Change of Heart Read Free Page B

business.”
    As it turned out, though, it was a lot easier to say that someone deserved to die for what they did than it was to take the responsibility to make that happen.
    “I’m just gonna come right out and say it.” Vy sighed. “I really have no idea what the judge told us we need to do.”
    At the start of the testimony, the judge had given us nearly an hour’s worth of verbal instructions. I figured there’d be a handout, too, but I’d figured wrong. “I can explain it,” I said. “It’s kind of like a Chinese food menu. There’s a whole checklist of things that make a crime punishable by death. Basically, we have to find one from column A, and one or more from column B … for each of the murders to qualify for the death penalty. If we check off one from column A, but none from column B … then the court automatically sentences him to life without parole.”
    “I don’t understand what’s in column A or B,” Maureen said.
    “I never liked Chinese food,” Mark added.
    I stood up in front of the white board and picked up a dryerase marker. COLUMN A , I wrote. PURPOSE . “The first thing we have to decide is whether or not Bourne
meant
to kill each victim.” I turned to everyone else. “I guess we’ve pretty much answered that already by convicting him of murder.”
    COLUMN B . “Here’s where it gets trickier. There are a whole bunch of factors on this list.”
    I began to read from the jumbled notes I’d taken during the judge’s instructions:
    Defendant has already been convicted of murder once before.
    Defendant has been convicted of two or more different offenses for which he’s served imprisonment for more than a year—a three-strikes rule.
    Defendant has been convicted of two or more offenses involving distribution of drugs.
    In the middle of the capital murder, the defendant risked the death of someone in addition to the victims.
    The defendant committed the offense after planning and premeditation.
    The victim was vulnerable due to old age, youth, infirmity.
    The defendant committed the offense in a particularly heinous, cruel, or depraved manner that involved torture or physical abuse to the victim.
    The murder was committed for the purpose of avoiding lawful arrest.
    Ted stared at the board as I wrote down what I could remember. “So if we find one from column A, and one from column B, we have to sentence him to death?”
    “No,” I said. “Because there’s also a column C.”
    MITIGATING FACTORS , I wrote. “These are the reasons the defense gave as excuses.”
    Defendant’s capacity to appreciate what he was doing was wrong, or illegal, was impaired.
    Defendant was under unusual and substantial duress.
    Defendant is punishable as an accomplice in the offense which was committed by another.
    Defendant was young, although not under the age of 18.
    Defendant did not have a significant prior criminal record.
    Defendant committed the offense under severe mental or emotional disturbance.
    Another defendant equally culpable will not be punished by death.
    Victim consented to the criminal conduct that resulted in death.
    Other factors in the defendant’s background mitigate against the death sentence.
    Underneath the columns, I wrote, in large red letters: ( A + B )— C = SENTENCE .
    Marilyn threw up her hands. “I stopped helping my son with math homework in sixth grade.”
    “No, it’s easy,” I said. “We need to agree that Bourne intended to kill each victim when he picked up that gun. That’s column A. Then we need to see whether any other aggravating factor fits from column B. Like, the youth of the victim—that works for Elizabeth, right?”
    Around the table, people nodded.
    “If we’ve got A and B, then we take into account the foster care, the mental illness, stuff like that. It’s just simple math. If A + B is greater than all the things the defense said, we sentence him to death. If A + B is less than all the things the defense said, then we don’t.” I