Opinion ID: 1675525
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Sentence Review in Search of Arbitrary Factors Is In Addition To Ordinary Appeal

Text: The Mississippi Legislature has mandated automatic sentence review by this Court in each case in which a death verdict is returned. Miss. Code Ann. § 99-19-105 (Supp. 1982). The statute expressly provides that The sentence review shall be in addition to direct appeal... . § 99-19-105(6) This Court is directed to consider the punishment as well as any errors enumerated by way of appeal. § 99-19-105(2). The statutory scheme thus provided is clear. A convicted defendant may appeal his conviction and sentence as in any other case. On appeal only, the same rules regarding preservation of errors below apply as in a non-capital case. Where the sentence imposed below is death, however, review of the sentence only occurs without regard to preservation of error below or specification of error in this Court. In performing its automatic sentence review this Court is directed to consider similar cases. It is likewise directed to consider whether the sentence of death was imposed under the influence of any ... arbitrary factor. § 99-19-105(3)(a). This mandate that similar cases be compared and contrasted coupled with the charge to root out arbitrary factors are important here. They provide a legislatively mandated undergirding of the fundamental thesis of this opinion: that procedural bars may not lawfully be invoked in this state to affirm death sentences. We can think of no more arbitrary factor than having nimbleness of counsel on points of procedure determine whether Alvin Hill lives or dies.