Opinion ID: 1936097
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 31

Heading: whether the circuit court refused to properly instruct jurors on the existence of mitigating circumstances to consider in sentencing deliberations

Text: Jackson asserts that the circuit court erred in refusing to grant his requested Instruction D-S-6, asserting that with mitigating factors, that `credible evidence' is presumed to be true, and that, unless the State rebuts the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, it may be considered by jurors when weighing mitigating against aggravating circumstances. Almost anything for which there is an evidentiary basis may be considered by the jury as mitigating circumstances. Chase v. State, 645 So.2d 829, 856 (Miss. 1994). In West v. State, 519 So.2d 418 (Miss. 1988), this Court explained: The law is now well established that the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments require that the sentencer not be precluded from considering, as a mitigating factor, any aspect of a defendant's character, record, or any of the circumstances of the offense that the defendant proffers as a basis for a sentence less than death. Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104, 102 S.Ct. 869, 71 L.Ed.2d 1 (1982); Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978); Skipper v. South Carolina, 476 U.S. 1, 106 S.Ct. 1669, 90 L.Ed.2d 1 (1986); Jordan v. State, 518 So.2d 1186 (Miss. 1987). 519 So.2d at 426. However, there is no basis for the refused instruction's directive regarding the State's burden to rebut any mitigating evidence. It is, to the contrary, an incorrect statement of the law and was properly refused by the circuit court. Willie v. State, 585 So.2d 660, 673 (Miss. 1991).