a. Lack of Criminal Record.

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

i. Basic Principles.

(1) Absence of Prior Convictions.

(a) The lack of a prior criminal record is a relevant nonstatutory mitigating factor. Williams, 183 Ariz. at 383.

(b) But by itself the lack of a prior criminal record is insufficient to warrant leniency. White, 168 Ariz. at 512.

(2) Absence of Prior Felony Convictions.

(a) The lack of prior felony convictions may constitute a nonstatutory mitigating factor. Scott, 177 Ariz. at 144; accord Stokley, 182 Ariz. at 523; Greene, 192 Ariz. at 442, ¶ 52.

(b) But arrests and misdemeanor convictions may be considered when lack of felony convictions is advanced as a mitigating circumstance. Scott, 177 Ariz. at 145; accord Stokley, 182 Ariz. at 523; Gallegos, 185 Ariz. at 346; Doerr, 193 Ariz. at 70, ¶ 68.

(i) Arrests. Rossi, 171 Ariz. at 279.

(3) Absence of Prior Serious or Violent Offenses.

(a) The Court has at times assigned mitigating value to the lack of a record for serious crime. E.g., Smith, 138 Ariz. at 86; Spears, 184 Ariz. at 277.

(b) And lack of a record for violent crime. E.g., Ross, 180 Ariz. at 608; Detrich, 188 Ariz. at 67; Trostle, 191 Ariz. at 22.

(i) In Trostle, the Court noted that nothing in the defendant’s criminal record revealed a tendency toward the kind of violent crime for which he had been convicted. 191 Ariz. at 22.

(c) When a defendant asserts that his record is for non-violent offenses only, the facts of the offenses may be considered to rebut the offered mitigation. Atwood, 171 Ariz. at 654.

(d) In Ross, the Court said that, though a previous conviction for a serious offense, the definition of which includes some violent offenses, is an aggravating circumstance, the Court does not believe that the absence of such a conviction is necessarily a mitigating factor. 180 Ariz. at 608.

ii. Specific Circumstances.

(1) Given Weight as Mitigation.

(a) Lack of a Criminal Record.

• Bishop, 127 Ariz. at 534.

• Mata as discussed at Gillies, 135 Ariz. at 516.

• Fisher, 141 Ariz. at 252-53.

• White, 168 Ariz. at 512.

• Lavers, 168 Ariz. at 395-96 (but discounted by prior arrests for domestic violence, though they did not result in convictions)

• Styers, 177 Ariz. at 116.

• Williams, 183 Ariz. at 383.

• Schackart, 190 Ariz. at 253-54 (at least until recent assault on wife).

(b) Lack of an Adult Criminal Record but Discounted by Juvenile Misdemeanor Convictions.

• Herrera, 174 Ariz. at 399.

• Graham, 135 Ariz. at 213.

(c) No Previous Felony Convictions.

• Amaya-Ruiz, 166 Ariz. at 179.

• Lavers, 168 Ariz. at

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