Opinion ID: 2354297
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Aggravating circumstances unanimous verdict.

Text: Penalty phase instruction number 12 instructed the jury that: You must reach a separate verdict on each count described in these instructions and a separate verdict on your recommendation as to whether the sentence should run concurrently or consecutively. Each verdict must be in writing, must be unanimous and must be signed by one of you as foreperson. (Emphasis added.) Verdict forms 6C, 6D, and 6E, as well as verdict forms 7C, 7D, and 7E, were provided for use by the jury if it found beyond a reasonable doubt that any of the three enumerated aggravating circumstances existed. It was not necessary that each verdict form also instruct the jury that the verdict written on that form must be unanimous. Instruction number 12 informed the jury of that requirement. Further, the fact that instruction number 12 required that each verdict be unanimous did not create a substantial probability that reasonable jurors, upon receiving the judge's instructions ... well may have thought that they were precluded from considering any mitigating evidence unless all 12 jurors agreed on the existence of a particular such circumstance. Mills v. Maryland, 486 U.S. 367, 384, 108 S.Ct. 1860, 1870, 100 L.Ed.2d 384 (1988). An instruction may not be judged in artificial isolation, but must be considered in the context of the instructions as a whole and the trial record. Estelle v. McGuire, 502 U.S. 62, 72, 112 S.Ct. 475, 482, 116 L.Ed.2d 385 (1991) (quotations omitted). The unanimity instruction specifically referred to each verdict. It did not instruct the jury that its findings must be unanimous or that it must reach a verdict on mitigating circumstances. Compare Gall v. Parker, 231 F.3d 265, 325-26 (6th Cir.2000) (trial court's instructions violated Mills, supra, by requiring jury's  findings and verdict to be unanimous and requiring jurors to select yes or no as to existence of select mitigating factors) (emphasis added), overruled on other grounds by Bowling v. Parker, 344 F.3d 487, 501 (6th Cir.2003), with Slaughter v. Parker, 187 F.Supp.2d 755, 814-15 (W.D.Ky.2001) (distinguishing Gall, supra , and upholding instructions identical to those given in this case).