302
Opinion of Souter, J.
tencing recommendation, whereas I find it sufficient to do that. Since we apply the same standard to the same record, our differing conclusions largely reflect different assessments of the significance the jurors probably ascribed to the Stoltzfus testimony. My assessment turns on two points. First, I believe that in making the ultimate judgment about what should be done to one of several participants in a crime this appalling the jurors would very likely have given weight to the degree of initiative and leadership exercised by that particular defendant. Second, I believe that no other testimony comes close to the prominence and force of Stoltzfus's account in showing Strickler as the unquestionably dominant member of the trio involved in Whitlock's abduction and the aggressive and moving figure behind her murder.
Although Stoltzfus was not the prosecution's first witness, she was the first to describe Strickler in any detail, thus providing the frame for the remainder of the story the prosecution presented to the jury. From the start of Stoltzfus's testimony, Strickler was "Mountain Man" and his male companion "Shy Guy," labels whose repetition more than a dozen times (by the prosecutor as well as by Stoltzfus) must have left the jurors with a clear sense of the relative roles that Strickler and Henderson played in the crimes that followed Stoltzfus's observation. According to her, when she first saw Strickler she "just sort of instinctively backed up because I was frightened." App. 36. Unlike retiring "Shy Guy," Strickler was "revved up." Id., at 39, 60. Even in describing her first encounter with Strickler inside the mall, Stoltzfus spoke of him as domineering, a "very impatient" character yelling at his female companion, "Blonde Girl," to join him. Id., at 36, 38-39.
After describing in detail how "Mountain Man" and "Blonde Girl" were dressed, Stoltzfus said that " 'Mountain Man' came tearing out of the Mall entrance door and went up to the driver of [a] van and . . . was just really mad and ran back and banged on back of the backside of the van"
Page: Index Previous 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007