Opinion ID: 1913318
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 48

Heading: d-21-grant of life despite finding of aggravating factors.

Text: ¶ 210. Holland asserts that the trial court improperly denied D-21. The trial court denied D-21 on grounds of repetitiveness with S-1. ¶ 211. S-1, part B, states that only the introduced aggravating factors may be considered by the jury, to be determined only by a beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard. This part mirrors the first paragraph of D-21. The remainder of S-1, part B, instructs the jury that should they find the mitigating circumstances outweigh the aggravating circumstances, they must find for life imprisonment. This point slightly varies from D-21, which states that a jury can find for life imprisonment if they find the aggravators are insufficient to justify death. ¶ 212. However, Holland travels under an argument that anti-sympathy instructions are improper. This Court has approved the grant of this instruction, where approved by the trial court. Tokman v. State, 435 So.2d 664, 671 (Miss. 1983), cert. denied, 467 U.S. 1256, 104 S.Ct. 3547, 82 L.Ed.2d 850 (1984), abrogated on other grounds by Willie v. State, 585 So.2d 660, 680-81 (Miss. 1991). This Court has also stated a trial court may deny the instruction. Hansen, 592 So.2d at 150. Holland argues the result is an arbitrary set of courts which allow the instruction and a set which do not, triggering a due process violation. See Hicks v. Oklahoma, 447 U.S. 343, 346, 100 S.Ct. 2227, 2229, 65 L.Ed.2d 175 (1980) (generally stating defendants may not be arbitrarily deprived of their liberty interests under the Fourteenth Amendment). ¶ 213. The Seventh Circuit has held that rules which do not grant an entitlement do not create a due process property interest. Miller v. Henman, 804 F.2d 421, 427 (7th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 844, 108 S.Ct. 136, 98 L.Ed.2d 93 (1987). Since under this Court's caselaw, Holland is not entitled to instructions on sympathy, he has no due process claim.