Opinion ID: 1346416
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: instruction on possible verdicts

Text: The appellant further contends that the trial court erred when it instructed the jury that it could return the following possible verdicts: first degree murder, first degree murder with a recommendation of mercy and not guilty. The appellant argues that the inclusion of the verdict of first degree murder with a recommendation of mercy in the face of his objection to such an instruction gave the jury a compromise verdict in violation of W.Va.Code, 62-3-15 [1965]. [12] The record indicates that during the discussion of the proposed instruction the appellant advocated a bifurcated proceeding so that the jury could consider a recommendation of mercy only after it had come to a determination of the appellant's guilt. We find this to be without merit under the principles set forth in State ex rel. Leach v. Hamilton, W.Va., 280 S.E.2d 62 (1980). In Leach, this Court specifically approved the unitary trial procedure of W.Va.Code, 62-3-15 [1965], to determine a defendant's guilt and the applicable punishment for first degree murder. Moreover, this Court has made it mandatory for a trial court to instruct a jury that it may add a recommendation of mercy to a first degree murder verdict. As this Court stated in syllabus point 3 of State v. Lindsey, W.Va., 233 S.E.2d 734 (1977): In a case in which a jury may return a verdict of guilty of murder of the first degree, it is the mandatory duty of the trial court, without request, to instruct the jury that to such verdict it may add a recommendation of mercy, that such recommendation would mean that the defendant could be eligible for parole consideration only after having served a minimum of ten years and that otherwise the defendant would be confined to the penitentiary for life without possibility of parole. See also syl. pt. 3, State v. Loveless, 139 W.Va. 454, 80 S.E.2d 442 (1954). We hold that it is the mandatory duty of the trial court to instruct the jury that it may add a recommendation of mercy to a verdict of murder of the first degree and such duty shall be fulfilled by the trial court over the objection of the defendant unless it affirmatively appears from the record that the defendant understands the consequences of his action. See W.Va.Code, 62-3-15 [1965]. We perceive few, if any, circumstances under which a defendant would not want the jury to consider a recommendation of mercy during its deliberations in a trial for first degree murder. In the case before us, the trial court did not err when it included first degree murder with a recommendation of mercy among the possible verdicts and instructed the jury to that effect.