Opinion ID: 2085855
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: Penalty Phase Cumulative Error

Text: Bieghler says his death sentence violates due process because of unreliability owing to individual and accumulated errors during the penalty-phase of his trial. For example, he claims the trial judge erred by praying with the jurors after trial, though the record does not so demonstrate. He claims the pre-sentence report was improper because it included both the official version of the offense and Bieghler's version. He claims the trial court should have found him to have no prior record of criminal activity, though Bieghler was plainly a regular drug dealer. And so on. These claims are precluded from relitigation in this appeal, for they were available on direct appeal and merely are new arguments on old facts. Sawyer v. State, 679 N.E.2d 1328, 1329 (Ind.1997); Weatherford v. State, 619 N.E.2d 915, 917 (Ind.1993). We will not detail each of them further here merely because they are wrapped in a sweeping due process claim.