Opinion ID: 1374241
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: failure to charge all statutory mitigating circumstances

Text: Lastly, Humphries argues the judge erred in failing to charge certain statutory mitigating circumstances relating to diminished capacity or, in the alternative, in failing to obtain a waiver by the defendant. We disagree. In the first place, this issue was not raised below and is not preserved for review. Prior to giving the jury charge during the sentencing phase, the judge informed defense counsel he planned to charge the following statutory mitigating circumstances: (1) the defendant has no history of prior criminal conviction involving the use of violence against another person, and (2) the age or mentality of the defendant at the time of the crime. The judge then gave counsel an opportunity to request a charge on any other statutory mitigating circumstances. Defense counsel replied: Those two are the ones, I think, [that] are supported by the record. The judge responded: All right. I find that I have examined the record, as well as the statute, and find that there are only two mitigating circumstances that warrant charging to the jury, and I concur with the Defendant's position. The judge's procedure was in full compliance with State v. Victor, 300 S.C. 220, 387 S.E.2d 248 (1989), which requires the judge to make an initial determination of which statutory mitigating circumstances have evidentiary support and then to allow the defendant to request any additional statutory mitigating circumstances supported in the record. Here, the judge gave defense counsel an opportunity to request additional statutory mitigating circumstances. Defense counsel did not do so. Accordingly, Victor was satisfied. Moreover, defense counsel never requested charges on the statutory mitigating circumstances pertaining to diminished capacity. Absent such a request, the issue is not preserved. See, e.g., State v. Longworth, 313 S.C. 360, 438 S.E.2d 219 (1993) (failure to request jury instruction acts as waiver of right to complain about issue on appeal), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 115 S.Ct. 105, 130 L.Ed.2d 53 (1994). In any case, the record does not contain evidence justifying the submission to the jury of additional statutory mitigating factors. The only evidence appellant relies upon to show diminished capacity is his own statement that he and his accomplice were drinking beer the night before the murder. That evidence, standing alone, is insufficient to support a charge on diminished capacity. See State v. Drayton, 293 S.C. 417, 361 S.E.2d 329 (1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1079, 108 S.Ct. 1060, 98 L.Ed.2d 1021 (1988).