Opinion ID: 1735417
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Passion and Sympathy Instruction.

Text: ś 174. Walker claims that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that passion and prejudice have no part in sentencing. According to Walker, the jury was instructed to disregard sympathy in toto. The State argues that Walker did not object to the giving of Sentencing Instruction C-1. However, the State concedes that Walker did object to the giving of Sentencing Instruction C-17, claiming that it was repetitive, unnecessary, and not required. ś 175. Sentencing Instruction C-1 and C-17 were both submitted to the jury as sentencing instructions. Sentencing Instruction No. C-17, which was given, reads in pertinent part: You should consider and weigh any aggravating and mitigating circumstances, as set forth later in this instruction, but you are cautioned not to be swayed by mere sentiment, conjecture, sympathy, passion, prejudice, public opinion or public feeling. (Emphasis added). Sentencing Instruction C-1 noted a similar charge, stating in pertinent part: You are to apply the law to the facts and in that way decide the case. You should not be influenced by bias, sympathy or prejudice. ś 176. Walker cites Pinkney v. State, 538 So.2d 329, 351 (Miss.1988), vacated and remanded on other grounds, 494 U.S. 1075, 110 S.Ct. 1800, 108 L.Ed.2d 931 (1990), for the proposition that under the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a jury may not be instructed to disregard, in toto, sympathy in a capital case. ś 177. In Flowers v. State, 842 So.2d 531 (Miss.2003), this Court upheld a sentencing instruction, which read in pertinent part: You should consider and weigh any aggravating and mitigating circumstances, as set forth later in this instruction, but you are cautioned not to be swayed by mere sentiment, conjecture, sympathy, passion, prejudice, public opinion or public feeling. Id. at 563 (emphasis added); see also Jackson v. State, 860 So.2d 653, 674-75 (Miss. 2003) (where this Court upheld the trial court's giving of the same instruction). It is evident that the sentencing instruction given in Flowers and Jackson and sentencing instruction, C-17, are the exact same. C-1 uses nearly the exact language concerning sympathy, although C-1 does not include the word mere as does C-17. Importantly, neither charge instructed the jury to disregard sympathy and passion in toto. See generally Blue, 674 So.2d at 1225. Neither of these instructions instruct the jury to totally disregard sympathy or passion. See Jackson, 860 So.2d at 675. In light of this Court's previous decisions, Walker's assignment of error is without merit.