Opinion ID: 1229128
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: disclosure of parole eligibility

Text: At the penalty stage of the trial, before final argument, defense counsel requested the court's permission to discuss with the jury the parole eligibility for my client so that they would know he would be in the penitentiary for a minimum ... of twenty years. The court sustained the Commonwealth's objection and Watkins assigns error to the ruling. Watkins acknowledges that our decisions have consistently foreclosed evidence or instructions informing the jury of a defendant's parole eligibility in the event of a life sentence. O'Dell v. Commonwealth, 234 Va. 672, 701, 364 S.E.2d 491, 507, cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 109 S.Ct. 186, 102 L.Ed.2d 154 (1988); Williams v. Commonwealth, 234 Va. at 178-80, 360 S.E.2d at 367-68; Poyner v. Commonwealth, 229 Va. 401, 432, 329 S.E.2d 815, 836-37, cert. denied, 474 U.S. 888, 106 S.Ct. 208, 88 L.Ed.2d 178 (1985). Watkins, however, relying on a different view expressed in Doering v. State, 313 Md. 384, 411-12, 545 A.2d 1281, 1295 (1988), invites us to change our position. Having carefully considered the reasons underlying our decisions, we decline that invitation.