Maziarz v. State

RODOWSKY, Judge. Appellant, Donald Thomas Maziarz (Maziarz), seeks reversal of his death sentence. In weighing mitigating versus aggravating factors the sentencing judge applied a standard of persuasion which placed a heavier burden on Maziarz than that authorized by statute. To rectify this error requires vacating the death sentence and remanding for a new sentencing proceeding on the verdict of guilty of capital murder.

The murder victim, Peggy Naomi Green (Green), died of smoke and soot inhalation in an arson started by Maziarz. They had not known one another prior to the events leading up to the murder. Maziarz and his codefendant, Kevin Keith Bennett (Bennett), had encountered Green and another female at a liquor store. Green invited the two men back to a small party at an apartment in Oxon Hill, Prince George’s County, Maryland.

Eventually only Green, Maziarz, and Bennett remained in the apartment where they drank, played cards, and danced. In his confession Maziarz describes what subsequently happened. Green said that it was time for the two men to leave, but she continued dancing with, but at a short distance from, ³ Maziarz. Bennett “was getting all up next to” Green who bumped into Maziarz.

Maziarz hit Green, knocking her and Bennett onto the couch. Green kicked Maziarz in the groin and he “really hit her back.” When the victim said she would “give it up,” Maziarz and then Bennett had intercourse with her in the living room. Then Bennett hog-tied Green with telephone cord and gagged her with a sock. In the bedroom Maziarz started a fire (“...

I lit a cigarette and threw the match but they [sic\ didn’t go out.”) and also set fire with a match to the living room couch. When a smoke detector sounded Maziarz punched it off the wall. Bennett and Maziarz stole a television set from the apartment and departed, leaving Green to die in a fire which became so intense that it melted the metal railing on the porch of the apartment on the floor above. Bennett plea bargained.

He plead guilty to first degree murder (felony murder-rape), first degree rape (by aiding and abetting Maziarz in rape), and robbery. On May 31, 1983, Judge Howard S. Chasanow in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, acting consistently with the plea agreement, sentenced Bennett to two concurrent life sentences for the murder and the rape and to a consecutive ten-year sentence for robbery. There was no appeal. Maziarz elected a nonjury trial.

On November 10, 1983, Judge James M. Rea found Maziarz guilty of first degree murder. 1 The court also found Maziarz guilty of first degree rape as a principal in the first degree, first degree rape by aiding and abetting Bennett, robbery, and arson. Judge Rea sentenced Maziarz to death on the murder charge. He imposed a consecutive life sentence for the ⁴ rape as a principal in the first degree, a concurrent life sentence for aiding and abetting Bennett’s rape, and a ten-year consecutive sentence for robbery. The court imposed no. separate sentence for arson which it viewed as merged in the death sentence.

On this appeal Maziarz does not raise any issues which would affect the guilty verdicts. He does, however, raise multiple issues directed to the sentencing proceeding. Of these, we need only address two. Maziarz argues that Judge Rea made findings at sentencing which compelled the sentence to be life, so that capital punishment here violates double jeopardy principles under Bullington v. Missouri, 451 U.S. 430 , 101 S.Ct. 1852 , 68 L.Ed.2d 270 (1981).

The purported factual basis for the argument is a frivolous interpretation of the record. The sentencing proceeding took place between January 4 and 24, 1984. At the conclusion Judge Rea in open court and by reasoning aloud completed the form for findings and sentencing determinations in capital cases prescribed by then Maryland Rule 772A d (now MD.R. 4-343(e)). Section I of that form lists the ten statutory aggravating factors set forth in Md.Code (1957, 1982 Repl.Vol.), Art. 27, § 413(d).

Judge Rea found the tenth aggravating factor, i.e., that Maziarz had “committed the murder while committing or attempting to commit robbery, arson or rape or sexual offense in the first degree.” The court then proceeded paragraph by paragraph through Section II of the form which deals with mitigating factors. He found an absence of prior convictions for crimes of violence, substantially impaired capacity to appreciate the criminality of the conduct, youthful age, and that Maziarz’ act was not the sole proximate cause of Green’s death. The court then directed attention to Section III of the form before him. It called for a yes or no answer to the following issue: Based on the evidence I find that it has been proven by A PREPONDERANCE OF THE EVIDENCE that the mitigating circumstances marked “yes” in Section II out ⁵ weigh the aggravating circumstances marked “yes” in Section I. At the point in the transcript where Judge Rea reached Section III the court reporter began a new paragraph, the introductory sentence of which reads, “Now, the Court has had great problems with this case because now we come to Section 3.” Immediately following in the transcript are the identical words of the Section III issue, but without quotation