Opinion ID: 1839289
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: by granting state's instruction s-3, the trial judge violated appellant's right to due process and a fair trial.

Text: The appellant states: The trial court in this case granted the defense instructions on murder and manslaughter, but then totally ignored those lesser included offenses when informing the jury of the form of their verdict. This argument has no merit because the jury was properly instructed by Defense Instructions D-3, and D-4 as to the form of the verdict to be used if they found appellant guilty only of murder or manslaughter. The State was entitled to and was granted, without objection, Instruction S-3 as to the form of the verdict to be applied upon the jury finding the appellant guilty of capital murder. In my opinion this case should be affirmed as to the guilt phase as well as sentence of death imposed by the circuit court. See my dissent to Part IV of this opinion reversing this case.