State v. Brumwell, 249 P.3d 965

Automatic and direct review of a death-penalty verdict and sentence.
Defendant was convicted of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder for a Dari Mart robbery in 1994.
In 2004, while imprisoned, defendant helped kill another inmate; both him and Haugen were charged with aggravated murder for that act.
Penalty-phase evidence included satanism and death-metal-music motifs tied to the Dari Mart crimes.
The defense challenged admission of satanism and death-metal evidence as irrelevant or unduly prejudicial and as violating constitutional rights.
The court affirmed the death sentence, addressing the evidentiary and constitutional challenges to the penalty-phase rulings.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether satanism and death metal evidence were relevant to penalty-phase factors	Hayward relevance; defendant argues no link to future dangerousness	Evidence not relevant to penalty factors; risk of prejudice	Evidence relevant to future dangerousness and culpability; not abuse of discretion in admission
Whether admission of satanism/death metal evidence violated First Amendment and state religion provisions	Evidence linked to motive, not protected beliefs	Protects beliefs; impermissible to admit beliefs as such	No First Amendment violation; motive evidence admissible when tied to crime; state-conscience protections not violated
Whether the evidence violated OEC 403 by being unfairly prejudicial	Prejudicial impact outweighs probative value	Jury could properly weigh evidence as motive	No abuse of discretion; prejudicial effect mitigated by contextual testimony; probative value substantial
Whether ORS 163.150(1)(c)(B) is unconstitutional for lack of juror unanimity on aggravated-evidence	Unanimity required on aggravating evidence	Statute may be applied constitutionally; demurrer improper	Demurrer overruled; statute not facially unconstitutional; issue as-applied not resolved here
Whether the court correctly applied aggravating/mitigating framework to impose death	Evidence supported death penalty	Mitigating factors undermine death sentence	Court correctly affirming conviction and sentence under applicable framework

State v. Hayward, 327 Or. 397 (1998) (evidence of satanism and death metal relevant to motive in Dari Mart crimes)
Dawson v. Delaware, 503 U.S. 159 (1992) (First Amendment limits on religious-beliefs evidence at sentencing where beliefs are abstract)
Wisconsin v. Mitchell, 508 U.S. 476 (1993) (allows evidence of racist motive to be used to enhance penalty; beliefs alone not protected)
MacPherson v. DAS, 340 Or. 117 (2006) (facial challenges to statutes require heavy burden to prove impossibility of constitutional application)
Plowman v. Oregon, 314 Or. 157 (1992) (assessing religion-related evidentiary rules under state constitution)