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State v. Fortin2/3/2004
it, and (3) the effect a retroactive application would have on the administration of justice.'" Knight, supra, 145 N.J. at 251 (quoting State v. Nash, 64 N.J. 464, 471 (1974)).
"The first factor, the purpose of the new rule, is often the pivotal consideration." State v. Burstein, 85 N.J. 394, 406 (1981). New rules are given complete retroactive effect "where the purpose of the new rule 'is to overcome an aspect of the criminal trial that substantially impairs its truth-finding function' and which raises 'serious questions about the accuracy of guilty verdicts in past trials.'" Id. at 406-07 (quoting Williams v. United States, 401 U.S. 646, 653, 91 S.Ct. 1148, 1152, 28 L.Ed. 2d 388, 395 (1971)). We have given a new rule retroactive effect where it "deals with the ultimate fairness and soundness of the jury's verdict." State v. Czachor, 82 N.J. 392, 408 (1980). On the other hand, in cases where "the new rule is designed to enhance the reliability of the factfinding process but the old rule did not 'substantially' impair the accuracy of that process," we have declined to grant retroactive effect to the new rule if "the countervailing interests of the State reliance on the old rule and the undisrupted administration of justice were held to outweigh the negligible effect that the old rule had on the integrity of the truth finding process." Burstein, supra, 85 N.J. at 408-09.
The previous rule, enunciated in Martini I, had little impact on the truth-finding process. Before our decision today, we had in place safeguards that served as a substitute for the indictment process. Prosecutors were required to give timely notice of the aggravating factors and defendants were able to contest the validity of any alleged aggravating factor through the process established in McCrary, supra, 97 N.J. at 142. In this case, at a McCrary hearing the trial court rejected a defense motion to dismiss aggravating factors 4(c) (murder involving aggravated assault and/or torture) and 4(f) (murder committed for the purpose of escaping detection), finding an adequate factual basis to support those factors. Furthermore, a defendant who advances to the penalty phase is not sentenced to death unless the jury finds an aggravating factor beyond a reasonable doubt and that all of the aggravating factors outweigh beyond a reasonable doubt all of the mitigating factors. N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3c(3)(a). Together, those procedures ensured the accuracy of the truth-finding process endorsed in Martini I, and we find no evidence that the failure to submit the aggravating factors to the grand jury in this case impaired the accuracy of that process. Given our resolution of this issue, we need not reach the question whether the finding of the sentencing jury rendered moot the failure of the indictment to allege the aggravating factors. See United States v. Mechanik, 475 U.S. 66, 70, 106 S.Ct. 938, 942, 89 L.Ed. 2d 50, 56 (1986); State v. Murphy, 110 N.J. 20, 28 (1988) (limiting Mechanik to violations of the "'technical variety'" that raised no issue of "'fundamental fairness'") (quoting United States v. Taylor, 798 F.2d 1337, 1340 (10th Cir. 1986)). In light of the reliance by the State on Martini I and the opportunity for defendants to avail themselves of a McCrary hearing, we apply this new rule prospectively.
In all future capital cases, the State is required to submit the aggravating factors to the grand jury and specify in the indictment those factors it intends to prove at a penalty hearing. In any case in which there are separate juries empanelled in the guilt phase and penalty phase of a capital case, the trial court must not read the aggravating factors in the indictment to the guilt-phase jury except when one or more of the aggra
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