Reversed and remanded. Court is not required to define mitigating circumstances. Court is not required to list non-statutory mitigating circumstances in jury charge. The jury must consider any aspect of the defendant s character of record that the defendant proffers as a basis for a sentence less than death. The defendant in a capital case has a right under the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution to present all mitigating evidence to the sentence.
Mitigation is that which tends to soften, temper, or make less harsh or severe.
Mitigating circumstances surrounding a criminal offense are those circumstances that tend to lessen the apparent badness of the particular crime in question or the apparent badness of the particular defendant. The existence of any mitigating circumstances does not require proof beyond a reasonable doubt. A mitigating circumstance exists if there is any evidence supporting it introduced by either the prosecution or the defense at either the guilt-innocence or sentencing stage of the trial, which is uncontradicted or which outweighs any contrary evidence. Mercy, sympathy and compassion are appropriate mitigation subjects for consideration by a sentencing jury. Mitigation may be established by any evidence introduced by either party at either the guilt-innocence or sentencing phase of the trial, or both.