{"ID":53673,"name":"Lewis v. Jeffers","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/cases\/1989\/89-189","view_count":0,"docket_number":"89-189","additional_docket_numbers":null,"manner_of_jurisdiction":"Writ of \u003Ci\u003Ecertiorari\u003C\/i\u003E","first_party":"Samuel A. Lewis, Director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, et al.","second_party":"Jimmie Wayne Jeffers","timeline":[{"event":"Argued","dates":[635580000],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/36234"},{"event":"Decided","dates":[646462800],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/36235"}],"lower_court":{"ID":5,"name":"United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/taxonomy\/term\/5"},"facts_of_the_case":"\u003Cp\u003EIn May of 1976, Jimmy Wayne Jeffers and his girlfriend, Penelope Cheney, were arrested for possession of narcotics and receipt of stolen property. Jeffers posted bond for Cheney but was unable to post bond for himself. While in jail, Jeffers learned that Cheney was cooperating with the police. He offered another inmate money to kill Cheney, but a detention officer seized the note. Jeffers was released on bond in October of 1976. He quickly contacted Cheney and invited her to his motel room to give her heroin. When Doris Van der Veer, the woman with whom Jeffers had been living since his release from prison, entered the room a few hours later, she saw Cheney comatose on the bed and Jeffers injecting liquid into her arm. Van der Veer reported seeing Jeffers choke Cheney to death and then beat her body while calling her dirty names. Van der Veer and Jeffers then wrapped the body in newspapers and plastic bags and buried it in a shallow grave.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EA jury convicted Jeffers of first-degree murder. At sentencing, the court found two aggravating circumstances and no mitigating factors, so Jeffers was sentenced to death under Arizona state law. On direct review, the Arizona Supreme Court vacated the death sentence and remanded the case for resentencing. On a second direct appeal, the Arizona Supreme Court conducted an independent review of the evidence and affirmed the death sentence. Jeffers petitioned the district court for a writ of habeas corpus and argued that Arizona\u2019s standard of an \u201cespecially heinous\u2026or depraved\u201d aggravating circumstance was unconstitutionally vague. The district court rejected Jeffers\u2019 challenge. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the standard was unconstitutionally vague as it applied to Jeffers and struck down the death sentence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\n","question":"\u003Cp\u003ECan a federal district court conduct an independent review of the evidence of a state court\u2019s finding of a constitutional aggravating circumstance?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDid Arizona\u2019s construction of the \u201cespecially heinous\u2026or depraved\u201d aggravating circumstance contravene Supreme Court precedent?\u003C\/p\u003E\n","conclusion":"\u003Cp\u003ENo, no. Justice Sandra Day O\u2019Connor delivered the opinion for the 5-4 majority. The Supreme Court held that federal habeas corpus relief is not intended to find error in state laws but rather to determine whether a state court\u2019s finding was so arbitrary and capricious that it violates the Eighth Amendment. The reviewing court should use the \u201crational factfinder\u201d test, which asks whether a rational trier of fact when viewing the evidence as most favorable to the prosecution could find reasonable doubt. The Court also held that the Arizona Supreme Court applied a narrow and clearly defined construction of the standard that sufficiently prevented arbitrary and capricious sentencing. Therefore the standard as it applied to Jeffers was not unconstitutionally vague.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EJustice Harry A. Blackmun wrote a dissenting opinion where he argued that the way a court constructs a standard does not change the fact that the standard is unconstitutionally vague. Because the majority\u2019s opinion provided no analysis on how the Arizona Supreme Court had constructed this standard in the past, there was no evidence to support the idea that the standard was being consistently narrowly applied. He also argued that the majority\u2019s opinion incorrectly focuses on federal habeas courts\u2019 review of state law, when there are federal implications as well. The district court has to review habeas corpus cases in light of others in order to determine whether the standards are being consistently and appropriately applied, so the \u201crational factfinder\u201d test is not solely sufficient. Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., Justice Thurgood Marshall, and Justice John Paul Stevens joined in the dissent.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn his dissent, which also applies to Walton v. Arizona, Justice Brennan argued that the death penalty is contrary to the ideals of human dignity upon which the Constitution rests and that the majority\u2019s opinion makes it easier for states to execute individuals with little regard for Eighth Amendment doctrine. Justice Marshall joined in the dissent.\u003C\/p\u003E\n","advocates":[{"advocate":{"ID":25384,"name":"Gerald R. 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