Opinion ID: 1441429
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: Alleged Ineffectiveness for Failing to Request a Jury Instruction

Text: In his next allegation of ineffective assistance of counsel, the Appellant argues that trial counsel was ineffective because she did not request an instruction directing the jury to weigh aggravating and mitigating circumstances independently as to each case. The Appellant claims that because this was a consolidated sentencing hearing involving two murders, the trial court should have fashioned a special instruction that cautioned the jury against according less qualitative weight to particular mitigating evidence solely because the same jury will have relied upon it twice. We reject this claim. This Court has never held that such an instruction is necessary when two or more murders are consolidated for trial and sentencing hearings. Indeed, the Appellant has not cited a single case from Pennsylvania or any other jurisdiction in support of this claim. Thus, there is no basis for this Court to conclude the trial counsel was ineffective for failing to request such an unusual instruction in this case. Moreover, we note that the jury imposed a life sentence for the murder of Watson and death for the murder of Stewart. In the Watson murder, there was no evidence that anyone besides the victim was placed in danger. However, the jury sentenced the Appellant to death for the Stewart murder, in which the Appellant's conduct created a grave risk of death to Seidle. It therefore appears the jury weighed all of the evidence carefully in each case and reached independent and rational results. Trial counsel was effective because she did not request this unusual instruction.