Opinion ID: 1196421
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 44

Heading: Special Instruction II

Text: (54) In addition to several other special penalty phase instructions, the court, at defendant's request, informed the jury that You must find a mitigating circumstance exists if there is any substantial evidence to support it. [23] Defendant claims this improperly placed on him the burden of proving the existence of mitigating circumstances by substantial evidence, thereby violating the Eighth Amendment's proscription against limiting the jury's consideration of any relevant mitigating information that may convince it to impose a sentence less than death. ( Blystone v. Pennsylvania (1990) 494 U.S. 299, 308 [108 L.Ed.2d 255, 265, 110 S.Ct. 1078]; McCleskey v. Kemp (1987) 481 U.S. 279, 305-306 [95 L.Ed.2d 262, 287, 107 S.Ct. 1756].) We find the challenged instruction consistent with Eighth Amendment guarantees. At the heart of defendant's interpretation of Special Instruction II is his assumption that it precludes the jury's consideration of a mitigating circumstance unless he establishes its existence by a certain standard of proof. Interpreting the instructions as a whole and as would a reasonable juror, we find defendant's proposed interpretation is unreasonable. The entire special instruction, read in context, is clearly favorable to defendant, informing the jury to give him the benefit of any doubt it may have regarding the appropriateness of the death penalty. In short, we find nothing in the instruction preventing the jury from considering a mitigating circumstance no matter how strong or weak the evidence is.