Opinion ID: 1242445
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Jurors have excessive authority in determining punishment. See id. at 569, 385 S.E.2d at 853.

Text: E. The defendant should have been allowed additional peremptory strikes. See Buchanan v. Commonwealth, 238 Va. 389, 405, 384 S.E.2d 757, 767 (1989), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 110 S.Ct. 880, 107 L.Ed.2d 963 (1990). F. The guilt phase and the penalty phase of the trial should have been tried by different juries. See Pruett v. Commonwealth, 232 Va. 266, 277-78, 351 S.E.2d 1, 7-8 (1986), cert. denied, 482 U.S. 931, 107 S.Ct. 3220, 96 L.Ed.2d 706 (1987). G. The defendant should have been able to argue to the jury, at the penalty phase, that if he received life imprisonment he would be ineligible for parole because of prior convictions. See Watkins v. Commonwealth, 238 Va. 341, 351, 385 S.E.2d 50, 56 (1989), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 110 S.Ct. 1797, 108 L.Ed.2d 798 (1990).