John Paul Stevens

“ The heart of the matter is that democracy implies respect for the elementary rights of men, however suspect or unworthy; a democratic government must therefore practice fairness; and fairness can rarely be obtained by secret, one-sided determination of facts decisive of rights. ”

“ If a human being is killed by any one of several persons engaged in the perpetration of the crime of robbery, all persons who either directly and actively commit the act constituting robbery or who with knowledge of the unlawful purpose of the perpetrator of the crime aid and abet in its commission, are guilty of murder of the first degree, whether the killing is intentional or unintentional. ”

“ Man being what he is cannot safely be trusted with complete immunity from outward responsibility in depriving others of their rights. At least such is the conviction underlying our Bill of Rights. That a conclusion satisfies one's private conscience does not attest its reliability. ”

“ There is nothing in the record after the State's response to the presentencing order and before the trial judge's remark at the end of the hearing that mentioned the possibility of a capital sentence. During the hearing, while both defense counsel and the prosecutor were arguing the merits of concurrent or consecutive, and fixed or indeterminate, terms, the silent judge was the only person in the courtroom who knew that the real issue that they should have been debating was the choice between life or death. ”

“ At the arraignment, the trial judge advised petitioner that "the maximum punishment that you may receive if you are convicted on either of the two charges is imprisonment for life or death." App. 14.
After the arraignment, petitioner's appointed counsel entered into plea negotiations with the prosecutor. During these negotiations, petitioner agreed to take two lie-detector tests. Although the results of the tests were not entirely satisfactory, they convinced the prosecutor that petitioner's older brother Mark was primarily responsible for the crimes and was the actual killer of both victims. ”

“ Our belief that debate between adversaries is often essential to the truth-seeking function of trials requires us also to recognize the importance of giving counsel an opportunity to comment on facts which may influence the sentencing decision in capital cases. ”

“ No better instrument has been devised for arriving at truth than to give a person in jeopardy of serious loss notice of the case against him and opportunity to meet it. Nor has a better way been found for generating the feeling, so important to a popular government, that justice has been done." Id., at 171-172, 71 S.Ct., at 648-649 (footnote omitted) .
If defense counsel had been notified that the trial judge was contemplating a death sentence based on five specific aggravating circumstances, [15] presumably she would have advanced arguments that addressed these circumstances ”

“ Petitioner's lack of adequate notice that the judge was contemplating the imposition of the death sentence created an impermissible risk that the adversary process may have malfunctioned in this case.
The judgment of the Idaho Supreme Court is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered.
Notes ↑ "No State shall . . . deprive any person of life . . . without due process of law." U.S. Const., Amdt. 14, § 1.↑ The Idaho Supreme Court explained: "Lankford's defense theory was that he was only an accessory after the fact. ”

“ The validity and moral authority of a conclusion largely depend on the mode by which it was reached. Secrecy is not congenial to truth-seeking and self-righteousness gives too slender an assurance of rightness. ”

“ From the point of view of the defendant, it is different in both its severity and its finality. From the point of view of society, the action of the sovereign in taking the life of one of its citizens also differs dramatically from any other legitimate state action. ”

“ This conclusion stems solely from the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishments on which the Woodson decision expressly rested, and my conclusion is limited, as was Woodson, to cases in which the death penalty is imposed." 430 U.S., at 363-364, 97 S.Ct., at 1208-1209. The same limitation is applicable to our decision today.↑ " [T] he penalty of death is qualitatively different from a sentence of imprisonment, however long. Death, in its finality, differs more from life imprisonment than a 100-year prison term differs from one of only a year or two. ”

“ Because of that qualitative difference, there is a corresponding difference in the need for reliability in the determination that death is the appropriate punishment in a specific case." Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280 , 305, 96 S.Ct. ”

“ Georgia, 446 U.S. 420 , 428-429, 100 S.Ct. 1759, 1765, 64 L.Ed.2d 398 (1980) . "The petitioner's crimes cannot be said to have reflected a consciousness materially more 'depraved' than that of any person guilty of murder. His victims were killed instantaneously." Id., at 433 (footnote omitted) .↑ In his statement toward the end of the sentencing hearing, the judge described Bryan Lankford as follows: " [H] e is a liar,and he is an admitted liar. He's a deceitful individual." ”

“ State v. Beam, 109 Idaho 616, 710 P.2d 526 (1985) ; State v. Fetterly, 109 Idaho 766, 710 P.2d 1202 (1985) .↑ The statutory aggravating circumstances, identified by the trial judge for the first time when he sentenced Bryan Lankford to death, were: " (a) At the time the murder was committed the defendant also committed another murder. . . . " (b) The murders of the Bravences were especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, and manifested exceptional depravity. . . . " (c) By the murder, or circumstances surrounding its commission, the defendant exhibited utter disregard for human life. . . . " ”