Opinion ID: 1706950
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 16

Heading: refusal of instructions d-6 and d-7

Text: ¶ 102. Bell offered instructions advising the jury that they need not be unanimous on their evaluation of mitigating factors, and he argues that without them the jury was not sufficiently informed as to its consideration of these mitigating circumstances, especially in view of the repeated emphasis in other instructions that the verdict and findings of the aggravating circumstances must be unanimous. This argument has already been rejected by the Court. Blue v. State, 674 So.2d 1184, 1226 (Miss.1996); Chase, 645 So.2d at 860; Hansen, 592 So.2d at 149-50; and Shell, 554 So.2d at 905. Bell urges us to adopt the position chosen by North Carolina. In State v. McNeil, 327 N.C. 388, 395 S.E.2d 106, 109 (1990), although the trial court there never explicitly stated that the mitigating circumstances had to be unanimous, the trial judge did indicate that the jury's determinations had to be unanimous. The Court held that even without an express unanimity requirement the instructions gave rise to a reasonable likelihood that some of the jurors were prevented from considering constitutionally-relevant evidence. We have considered and rejected this line. Blue, 674 So.2d at 1226; Conner, 632 So.2d at 1272; Hansen, 592 So.2d at 149-50. There is no merit to Bell's argument.