Opinion ID: 609824
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Argument against sympathy

Text: 136 Chandler also contends that the government's argument that the jury should show no sympathy towards Chandler or his family amounted to prosecutorial misconduct. In prior habeas cases, we have found that it is improper for prosecutors to argue that mercy is per se inappropriate for the jury to consider in deliberating on a death sentence. Wilson v. Kemp, 777 F.2d 621, 626 (11th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 476 U.S. 1153, 106 S.Ct. 2258, 90 L.Ed.2d 703 (1986); Drake v. Kemp, 762 F.2d at 1460. However, a prosecutor may properly argue that under the facts of the offense and the character and history of a particular defendant, the jury should not extend mercy to that defendant. Wilson, 777 F.2d at 626. 137 In the present case, the prosecutor properly argued that, because of the facts of this specific criminal activity, the jury should not base their decision of whether to sentence Chandler to death on any sympathy they might feel towards Chandler or his family. The argument was not improper. 138