Opinion ID: 1496299
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: jury sentencing responsibility

Text: The use of the term recommendation by trial courts continues as a problem in cases involving death sentence responsibilities. Herein, Jacobs maintains that the trial court characterized the jury's verdict as a recommendation, but this record discloses a change and a correction wherein the term fix the defendant's punishment was utilized in lieu of the impermissible term. The United States Supreme Court held in Caldwell v. Mississippi, 472 U.S. 320, 105 S.Ct. 2633, 86 L.Ed.2d 231 (1985), It is constitutionally impermissible to rest a death sentence on a determination made by a sentencer who has been led to believe that the responsibility for determining the appropriateness of the defendant's death rests elsewhere. (472 U.S. at 105 S.Ct. at 2639). This Court announced a similar conclusion in Tamme v. Commonwealth, Ky., 759 S.W.2d 51 (1988), by prospectively banning the use of the word recommend with reference to a jury's sentencing responsibilities in voir dire, instructions, or closing argument. There is no valid issue arising in this case as we determine that the trial court's admonition and the correction of the instructions were curative. The facts in this case do not substantiate the claim that the jury felt a diminution of their duty in fixing the appellant's sentence. The facts present here are clearly distinguishable from those in Ward v. Commonwealth, Ky., 695 S.W.2d 404 (1985). Ward, supra , holds that it is grievous error to minimize the responsibility of the jury in assessing the death penalty. Certainly it can be no clearer that the use of the term recommendation utilized in sentencing responsibilities in a death penalty case is to be condemned to oblivion. The judgment of Knott Circuit Court is reversed and the case is remanded for retrial, with the direction that appellant's motion for a change of venue be granted, and further subject to the directions of this opinion. STEPHENS, C.J., LAMBERT and LEIBSON, JJ., and D.J. Combs, Special Justice, concur. WINTERSHEIMER, J., dissents by separate opinion in which SPAIN, J., joins.