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BROWN v. SANDERS Opinion of the Court
General, and Ward A. Campbell, Supervising Deputy Attor ney General. Nina Rivkind, by appointment of the Court, 544 U. S. 1017, argued the cause for respondent. With her on the brief were Cliff Gardner and Eric E. Jorstad.* Justice Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court. We consider the circumstances in which an invalidated sentencing factor will render a death sentence unconstitu tional by reason of its adding an improper element to the aggravation scale in the jury’s weighing process. I Respondent Ronald Sanders and a companion invaded the home of Dale Boender, where they bound and blindfolded him and his girlfriend, Janice Allen. Both of the victims were then struck on the head with a heavy, blunt object; Allen died from the blow. Sanders was convicted of first degree murder, of attempt to murder Boender, and of rob bery, burglary, and attempted robbery. Sanders’ jury found four “special circumstances” under California law, each of which independently rendered him eligible for the death penalty. See Cal. Penal Code Ann. § 190.2 (West Supp. 1995). The trial then moved to a penalty phase, at which the jury was instructed to consider a list of sentencing factors relating to Sanders’ background and the nature of the crime, one of which was “[t]he circumstances of the crime of which the defendant was convicted in the present proceeding and the existence of any special circum stances found to be true.” § 190.3(a) (West 1999). The jury sentenced Sanders to death. On direct appeal, the California Supreme Court declared invalid two of the four special circumstances found by the
- Kent S. Scheidegger filed a brief for the Criminal Justice Legal Founda
tion as amicus curiae urging reversal.
