Opinion ID: 1516216
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Instructions to Jury on Responsibility for Determining Death Sentence[42]

Text: Appellant next claims that the trial court's instruction erroneously led jurors to believe that they did not have the ultimate responsibility for determining the appropriateness of his death sentence, which violates his due process. First, appellant cites the trial court's statement that the Supreme Court and Governor review a death sentence from a jury. He also notes the trial court's instruction that the jury should follow his summation of the law, not defense counsel's version, because defense counsel has remedies for a trial court's inaccurate statements of the law. When the trial court thus implied that the jury was not responsible for his death sentence, appellant alleges that it caused the jury to give less consideration to his proffered mitigating evidence. Appellant denies that the trial court's instruction was necessary to dispel the idea that the prosecutor is not an execution chamber, Appellant's Brief at 92, because such a statement is self-evident. Appellant ultimately attaches these arguments to a boilerplate layered ineffectiveness claim. The Commonwealth argues that the trial court appropriately corrected defense counsel's reference to the prosecutor as operating the execution chamber. The trial court's correction, according to the Commonwealth, explained that when a defendant is sentenced to death by a jury he is executed by lethal injection. Moreover, the Commonwealth cites Commonwealth v. Beasley, 524 Pa. 34, 568 A.2d 1235 (1990), for the proposition that this Court has approved of a prosecutor's suggestion that even if a defendant were sentenced to death, he would not be executed. The PCRA court noted that Caldwell v. Mississippi, 472 U.S. 320, 105 S.Ct. 2633, 86 L.Ed.2d 231 (1985), would indicate that the trial court's statements were improper, but ruled that the jury's findings on aggravating and mitigating circumstances showed that appellant was not prejudiced by the trial court's instruction. In Caldwell, the United States Supreme Court evaluated the propriety of the prosecutor's response to defense counsel's sentencing phase argument repeatedly emphasizing that the jury had an awesome responsibility in deciding whether to sentence the defendant to life in prison or death. Id. at 324, 105 S.Ct. at 2637. Specifically, the prosecutor responded by stating: I'm in complete disagreement with the approach the defense has taken. I don't think it's fair. I think its unfair. I think the lawyers know better. Now, they would have you believe that you're going to kill this man and they know ÔÇö they know that your decision is not the final decision. My God, how unfair can you be? Your job is reviewable. They know it. Id. at 325, 105 S.Ct. at 2637 (citations and quotation marks omitted). Despite defense counsel's objection to the prosecutor's argument, the trial court acquiesced in the prosecutor continuing his argument in the same vein. Id. at 325-26, 105 S.Ct. at 2638. The High Court found the prosecutor's argument unacceptable, as it concluded that it is constitutionally impermissible to rest a death sentence on a determination made by a sentencer who has been led to believe that the responsibility for determining the appropriateness of the defendant's death rests elsewhere. Id. at 328-29, 105 S.Ct. at 2639. While the Court acknowledged its decision in California v. Ramos, 463 U.S. 992, 103 S.Ct. 3446, 77 L.Ed.2d 1171 (1983) (capital sentencing juries may be informed of the Governor of California's ability to commute a sentence of life imprisonment), approving the distribution of accurate post-sentence information to a jury, it disapproved of the Caldwell prosecutor's inaccurate implications regarding post-sentencing procedure and observed that the argument was not linked to a valid sentencing consideration. Caldwell, 472 U.S. at 336, 105 S.Ct. at 2643. Evaluating a case under Caldwell, this Court has found error with a trial court's instruction to the jury that: Now, with regard to death penalty, you know what that implies. Somewhere down the line, if you do impose the death penalty, the case will be reviewed thoroughly. And after thorough review the death penalty may be carried out. I won't go into all the various reviews that we have. That shouldn't concern you at this point. Commonwealth v. Jasper, 558 Pa. 281, 737 A.2d 196, 196 (1999). The Jasper Court found the following factors particularly troublesome in reaching its decision: (1) the trial court unduly emphasized the role of the appellate courts by suggesting that the death sentence might not be carried out; and (2) the jury found two aggravating circumstances and one mitigating circumstance. Id. at 197-98. This Court stated its unwillingness to adopt a per se rule that reference to the appellate process is impermissible, because we recognized that defense counsel's argument may necessitate a reference to appellate review. Id. at 198. Notably, in Commonwealth v. Williams, 554 Pa. 1, 720 A.2d 679, 691 (1998), cert. denied, 526 U.S. 1161, 119 S.Ct. 2052, 144 L.Ed.2d 219 (1999), we found no error with a trial court's instruction that a defendant had a right to appeal his case if he believed an error occurred at trial. In this case, the challenged instruction resulted from the prosecutor's objection to defense counsel's statement that the jury was not in the prosecutor's execution chamber. The trial court sustained the objection and told the jury: The prosecutor is not an execution chamber. What it is a place in the State of Pennsylvania that a certain institution behind in where lethal injection is given to those who are committed to death by a jury and when that sentence has been imposed by the Judge and as reviewed by the supreme court and the governor. And that is the legal place of execution which is referred to in my formal sentencing if the jury were to find it. It's not the prosecution's execution chamber. N.T. 7/17/1995 at 133 (errors in original). Here, the trial court's instruction was not aimed at explaining to the jury how much responsibility the jury should feel for returning a penalty of death, but rather the trial court explained that the State of Pennsylvania, not the prosecutor, physically executes individuals after a jury imposes a sentence of death. The trial court's explanation of the place of a defendant's execution would not be thorough without reference to the procedures that occur before he is executed. Moreover, the instruction did not serve to shift responsibility away from the jury for giving appellant the death sentence by implying it was not the ultimate decision-maker, suggest that the jury should not feel gravely responsible for imposing the death penalty, or imply that any death sentence imposed by the jury might not be carried out. [43] Appellant's jury also did not find any of his proffered mitigating factors, unlike the defendant in Jasper. For these reasons, we conclude that the issue underlying appellant's ineffectiveness claim is without merit.