Opinion ID: 2274302
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Penalty Instructions

Text: Johnson alleges the trial court erred in giving Instructions 24 and 26 over his objections because they failed to properly instruct the jury how to weigh the aggravating and mitigating factors. This Court will reverse on a claim of instructional error only if there was error in submitting an instruction and it prejudiced the defendant. Zink, 181 S.W.3d at 74. MAI instructions are presumptively valid and, when applicable, must be given to the exclusion of other instructions. Id.
Johnson complains that the instructions were given in error and prejudiced him because they failed to tell the jury what to do if they were tied or not unanimous when weighing aggravators and mitigators. He fails to demonstrate that the instructions were insufficient in this regard. Instruction 24 was patterned after MAI-CR3d 314.44. It stated in relevant part: If you have unanimously found beyond a reasonable doubt that one or more of the statutory aggravating circumstances submitted . . . exists, you must then determine whether there are facts and circumstances in aggravation of punishment. . . . . It is not necessary that all jurors agree upon particular facts and circumstances in mitigation of punishment. If each juror determines that there are facts or circumstances in mitigation of punishment sufficient to outweigh the evidence in aggravation of punishment, then you must return a verdict fixing defendant's punishment at imprisonment for life . . . without eligibility for probation or parole. Instruction 26 was based on MAI-CR3d 314.48. It stated in relevant part: If you unanimously decide that the facts or circumstances in mitigation of punishment outweigh the facts and circumstances in aggravation of punishment, then the defendant must be punished for the murder . . . by imprisonment for life . . . without eligibility for probation or parole. . . . . . . . If you do unanimously find the existence of at least one statutory aggravating circumstance beyond a reasonable doubt . . . and you are unable to unanimously find that the facts or circumstances in mitigation of punishment outweigh the facts and circumstances in aggravation of punishment, but are unable to agree upon the punishment, your foreperson will complete the verdict form. . . . [And] you must answer the questions on the verdict form. . . . Johnson also asserts that these instructions prejudiced him because they failed to inform the jury about the proper burden of proof for weighing mitigators against aggravators. He argues that under section 565.030.4(3), [18] the third of four steps for determining whether a defendant is eligible for the death penalty, the jury must be instructed that the State bears the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the mitigators are insufficient to outweigh any aggravators found. This Court has repeatedly rejected the claim that section 565.030.4(3) requires the jury to make a finding beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Gill, 167 S.W.3d 184, 193 (Mo. banc 2005) (Although section 565.030.4 expressly requires the jury to use the reasonable doubt standard for the determination of whether any statutory aggravators exist, the statute does not impose the same requirement on the determination of whether evidence in mitigation outweighs evidence in aggravation.); Glass, 136 S.W.3d at 521; see also Storey v. State, 175 S.W.3d 116, 156-57 (Mo. banc 2005).
Johnson further requests plain error review of Instructions 24 and 26 on his claims that the instructions were given in error because section 565.030.4(3) requires that only aggravators found by the jury be considered and because section 565.030.4(3) does not require the jury to unanimously find that mitigators outweigh aggravators. An instructional error rises to the level of plain error only when the appellant demonstrates that the instruction so misdirected or failed to instruct the jury that it is apparent that the error affected the jury's verdict. Baker, 103 S.W.3d at 723. Johnson fails to meet this burden. This point is denied.