Style : Write an essay (750-1,000 words) explaining factors that are normally considered aggravating and mitigating circumstances.
Step one: Select a death-row inmate from the Arizona Department of corrections website.
Step two: Research your selected inmate and identify aggravating and mitigating circumstances that placed him/her on death row.
Step three: Describe exactly why your case facts are mitigating and aggravating based on the explanation given in your assigned readings. Be sure to cite all of your sources. Evaluate why the factors of this case merited the sentence of death.
Use the GCU Library to locate three to five relevant, scholarly sources in support of your content.
Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
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Aggravating and Mitigating Circumstances among the Death-Row Inmates
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Aggravating and Mitigating Circumstances among the Death-Row Inmates
The end of a criminal trial often involves the determination of the maximum sentence that an offender must serve. Once the trial process is complete, the jury or the judge employs the state and federal criminal statutes to determine the maximum sentence. For a jury or a judge to arrive at specific sentence duration, important considerations based on modern laws must be made. One such consideration is the aggravating and mitigating factors (Hoge & Andrews, 2013). The aggravating factors are those that can increase the duration of the sentence, whereas mitigating factors helps in reducing the gravity of the criminal sentence.
A Death-Row Inmate from Arizona Department of Corrections
The Arizona Department of Corrections website has over 100 inmates on death-row sentence. The inmates are from different ethnic backgrounds and were given the maximum penalty of death through various means. For example, some of the inmates were sentenced through lethal injection. However, the aggravating and mitigating factors that informed their sentences vary among all the inmates.
Jose Acuna-Valenzuela
Jose Acuna-Valenzuela is was convicted of murder and sentenced to the maximum sentence of the death penalty. Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (2020) has listed Acuna as a Mexican-American aged 21 and was convicted of a criminal offence in 2011. According to the Arizona statement department of corrections, Acuna was convicted of the first-degree murder of a victim who had previously testified against him in a court. He was also convicted for the attempted murder of the victim’s girlfriend, where he was found to have discharged a firearm at a structure and misconduct that involved a weapon.
In August 2011, Perla M. and his boyfriend Edgar S. went to a nearby Baskins-Robbins to buy some icecream. While in the shop, Acuna who had been a friend to Edgar pulled over and saw him and her girlfriend. Edgar has previously testified against Acuna in a criminal trial and this had got him a prison sentence. This led to the deterioration of their friendship and once Acuna saw them, he yelled at Edgar telling him that he did not want to see him. Once Edgar and his girlfriend left the shopping centre, Acuna trailed them. He fired a gun on their vehicle several times breaking their car window and seriously injuring Edgar and his girlfriend. Although Perla later survived after undergoing several surgeries, Edgar succumbed to his gun wounds and died some days later. After a trial in the court, Acuna was convicted for first-degree murder, attempted murder, and misconduct involving a firearm. Acuna was found to lack substantial mitigating factors in the abuse of discretion review that his defence had filed before the court. In his request filed before the court, the Arizona Supreme Court affirmed his conviction and death sentence (Arizona Supreme Court, 2020). In determining the maximum sentence, the jury found two aggravating factors. First, the jury found that Acuna was an ex-convict of a serious crime. In the first criminal offence, Acuna had been convicted of attempted first-degree murder of Pearla. The other aggravating factor that was considered by the jury was………………………………………………………………………………………………
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