Opinion ID: 1628838
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Balancing of Aggravating and Mitigating Evidence

Text: Gill argues that the trial court erred in overruling his objections and submitting Instructions 3A, 8A, and 10A, which required the jury to determine whether there were facts or circumstances in mitigation of punishment that were sufficient to outweigh the facts or circumstances in aggravation, so to preclude imposition of the death penalty. These instructions were erroneous, Gill contends, because they did not require the jury to make this finding beyond a reasonable doubt. This Court recently rejected this argument in State v. Glass, 136 S.W.3d 496, 520-21 (Mo. banc 2004). 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. Id.