4-603.
(B) However, if the state waives the death penalty, stipulates that no aggravating circumstance exists, or stipulates that mitigating circumstances outweigh aggravating circumstances, then:
(i) A hearing under subdivision (3)(A) of this section is not required; and
(ii) The trial court shall sentence the defendant to life imprisonment without parole.
(C) If the defendant was less than eighteen (18) years of age at the time of the offense, then a hearing under subdivision (3)(A) of this section is not required;
(4)(A) If the defendant and the state are accorded an opportunity to rebut the evidence, in determining the sentence evidence may be presented to the jury as to any:
(i) Matter relating to an aggravating circumstance enumerated in § 5-4-604;
(ii) Mitigating circumstance; or
(iii) Other matter relevant to punishment, including, but not limited to, victim impact evidence.
(B)(i) Evidence as to any mitigating circumstance may be presented by either the state or the defendant regardless of the evidence's admissibility under the rules governing admission of evidence in a trial of a criminal matter.
(ii) However, mitigating circumstance evidence shall be relevant to the issue of punishment, including, but not limited to, the nature and circumstances of the crime, and the defendant's character, background, history, and mental and physical condition as set forth in § 5-4-605.
(C) The admissibility of evidence relevant to an aggravating circumstance set forth in § 5-4-604 is governed by the rules governing the admission of evidence in a trial of a criminal matter.
(D) Any evidence admitted at the trial relevant to punishment may be considered by the jury without the necessity of reintroducing the evidence at the sentencing proceeding; and
(5) The state and the defendant or his or her counsel are permitted to present argument respecting sentencing:
(A) The state shall open the argument;
(B) The defendant is permitted to reply; and
(C) The state is then permitted to reply in rebuttal.
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Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
5-4-603. Findings required for death sentence — Harmless error review.
(a) The jury shall impose a sentence of death if the jury unanimously returns written findings that:
(1) An aggravating circumstance exists beyond a reasonable doubt;
(2) Aggravating circumstances outweigh beyond a reasonable doubt all mitigating circumstances found to exist; and
(3) Aggravating circumstances justify a sentence of death beyond a reasonable doubt.
(b) The jury shall impose a sentence of life imprisonment without parole if the jury finds that:
(1) Aggravating circumstances do not exist beyond a reasonable doubt;
(2) Aggravating circumstances do not outweigh beyond a reasonable doubt all mitigating circumstances found to exist; or
(3) Aggravating circumstances do not justify a sentence of death beyond a reasonable doubt.
(c) If the jury does not make any finding required by subsection (a) of this section, the court shall impose a sentence of life imprisonment without parole.
(d)(1) On an appellate review of a death sentence, the Supreme Court shall conduct a harmless error review of the defendant's death sentence if:
(A) The Supreme Court finds that the jury erred in finding the existence of any aggravating circumstance for any reason; and
(B) The jury found no mitigating circumstance.
(2) The Supreme Court shall conduct a harmless error review under subdivision (d)(1) of this section by determining that a remaining aggravating circumstance:
(A) Exists beyond a reasonable doubt; and
(B) Justifies a sentence of death beyond a reasonable doubt.
(e) If the Supreme Court concludes that the erroneous finding of any aggravating circumstance by the jury would not have changed the jury's decision to impose the death penalty on the defendant, then a simple major
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 5-4-603
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 5-4-603. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
5-4-604. Aggravating circumstances.
An aggravating circumstance is limited to the following:
(1) The capital murder was committed by a person imprisoned as a result of a felony conviction;
(2) The capital murder was committed by a person unlawfully at liberty after being sentenced to imprisonment as a result of a felony conviction;
(3) The person previously committed another felony, an element of which was the use or threat of violence to another person or the creation of a substantial risk of death or serious physical injury to another person;
(4) The person in the commission of the capital murder knowingly created a great risk of death to a person other than the victim or caused the death of more than one (1) person in the same criminal episode;
(5) The capital murder was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing an arrest or effecting an escape from custody;
(6) The capital murder was committed for pecuniary gain;
(7) The capital murder was committed for the purpose of disrupting or hindering the lawful exercise of any government or political function;
(8)(A) The capital murder was committed in an especially cruel or depraved manner.
(B)(i) For purposes of subdivision (8)(A) of this section, a capital murder is committed in an especially cruel manner when, as part of a course of conduct intended to inflict mental anguish, serious physical abuse, or torture upon the victim prior to the victim's death, mental anguish, serious physical abuse, or torture is inflicted.
(ii)(a) “Mental anguish” means the victim's uncertainty as to his or her ultimate fate.
(b) “Serious physical abuse” means physical abuse that creates a substantial risk of death or that causes protracted impairment of health, or loss or protracted impairment of the function
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 5-4-604
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 5-4-604. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
5-4-605. Mitigating circumstances.
A mitigating circumstance includes, but is not limited to, the following:
(1) The capital murder was committed while the defendant was under extreme mental or emotional disturbance;
(2) The capital murder was committed while the defendant was acting under an unusual pressure or influence or under the domination of another person;
(3) The capital murder was committed while the capacity of the defendant to appreciate the wrongfulness of his or her conduct or to conform his or her conduct to the requirements of law was impaired as a result of mental disease or defect, intoxication, or drug abuse;
(4) The youth of the defendant at the time of the commission of the capital murder;
(5) The capital murder was committed by another person and the defendant was an accomplice and his or her participation was relatively minor; or
(6) The defendant has no significant history of prior criminal activity.
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 5-4-605
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 5-4-605. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.