Opinion ID: 1058888
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 21

Heading: instruction on unanimity of verdict

Text: Next, the appellant argues that the trial court's instruction to the jury that it must unanimously agree in order to impose a life sentence while declining to give an instruction on the effect of a non-unanimous verdict is misleading and coercive and injects arbitrariness into sentencing. As the state correctly observes, the appellant has waived this issue by failing to object to the instruction during trial. See Tenn. R.App. P. 36(a). Moreover, the supreme court has repeatedly held that a jury instruction that the jury must unanimously agree in order to impose a life sentence without an instruction regarding the effect of a non-unanimous verdict does not offend constitutional standards. See State v. Keen, 31 S.W.3d 196, 233 (Tenn.2000); State v. Cribbs, 967 S.W.2d 773, 796 (Tenn.1998); State v. Brimmer, 876 S.W.2d 75, 87 (Tenn.1994); State v. Cazes, 875 S.W.2d 253, 268 (Tenn.1994).